Developing and Implementing Work-Family Policies for Faculty

Today, American families juggle many competing priorities: home, work, school, medical care, after-school activities, and other responsibilities required to raise a family and maintain a household. At the same time, more employers are developing policies that acknowledge the need for a healthy balance between work and home. These policies allow employees greater flexibility in the way they schedule their work hours, fulfill their duties, and use their leave time to deal with pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. Studies in the corporate sector have demonstrated that when employees can balance work and family responsibilities, their morale improves. Moreover, managers increasingly view these policies as cost-effective. To what degree do institutions of higher education have such policies in place for their faculty? How are these policies administered where they exist, and how can colleges and universities without them most easily develop them? In its 2001 Statement of Principles on Family Responsibilities and Academic Work, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) declared that the "development and implementation of institutional policies that enable the healthy integration of work responsibilities with family life in academe requires renewed attention." The Faculty Work-Family Policy Study, undertaken by the Center for the Education of Women at the University of Michigan, analyzed policies and programs from a representative sample of U.S. institutions. The study, funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, used a Web based survey to which 256 institutions, predominantly four-year universities and colleges, responded. The Web survey was followed by a telephone interview of fifty-one of the respondents, most of which were, again, four-year institutions. This article briefly describes the types of policies available and suggests strategies for developing successful policies on other campuses.