Ohio State leads Big Ten in faculty work-life policies

Ohio State ranks first in the Big Ten Conference for policies that support faculty career flexibility and work-life integration, according to a recent article in the Journal of Women’s Health.

The investigators, all faculty at Indiana University School of Medicine, aimed to shed light on the policies that disproportionally affect women faculty and contribute, in part, to gender disparities in promotion and advancement rates among medical school faculty.

“At Ohio State, we care about our faculty and staff as whole people and recognize they have important lives outside of work,” said Kimberly C. Shumate, interim vice president for Human Resources. “We continually review our policies and practices to give our faculty and staff the best work-life balance possible. This is just one way we are creating an engaging employee experience grounded in a culture of well-being and optimal performance.”

The article compares the flexibility of the following policies for institutions with medical schools in the Big Ten Conference: family leave (maternity, paternity, adoption, and elder care), extension of the tenure probationary period, part-time appointments, part-time health care benefits, child care options, and lactation policies. Each institution received three scores indicating the flexibility of their family leave policies, part-time policies, and overall flexibility.

“Ohio State has worked very hard to develop strong work-life policies,” said Hazel Morrow-Jones, associate provost for Women's Policy Initiatives and director of The Women's Place. “These are the kinds of things that mark an institution as a great place to work and they contribute to the creation of an inclusive, supportive environment in which all people can make their full contributions. In turn, that helps Ohio State attract and retain the best people.”

The results of the study revealed that the top three institutions in overall score were Ohio State, Michigan State, and Wisconsin.

The complete article is available at http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/full/10.1089/jwh.2010.2553