Perspectives on Work/Life Balance: An Interview with Heather Carpenter

Authors

  • Jennifer A. Wade-Berg

Abstract

In today’s economy, the need to sustain a livable wage is paramount as individuals struggle to find lasting and meaningful work. Interestingly, this struggle has reignited the conversation pertaining to work/life balance, for both men and women, even in the halls of the academy. Nancy R. Lockwood (2003) stated, “the genesis of work/life balance can be defined as a state of equilibrium in which the demands of both a person’s job and personal life are equal” (p. 3). Chittenden and Ritchie (2011) defined work/life balance more broadly as “maintaining an overall sense of harmony in life” (p. 870). In the academy, the notion that academia affords its faculty with more flexibility prevails. However, with growing demands by University administrations and their governing bodies to prove student learning and to increase research productivity while simultaneously serving the universities and the broader communities, attention has returned to the kinds of human resource policies and procedures that can allow work/life balance to be achieved, especially for women and those caring for young children.

The field of Nonprofit Management and Leadership studies is not immune to this struggle. Newly degreed academicians in the field are more aware of the requirements to gain tenure and promotion but rarely get advice or information on how to navigate this process while trying to maintain a balance with home and family life. This may lead many, especially those in their early career, into a dichotomous lifestyle: One that keeps work and life separate. To some degree, this separation is the antithesis of what many European societies, as well as more evolved U.S. companies like Home Depot, Google, and Apple, advocate. In a recent report, the Center for American Progress and the UC Hastings College of the Law called for promoting workplace flexibility; legislating short-term and extended time off; providing good quality, subsidized child and adult care; and addressing discrimination against employees with family responsibilities. These types of policies and procedures are often catalysts that can “contribute to improved morale, retention,” and productivity (Chittenden & Ritchie, 2011, p. 871).

To examine the demands of the academy, new Assistant Professor Dr. Heather Carpenter was interviewed in July 2012. Questions derived from the work of Chittenden and Ritchie (2011) and Lockwood (2003) allowed parallels to be drawn along with advice for those entering into the field.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 3 (2012)

Section

Articles

License

Sagamore Publishing LLC (hereinafter the “Copyright Owner”)

Journal Publishing Copyright Agreement for Authors

PLEASE REVIEW OUR POLICIES AND THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT, AND INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS BY CHECKING THE ‘AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE’ CHECKBOX BELOW.

I understand that by submitting an article to Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership, I am granting the copyright to the article submitted for consideration for publication in Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership to the Copyright Owner. If after consideration of the Editor of the Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership, the article is not accepted for publication, all copyright covered under this agreement will be automatically returned to the Author(s).

THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT

Assignment of Copyright

I hereby assign to the Copyright Owner the copyright in the manuscript I am submitting in this online procedure and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when the article is accepted for publication.

Reversion of Rights

Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later be rejected in the publication process, even in some cases after public posting in “Articles in Press” form, in which case all rights will revert to the Author.

Retention of Rights for Scholarly Purposes

I understand that I retain or am hereby granted the Retained Rights. The Retained Rights include the right to use the Preprint, Accepted Manuscript, and the Published Journal Article for Personal Use and Internal Institutional Use.

All journal material is under a 12 month embargo. Authors who would like to have their articles available as open access should contact Sagamore-Venture for further information.

In the case of the Accepted Manuscript and the Published Journal Article, the Retained Rights exclude Commercial Use, other than use by the author in a subsequent compilation of the author’s works or to extend the Article to book length form or re-use by the author of portions or excerpts in other works.

Published Journal Article: the author may share a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI.

Author Representations

  • The Article I have submitted to the journal for review is original, has been written by the stated author(s) and has not been published elsewhere.
  • The Article was not submitted for review to another journal while under review by this journal and will not be submitted to any other journal.
  • The Article contains no libelous or other unlawful statements and does not contain any materials that violate any personal or proprietary rights of any other person or entity.
  • I have obtained written permission from copyright owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources in the Article.
  • If the Article was prepared jointly with other authors, I have informed the co-author(s) of the terms of this Journal Publishing Agreement and that I am signing on their behalf as their agent, and I am authorized to do so.