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exploreexploreAn examination of Catholic identity and Ignatian character in Jesuit higher education SPRING 2004 . VOL. 7 . NO. 2 Balancing Work and Family Dennis Moberg explores problems and prospects Page 4 John Kerrigan asks: What is a life well led? Page 18 Kathy Potter grades her life on the curve Page 26 BANNAN CENTER FOR JESUIT EDUCATION From the Center Director Dear Friends, n a recent issue of Newsweek, columnist Robert Samuelson wrote that the common perception that we are working harder than ever is an illusion: “People go I WILLIAM C. SPOHN to work later in life and retire earlier. Housework has Director, Editor declined...Even when jobs and housework are combined, PAUL WOOLLEY total work hours for men and women have dropped” Assistant Director (March 22, 2004). According to economic researchers, peo- ELIZABETH KELLEY GILLOGLY ’93 ple complain more about the time crunch as their incomes Managing Editor rise: “the more money people have, the more things they AMY (KREMER) GOMERSALL ’88 Art in Motion can do with their time; time becomes more valuable, and Designer people increasingly resent that they can’t create more of it.” STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS It is not clear how to square this explanation with the David J. Arata fact that Americans work on average 240 hours more per Margaret M. Bradshaw Louise Bannan Carroll year than their French or German counterparts. Nor is it André L. Delbecq easy to reconcile with the impression that many visitors Tracey Kahan Paul Locatelli, S.J. have of the U. S.: “You people work all the time.” American Gerdenio M. Manuel, S.J. industry and academia demand greater productivity with Teresa B. Nally Dennis Parnell, S.J. the same human resources. Is the concern for balance Mario J. Prietto, S.J. between work and personal life simply an “affliction of affluence”? Our authors in this issue wrestle with this problem of explore is published two times per year by the Bannan Center for Jesuit Education at Santa Clara balance. Family factors, gender differences, workplace struc- University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053-0452. www.scu.edu/bannancenter tures, commuting, and dual-career marriages all contribute 408-551-1951 (tel) 408-551-7175 (fax) to more complicated lives. We are frustrated by the high The views expressed in explore do not necessarily standards that we set for ourselves or that are set by the represent the views of the Center. We welcome your institutions where we work. There is no formula for bal- comments. ance, since it means a dynamic arrangement of combined Founded in 1982, the Bannan Center for Jesuit forces. A harmonic chord has one kind of balance that hints Education, one of four Centers of Distinction at Santa Clara University, assists in maintaining the at resolution, but a gyroscope only functions as long as it University’s Catholic and Jesuit character. The center offers grants for faculty, staff, and students. It sponsors keeps spinning. Life for most of us seems closer to the retreats, lectures, and conferences, and brings religious spinning gyroscope than musical harmony. scholars and leaders to the University to engage in As I hurry to finish this before the deadline, T.S. Eliot’s educational activities. counsel from “Ash Wednesday” comes to mind: “Teach us Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California’s Silicon to care and not to care. Teach us to sit still.” Valley, offers its 8,047 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineer- ing, plus master’s and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the fourth-highest graduation rate among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More William C. Spohn information is online at www.scu.edu Director, Bannan Center for Jesuit Education Copyright 2004 by Santa Clara University. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 5/04 DP-3,800 explore contentsSPRING 2004 4 Work-Family Balance: Problems and Prospects By Dennis J. Moberg. Modern social science provides some important clues about how employees can find balance and how employers can provide a workplace where this is possible. 10 My Juggling Act By Molly McDonald J.D. ’95. A personal essay about making a conscious choice to focus on what to value most in life, and how to protect those choices. 14 A Delicate Balance By Lucila Ramos-Sanchez. A reflection on the challenges of managing both family and career, and how that balancing act affects one’s psychological and emotional wellbeing. 18 What Is a Life Well Led? By John Kerrigan. “If it is true that ‘a man becomes his uniform,’ then I had become my pinstripes,” writes Kerrigan in this personal essay about regaining balance in his life. 22 The Decline of Community and Growth of Hidden Work By James L. Koch. Silicon Valley’s economy and the educational levels and diversity of its workforce have resulted in a decline of community and a rise in hidden work. 26 Grading on the Curve By Kathy Potter. A personal essay about allowing oneself to be less than perfect, to choose a grade lesser than an “A” in certain aspects of life. 30 Bannan Grant Report David Popalisky, SCU professor of dance, describes his experience creating “Barred From Life,” a dance project about the lives of those who are wrongly accused and imprisoned. 34 Coming Events 35 Next Issue explore SPRING 2004 3 BY DENNIS J. MOBERG Gerald and Bonita A. Wilkinson Professor, Department of Management, Santa Clara University Work-Family Balance: Problems and Prospects ew issues have dominated the contempo- buffer them from the excesses of schedules and rary scene more than work-family balance. ambition. The employer experience is similar: FEver since women entered the workforce policy changes do not contain the entire prob- in droves during the 1960s, debates have raged lem and too often shift the burden to “unfami- over issues of quality time, workaholism, and lied” employees. the contemporary necessity of day care. Not What is at stake for employees are two of wanting women to assume total responsibility the most profound of all human attachments: an for work-family imbalances, feminists have attachment to one’s loved ones and an attach- rightfully kept this issue on the front burner. ment to oneself. As such, it is a story repeated a However, the resultant discourse has generated million times a day as workers grapple with the more heat than light. Some employers have many difficult quandaries that require balancing, experimented with accommodations, and many prioritizing, and compromising conflicting employees have made earnest attempts to “keep demands between work and family. Even when it all together.” Yet, satisfactory resolutions to the situation is not urgent, the choices are often the challenge of balancing work and family have faced with enormous anxiety and self-doubt. proved elusive. Too many employees are forced Add to that the almost complete absence of a to rely on the resilience of the family unit to community to support these decisions, and the 4 BANNAN CENTER FOR JESUIT EDUCATION work-family challenge becomes one of contem- I dependent care flexible spending accounts porary life’s most pernicious conundrums. (enabling employee support for child care I do not presume to have all the answers. I or care for disabled or elderly family mem- struggle with work-family balance myself. How- bers) ever, modern social science does provide some I flextime (permitting some flexibility in the important clues about how employees can find hours worked) balance and about how employers can provide a I family leave above that required by the fed- workplace where this is possible. eral Family and Medical Leave Act; I telecommuting on a part-time basis Being a Family-Friendly Employer I compressed workweeks (such as 4/40) There is ample evidence that employers Notable examples of companies that are who actively help their workers balance life and family-friendly employers are Motorola, Eddie work enjoy significant business advantages. Bauer, Hewlett-Packard, and American Express.1 Organizations are delineated “family friendly” if Organizations that offer such benefits not only they have supportive personnel policies. In order become employers of choice, but they also enjoy to qualify as genuinely family friendly, employ- such benefits as lower absenteeism, lower ers must offer these benefits: turnover, and enhanced employee commitment. explore SPRING 2004 5 It would appear that being family friendly is an conceived. One proposal involves hiring two intelligent business proposition. adult members of a family as a unit and asking Unfortunately, however, not all employees in them to work a total of a 60-hour week. In the workforce qualify for benefits supportive of order to provide time and attention to children, work-family balance. Part-time workers, day the couple could divide their hours 30/30 or workers, domestics, and those working at mini- 40/20. A more equal distribution is consistent mum wages are among those who most need with research that shows “… that fathers are help in attaining balance. Yet few employers of happier and healthier if involved in childcare, such workers extend family-friendly policies to just as mothers are happier and healthier if they them.2 Too often, workers at the bottom of the participate in paid work.”4 Moreover, shared economic ladder are viewed as assets to be work situations like these produce greater inti- deployed rather than human resources to be macy between parents and closer bonding to developed. And unfortunately, labor market children than if one parent stayed at home or realities weaken the business case for extending both parents worked full time.5 family-friendly benefits to these employees.

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