December 2019
Sending our best holiday wishes your way !

From all of us here at BCCWF, w e hope you and yours have a happy and healthy holiday season.
2020 will mark our 30th Anniversary and we look forward to engaging with all of our members and colleagues to mark this important milestone.


Reflections on Work & Life
Mental Health for the Holidays
Jennifer Sabatini Fraone, Director of Corporate Partnerships
During the holidays, messages everywhere tell us to be merry and joyful, but for some, the season can be anything but. This time of year can bring on or intensify stress, anxiety and depression. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 64% of people with mental illness report the holidays make their conditions worse. The holidays can be stressful for people on many fronts; pressures to spend money on gifts, go out to eat, drink, socialize and make it all appear picture-perfect can be exhausting. For people who have lost family members or are estranged from their families, the holidays can bring a painful reminder of what or whom is missing.  Read more on LinkedIn .
BCCWF News & Events
Since the release of our new study on Expanded Paid Parental Leave , this research has been cited in a number of media outlets such as The New York Times , The Guardian , Medium , Care@Work , Parents at Work , and The Swaddle . This latest report in the New Dad Research Series compares the leave experiences and attitudes of over 1,200 new mothers and fathers who were eligible for at least 6 weeks of gender-neutral, paid parental leave. We invite you to attend a webinar on January 23rd at 12pm ET to hear the highlights of this study.

We have just released a new report in our Executive Briefing Series on Mental Health in the Workplace . Please read this month's blog for additional information. We encourage you to read the briefing and share it with colleagues as a resource.. Many thanks to Prudential for their support of this important publication!

We are already busy planning our Spring 2020 events! If you'd like to learn more about our corporate partnership opportunities, you can check out the  BC Workforce Roundtable   and  BC Work & Family Association , or email  cwf@bc.edu .

The future of work, evolution of leadership and changing nature of work are things I put a great deal of focus on in my everyday life. With the way technology is constantly disrupting and driving the way we approach our places of work, it can be really challenging to predict trends.

A new study has found that managers with access to mental health training in their workplaces have an improved understanding of mental health overall and that they actively work to help prevent mental health issues in the people they manage.

Rather than thinking caregiving is something only women should do, Americans’ attitudes toward men giving care and taking caregiving leaves are evolving. Based on a nationally representative survey and five online focus groups, this report points to key barriers men face that may prevent them from taking time off from work to engage in caregiving.

Since 2015, the annual Women in the Workplace benchmarking report has surveyed more than a quarter-million employees. That research shows us how better sponsorship and improved training to counter unconscious bias can speed our progress to gender equality.

One of the great gifts of social media is the safe space it has created for Millennials and GenZs to creatively express their views on issues that matter, such as climate change, money, education, health care, cute animals, beauty and, of course, generational warfare.

Although many organizations have made great strides in becoming more diverse and inclusive, news headlines demonstrate how far we still have to go before all employees have full opportunities to contribute and succeed and workforces reflect the demographics of society.