Work-life balance - You've never had it so good?? Dr. Jessie Hey Electronics and Computer Science WiSET work-life balance event University of Southampton.

Work-life balance - You've never had it so good??

Dr. Jessie HeyElectronics and Computer Science

WiSET work-life balance eventUniversity of Southampton

26 June 2008

You've never had it so good -

• A few thoughts:

• Big plus: Facilities/financial incentives for work with children are now much better • Big minus: commuting is much greater today – swallowing up time unless you use

technology well• Family life: once upon a time we used to write postcards home once a month or phone

once a week• Now we email, phone, text, webcam, • And Facebook, Flickr, fly to meet up

• A quotation by Harold Macmillan, British Prime Minister.• Origin:• In 1957, Harold Macmillan, made a speech in Bedford, UK, to his fellow Conservatives in

which he gave the opinion that "Let us be frank about it: most of our people have never had it so good". In the speech he celebrated the success of Britain's post-war economy while at the same time urging wage restraint and warning against inflation. He was mimicking the line of the US Democratic Party which used 'You never had it so good' as a slogan in the 1952 US election campaign.

• Seems appropriate for a UK/US family life approaching a life of eco-restraint (we have a hybrid car at least on both sides of the Atlantic!)

Looking back

• I will just look back and reflect a little at how things were for us as a family

• Childcare and flexible working have changed out of all recognition

• It should, in principle, be easier for you!

Oxford and Oxfordshire days

• Undergraduate:• Physics – practicals - more time working than arts• 2nd year – no exams – time to play hard too• 3rd year – work hard, play hard – croquet on the college

lawn before finals• Summer commuting to Harwell lab near Oxford by bus

• Certificate of Education – stricter hours (at least in principle) - treated more like a teenager than grown-up student

• Teaching – shorter set hours but marking and preparation - flexible (if time consuming for new teacher)

• 1st experience of regular commuting out of town

Caltech, Caterpillar, CERNPoor but fun and time to explore…

• 2 years in Los Angeles - husband had Harkness Fellowship – little money but a car to travel around the US

• ambassadors for Britain but hiking, camping, mountaineering – a wonderful way to see America, make friends

• Couldn’t use my teaching qualification in US• My jobs – from nanny to ‘pre digital librarian’ on Physics faculty project at Caltech• Climbed Mt Whitney, Mt Rainier… more later

• 2 years in Geneva – working for Caterpillar – poor (by International organisation standards) but good for expanding French, working and living in centre of Geneva

• Working at CERN – ‘librarian’ – poorish, wonderful experience for future library career, service hours but playing hard: hiking, skiing….. Library team won the round CERN race

• Sometimes get a chance to go back again to workshops!

Studying again for a profession…

• Diploma in Library and Information Studies

• At North London Poly

• Had to commute to London from Southampton (2 hours commute to attend a 9 o’clock lecture but commuters from Southampton were few then)

Working as a professional

• Followed by working to be a Chartered librarian (now called MCLIP) and beyond

• Deputy Librarian at Southampton Institute of Higher Education (Southampton Solent University)

• Working set hours – gave time to work on the new house and attend German evening classes, and go to the film club after an evening duty

Southampton Solent University, previously known as Southampton Institute, obtained its university title in August 2005. We have 16,000 students.

The New World

• No option then of part-time after baby so took opportunity to enjoy new experiences -went on sabbatical to Boston (husband at MIT for a semester)

• Back to Caltech for sabbatical with 2nd child 2 years later

• Back to New York State with 3rd child several years later

Managing libraries and researching digital library services

• Manager Library and Learning Centre for IBM UK Labs – the short anti-commute for 12 years

• Nannies needed – managers only worked full time• Secondment after maternity leave setting up child care

information services in Hampshire – more flexible • University of Southampton – library user services –

working service hours • Then digital library projects and part time PhD – flexible

but open ended

• Still a little time to run the odd marathon or half

Kids growing up – need job to be still quite close to home

• Husband’s job expands from Southampton

• To UK – director e-Science core programme – lots of travel

• To US – VP Technical Computing Initiative Microsoft and then Microsoft Research with additional Seattle base and more global travel

From Southampton to Seattle via 3 kids

• A European – US axis of life• Childcare almost finished after 30 years!• Expanding horizons• eg Xmas in Seattle

Now we get to see the mountainwe climbed when we were 24from our house on the lake

Photos: Olympics, US home and Mt Rainier

Nancy Hey on Flickr

Working at keeping the work-LIFE balance

• Taking the kids and now the spouses! – they seem to have inherited the enthusiasm for mountains and wild places

• Taking advantage of Alaska Airlines flying from our Seattle home

Sorry I’m not here today

• In Seattle for the Farewell Event for Bill Gates• Web-camming Southampton yesterday morning

5.30am for EdSpace project meeting• Working from the study by Lake Washington• Never quite get the work-life balance right but

wonderful opportunities for us and the kids• And work can be rather like the rest

– the recent Learning Societies Lab

away day!