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
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, CERN
Poor 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 mountain
we climbed when we were 24
from 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!