WorkLife Connections Newsletter
September 2021
WorkLife Team
Spartan helmet icon
The WorkLife Office Student Team
Please welcome our new student team to the WorkLife Office! Bella Berns, Jessie Byelich, Mara Johnson, Emily Littleton, and Hailey Peguero will assist with the implementation of various efforts to help support our staff and faculty across multiple contexts. Reed Howell and Megan Lee will continue to work for another semester. We look forward to their input as we collectively strengthen our community through work-life fit.
FAMILY
Tips to Help Advocate for Your Child
in School
By Jaimie Hutchison 
It is fall, which means back to school! This can be an exciting time for many children, but a difficult time for others. I spent many years counseling adolescents and working with their families, then I spent two years as a school counselor for children in grades 6-12. These experiences gave me a wealth of information on how to seek out support for children when they may be struggling.
MSU COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
Michigan State University is a large campus with many different opportunities. Sometimes, connecting with colleagues who share research interests or values can help make an enormous campus feel more like a community. Below are just a few suggestions about where you might get started. See what groups are available in the MSU community.
Mental Health Resources
While we know the value of care for our mental health throughout the year, COVID-19 has caused additional stressors, even for people who typically have few mental health concerns. Finding ways to cope with stress in a healthy way will make you, the people you care about, and your community stronger. MSU offers a wide range of support for you, your family, and your students.
graphic of global map with arch lines across it. People sillouettes stand across the bottom of the image
Educators are Welcome to
Join a Learning Community
Learning Communities provide safe and supportive spaces for complicated conversations about curriculum and pedagogy. Learning Communities at MSU are free to propose their own topics and determine the structures that best support their inquiries. Accordingly, communities tend to vary greatly in their practices, interests, and agendas. All communities, however, share three things in common: they meet at least eight times across the academic year, explore important educational themes, and welcome all members of MSU’s instructional staff, regardless of rank or discipline.
RESEARCH
person talking with elderly parent
Almost 70% of workers want a career change. They'd take better work-life balance over higher pay.
A new survey from remote and flexible jobs site FlexJobs asked over 4,600 workers about their career paths, and what they're looking for in a job. Of those surveyed, 68% said that they'd "consider changing careers" — and they'd rather change careers to have better work-life balance than to get paid more.
WORK
Aspects of the Work Environment:
WorkLife Guide
Employees’ work environments are very complex, encompassing topics such as culture, work-life fit, flexible work arrangements, psychological safety, transparent communication, cohesion between employees, combatting bullying, and the ergonomics of employees’ workspaces. Workplace culture is an overarching topic that affects many other aspects of employees’ work environments.
HEALTH & WELL-BEING
Value Guided Living
This video focuses on clarifying your values so you that you can direct your time and energy toward value guided living. It introduces the importance of clarifying your values and using your values to effectively navigate challenges in your personal and professional life.
CAREER
Michigan HERC logo
Introduction to Michigan Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC)
As a HERC member, Michigan State University employees have access to a robust suite of webinars, blog posts, and toolkits to elevate DEI practices, in a community with 5,000 other higher education professionals. Visit member.HERCJobs.org to create a free HERConnect login for more information and to take advantage of these resources!
Defining and Finding Your Mentor(s)
Mentorship is a multi-faceted relationship with many benefits for the mentee: advice, sponsorship, extended network, and encouragement. Finding a single mentor that can aid in all facets of your career is unlikely, which is why mentoring networks can be a game changer. To identify the types of mentors that you need for your network, answer these four questions.
EVENTS
Well-being at Work: WorkLife Conference 2021 
Join us virtually for the Well-being at Work Conference on October 21, 2021. Explore the questions that have surfaced the ranks of faculty and staff, supervisors and leaders, focusing on how to create and maintain healthier, happier, workspaces and teams.
Breastfeeding Educational Series
Although breastfeeding is natural, it is a learned skill. This four-part program is designed to give pregnant women and their partners information on preparing to breastfeed and strategies for continuing to breastfeed upon returning to work.

infant on a blanket
New Parent Series: Newborn Traits, Newborn Behaviors