CommentsThe Stories / Sharon Bridburg

I feel very fortunate to have worked at MIT through the period when I was starting a family and having a family. Over the years, I have asked for a range of different, flexible arrangements, whether it's just a shift in my hours or working a reduced schedule. Going to four days when I had two small children at home, to doing some telecommuting. And I've had a range of different supervisors, and they've all been very supportive of  my proposals. over the years.

I think we try very hard at MIT to try and accommodate to the best we can peoples' arrangements and to really try and manage peoples' work-life balance. You know, it's hard. Because it's a pretty intense place. And the workload is intense. But in many ways I think there's a willingness to be creative here. You know, to think about it creatively as a sort of a problem. How do we make this work for everybody involved so that we can again retain. It really is about retaining staff. Through making the investment in staff that we know pays off longer term.