U.S. Office of Personnel Management appoints Krannert researcher

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Ellen Kossek, a faculty member in Purdue University's Krannert School of Management, has been appointed to chair the Work/Life Committee for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management for a research summit.

 The federal agency is charged with recruiting and retaining a workforce for all U.S. governmental agencies. The summit will bring together academic researchers, federal practitioners and industry partners to exchange ideas, collaborate and participate in conversations to guide a future research and policy agenda.

Kossek, director of research for the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence, will lead the work/life section of the OPM Research Summit (March 8-9) at the School for Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C.

The Work/Life Committee will make recommendations for a future research policy agenda about how to create a work-life supportive environment for employees while maximizing organizational performance. Programs in this category include worksite health and wellness, employee assistance programs, occupational health, organizational interventions for to prevent work-life stress and conflict, workplace flexibilities, work scheduling and telework, and boundary management of electronic communication and personal computing devices.

Kossek, the Basil S. Turner Professor of Management, has won multiple awards for her research including the 2015 Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for research excellence, the 2014 Work-Life Legacy award for helping to build the work-life movement, and the Academy of Management's Gender and Diversity Division's Sage Scholarly achievement award for advancing understanding of gender and diversity in organizations. She is the first elected president of the Work Family Researchers Network, a SIOP and APA fellow and a founding member of the NIH-funded Work Family Health Network.

Six human capital focus areas will be addressed at the summit: work/life, benefits, performance management, leadership, employee focus and diversity/inclusion. For more information about the conference see: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/human-capital-management/opm-research-summit/ 

Writer: John Hughey, 765-494-2432, hugheyj@purdue.edu

Source: Ellen Ernst Kossek, ekossek@purdue.edu