Graduate Studies & Research will be putting on a Work-Life Balance presentation, given by Katie Korpi, director of Career Services at NMU. The workshop will be from noon to 1 p.m. on April 20 in Harden 224.

According to the Hub, the workshop will discuss ways to create healthy boundaries in professional settings in order to balance career and personal goals along with facilitating better mental health. 

Janelle Taylor, coordinator of Graduate Student and Research Affairs, said that students that graduate and find themselves in a new job are faced with the task of creating boundaries with employers. 

“They are often expected to give feedback on projects they are given and say things like, “I think this is too much for me to handle right now,” or “This project goes beyond my job description”. Those are hard things to say sometimes,” Taylor said. “We want to help students learn how to say those things and how to do it in a way that is helpful to them and their employer.”

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United States ranks 29th out of 40 countries in regard to Work-Life Balance. Moreover, a study done by NBCI found that employees working more than 35 – 40 hours a week resulted in sleep disturbances. 

“A person’s life outside of their role as a worker is just as important as their life at work. With our constant access to technology, professionals, especially young ones, are able to work all the time, and are sometimes expected to do so,” Taylor said. “This topic [presentation] is a conversation about finding your boundaries for work and setting them.”

Taylor said this is a presentation they put on yearly in order to help students that are graduating and getting ready to transition into the workforce. Additionally, it opens up a line of communication between Career Services and students that are not yet ready to graduate. 

“Whether this is a new concept to them [students] or whether it is something they are actively doing and want to improve on, participating in conversations about it is always a step in the right direction,” said Taylor. 

For students that are unable to attend or just seeking help regarding career exploration and/or placement, Career Services is available to students and alumni.