Dr. Linda Duxbury
Workplace Wellness Pioneer - Work, Family and the Bottom Line
Style
Duxbury’s speeches are funny and incredibly well informed. Her work has been the basis of a number of government initiatives and she knows exactly what it takes for your business to compete in the shifting economy.
Books
Profile
Linda Duxbury is a Professor at the Sprott School of Business, Carleton University. She received an MASc in Chemical Engineering and a PhD in Management Sciences from the University of Waterloo. Within the past decade she has completed major studies on Balancing Work and Family in the Public, Private, and Not For Profit Sectors; HR and Work-Family Issues in the Small Business Sector; Management Support (What is it and Why does it Matter?); Career Development in the Public Sector and in the High Tech Sector; generational differences in work values.
Dr. Duxbury also conducts research that evaluates the organizational and individual impacts of E-mail, portable offices, cellular telephones, telework, flexible work arrangements, shift work, regular part-time work and on-site day care programs, change management and studying what makes a "supportive" manager. She has recently completed a major a follow-up study on work-life balance in which 32,800 Canadian employees participated.
Dr. Duxbury has published widely in both the academic and practitioner literatures in the areas of work-family conflict, supportive work environments, stress, telework, the use and impact of office technology, managing the new workforce, and supportive management. She has also given over 250 plenary talks on these issues to both public and private sector audiences.
Within the business school at Carleton, Dr. Duxbury teaches fourth year, Masters, and PhD courses in Managing Change as well as the Masters course in Organizational Behaviour. Dr. Duxbury is also an accomplished trainer and speaker in the area of supportive work environments, gender and communication, and the communication process.
Dr. Duxbury held the Imperial Life Chair in Women and Management from 1992 to 1996 and was director of Carleton Centre for Research on Education on Women and Work from 1996 to 1999. In 1999 she was appointed to the Fryer Commission on Labour-Management Relations in the Federal Government. In May 2000 Dr. Duxbury was awarded the Public Service Citation from the Association of Public Service Executives for her work on supportive work environments. In Oct. 2002 she was awarded the Canadian Workplace Wellness Pioneer Award for her "pioneering efforts, creativity, innovation, and leadership" in the field of organizational health.
In 2002-03 she won the Carleton University Students' Association 2002-2003 Teaching Excellence Award for her "ability to convey enthusiasm, responsibility in teaching practices, approachability, and communication skills."
In 2003-04 she was awarded the Canadian Pension and Benefits National Speaker Award, and won the Sprott MBA Student Society "Best Teacher Award" for her "ability to effectively convey complex concepts and theories to her students, challenge, empower, and stimulate her students intellectually, mentor her students and create a fun, open, and friendly class atmosphere."
Dr. Linda Duxbury is one of Canada’s leading workplace health researchers. She has written hundreds of papers, journals, and books and is the co-author of a series of influential Health Canada reports about work-life balance in Canada.
In the last decade, a major focus of her research has been on work/family balance in both public and private sectors, small business, and technology companies. In the course of this research, over 100,000 Canadians were surveyed or interviewed, making it one of the largest research studies of its kind. She has influenced government policy-making and significantly advanced the practices and attitudes toward work-life balance.
Duxbury draws on over 1500 interviews when she makes statements about Canadian and global trends. Her governmental report, Voices of Canadians: Seeking Work-Life Balance, is a compilation of comments by Canadian workers regarding how they feel about the stresses they face in their daily lives as they seek to balance work and family.
Clients Comments
"She was relevant, thought provoking and very entertaining." - Association of Management, Administrative & Professional Crown Employees of Ontario
Topics
- STANDING STILL IS NOT AN OPTION: Why Organizations Need to Focus on Workplace Health and Well-being
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In this talk, Duxbury explores key aspects of workplace health and well-being, identifying the effects that overwork and stress have on workplace morale, productivity and efficiency, why this matters to organizations, and what can be done to improve our approach to and management of this widespread problem.
- CAPABLE MANAGERS: The Scarcest Resource of All
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The talk starts by outlining the behaviours associated with good and poor management and Dr. Duxbury looks at the difference having a supportive manager and environment makes to key employee and organizational outcomes. The last part of the talk focuses on why many managers are having difficulty with the "People part of the job" and outlines a number of solutions. The final section of the talk offers suggestions to managers on how to manage upwards and what kinds of things managers can personally do within their own section.
- MANAGING A CHANGING WORKFORCE
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This talk discusses the challenges ahead. It outlines the key generational differences that need to be managed, provides suggestions on the different challenges can be addressed and provides information on the key role of leaders and managers.
- YOU, ME AND THEM: Dealing with Generational Differences in the Workforce
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This talk will deal with why the different generations think and feel the way they do and give information on recruiting, retaining and motivating the different age cohorts.