Understanding the role of the home in equipping people for working life

8-9 July 2024 | IESE Business School, Universidad de Navarra, Barcelona, Spain

This Experts Meeting is organised by Home Renaissance Foundation (HRF) in partnership with the International Centre for Work and Family (ICWF-IESE) and the Social Trends Institute which also provides the funding for the project.

The prompt for Nurturing Healthy Relationships at Home and Work is the question of how the home plays a distinctive positive role in equipping people for the relational demands and opportunities of working life, and how these can be harnessed and nurtured. The intention is to hold an Expert Meeting to identify and discern the best ways to support and connect these mutually beneficial healthy relationships at home and at work.

Experts were invited to contribute their own research to:

1. Draw together evidence of how, within the home, personal and social virtues are fostered to build positive relationships.
2. Examine how these attitudes and relational skills contribute beneficially to the culture of workplace settings and business expectations.
3. Design practical instruments and interventions to nurture and enable the maximum mutual benefits of positive relational development at work and home.

Key Questions

1. The Work of the Home

• What are the virtues fostered at home that lead to transferable healthy relationships and attitudes at work?
• How are these attitudes and relationships formed and encouraged in the distinctive and privileged context of the home? (The significance work of the home as a model of service and care.)
• What are the soft skills developed at home that translate into better performance at work?
• What are the habits at home, such as dialoging or dining with others, that translate into higher levels of energy and attitudes that allow companies to give better service to clients?

2. The World of Work

• What are the marks of positive relationships in the culture of the work place and how can they be measured?
• What allows vs. hinders developing positive and quality relationships at work?
• What are the positive relational models of the home that can be applied and encouraged in a work context, and how can this be achieved?

     3. Connected Lives

• What are the relational indicators for an integrated, mutually-supported work/home life?
• How can new ways of work, such as hybrid work or more flexible work, foster better flow of resources between work and non-work?
• How can strong and enriching relationships be intentionally nurtured in the workplace?

Academic Leaders

Mireia Las Heras | Professor of Managing People in Organizations at IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Spain – where she serves as the Director of the International Center for Work and Family.

Yasif Rofcanin | Professor in Organizational Psychology and Human Resource Management at the University of Bath and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Organisation and HRM Division, Ph.D. in Organisational Behaviour and HRM at the University of Warwick -Warwick Business School.

Marc Grau | Professor and a Researcher at the Childcare and Family Policies Chair at Universitat International Catalunya and a WAPPP Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.

Event Programme

Two days, three panels, over 15 experts and a step towards our Open Access publication.

See here the event programme. 

The Social Trends Institute (STI) is an international research centre dedicated to the analysis of globally significant social trends. STI focuses its research on four subject areas: Family; Bioethics; Culture and Lifestyles; and Corporate Governance.  STI pioneered the model of  Expert Meetings and publishes research across these fields. As non-profit and independent centre it offers institutional and financial support to institutions and academics who seek to make sense of emerging social trends and their effects on human communities. STI has been collaborating with HRF since 2015.

Home Renaissance Foundation has led an Experts Meeting focused on Home and Climate Change in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs to find out how homes and families can meet the challenges of climate change.

Conclusions and recommendations to be published soon…

Academics and Experts involved in the partnership:

Gamal Abdelmonem | Professor and Chair of Architecture and Director of the Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Global Heritage at Nottingham Trent University.

Antonio Argandoña | HRF director and Emeritus Professor of Economics and of Business Ethics and holds the “la Caixa” Chair of Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance at IESE Business School, University of Navarra.

Renata Kaczmarska | Social Affairs Officer and a Focal Point on the Family located in the Division for Inclusive Social Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) at the United Nations Secretariat in New York.

SEE HERE THE EVENT PROGRAMME

This Communication Project is “close to home” as within its pages it touches on things closest to us all. When we asked the question “What makes you happy?” we were not looking this time for expert analyses but heartfelt responses. And this is certainly what we received. As you read the thoughts of a rich variety of voices and look at the drawings sent to accompany them it is hard not to be moved. For at the heart of happiness are those we love.

The quality of our relationships has the greatest impact on our lives. Our personal well-being is inextricably linked to how we relate to those around us. There is increasing evidence that health and economic outcomes are also shaped by this – those in strong and stable unions enjoy both the daily and life-long benefits of being in good relationships. Of being able to thrive, not just survive.

At Home Renaissance Foundation we know that good relationships start at home. They are built and modelled when we are young and equip us to build positive relationships. Supporting the home supports the flourishing and well-being of each new generation, as the many young contributors to this report can testify.

We hope you will enjoy reading this report and commend it to you now as an encouragement to value all those things closest to home for us all.

ENGLISH VERSION | HOME AND HAPPINESS

SPANISH VERSION | HOGAR Y FELICIDAD