To address these issues, Koç University aims to promote work-life balance and a family-friendly workplace. The university plans to raise awareness about the need for organizational culture change, extend parental benefits to all employees, establish a funding scheme to support research after family-related breaks, redefine care responsibilities in policies and regulations, and develop work-life balance learning and development programs for academic staff.
Additionally, the university aims to reduce gender inequalities in academic care labor and promote the equal distribution of administrative tasks. To achieve this, KU will establish a Care and Equality Task Force, gather data on gendered practices of academic care labor and unequal distribution of administrative tasks, raise awareness about gendered academic care work, and include academic care labor and administrative work in performance evaluations.
Finally, KU plans to future-proof the well-being of its employees and prepare for future shocks like Covid-19 by developing an institutional framework to increase adaptive capacity and institutional resilience. Targeted efforts will protect employees against gendered effects on work-life balance and productivity.