Since July 2013, SIOP and Lewis-Burke Associates LLC have collaborated to make I-O science and research accessible to federal and congressional policy makers.  SIOP has embedded a foundational government relations infrastructure within the organization, enabling SIOP to develop an authoritative voice as a stakeholder in science policy in Washington, D.C. and to promote SIOP as a vital resource for evidence-based decision making.

Like most of you, I’ve spent much of February absorbed by the thrilling coverage of Olympic curling, an athletic spectacle unlike any other. As a good Canadian, I’ve spent many an evening screaming “Hurry! Hard!” at the TV in a fit of ecstatic simpatico with the vigorously sweeping titans gliding down the sheet, graceful as a cheetah scratching its chin. The strategizing, the polite sportsmanship, the coordinated yelling—these are groups working at their groupiest! Coincidentally, I have just started overseeing a set of student group projects in my undergraduate research methods class, with hopes for similarly lofty levels of excitement and achievement.

After focusing on nothing but researching and teaching since entering the tenure track, one of the fun pieces—I hope—posttenure will be figuring out how to shift my time around. Part of this shift will ideally be to regain a bit of work-life balance that has vanished since I started my PhD program 10 (!) years ago. I admit that this vanishing act was intentional, and I created it because I love my job, and that means work doesn’t always feel like “work.” However, I recently read this article by Katerina Bodovski on The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “Why I Collapsed on the Job,” and many of the points hit home and fit with my own struggles that I have detailed here.

Blockchain seems to be all the techno-rage these days.  It is the technology underlying the cryptocurrency Bitcoin and the many altcoins that have come after it, such as Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Ethereum.  Blockchain is poised to “disrupt” several industries, and consultancies like Deloitte claim that HR disruption is ahead.

To understand what might be disrupted and if I-O psychology should care, we need to dig a bit into what exactly blockchain is, what it does, and what potential it offers.  The best way to understand a technology is to recreate it yourself—think about how many years ago you learned ANOVA by creating a summary table by hand—so in this article, we will create a small blockchain using R to illustrate just how simple the basic concept is.  But first, let’s walk through it with words.

One might think that graduate students in I-O psychology would be quite adept at achieving work–life balance. After all, researchers in this field have studied the subject for over 30 years (Greenhaus & Allen, 2011)! Furthermore, many I-O graduate students read about the work–life interface in their coursework and study it for their theses, dissertations, and collaborative research projects. Of course, having a theoretical understanding of work–life balance is one thing, but knowing how to implement those principles successfully is something else entirely. In reality, achieving work–life balance is often a struggle for graduate students, given the rigorous and unstructured nature of graduate schoolwork. Graduate students often need to juggle a variety of ongoing assignments and duties (e.g., extensive course readings, independent research, teaching). As a result, they may struggle to put down their work, which can make it difficult for them to enjoy their leisure time and take care of household responsibilities.