The holidays come with the pressures of surrounding oneself with family members, traveling, buying last-minute gifts and hearing "Jingle Bells" for the millionth time.

Learning how to cope with this stress was covered in a Dec. 1 brown bag session by Neera Puri, a former Counseling and Psychological Services psychologist. In her lunchtime lecture, she presented "seven tips for the holidays."

Puri's talk was one of 10 in this year's Staff Work/Life Brown Bag Series, which was developed by the university's Work/Life unit.

Puri coached her audience to take advantage of their strengths during the holidays. Now with her own business applying positive psychology to the business world, Puri believes in the importance of identifying one's personality assets.

"People who are able to use their top strengths in work and other aspects of life are the most satisfied," she said.

The brown bags are held at noon in the North Silo's Cabernet Room.

Broad approach

The brown bag series focuses on what Work/Life, Child Care and Family Services manager Barbara Ashby calls the "four strands" — the self, work life, loved ones and the community.

To this end, the talks aim at helping staff members integrate these four critical areas of well-being. More and more, experts say the traditional boundaries between work and personal lives are being challenged — and that people need, and want, guidance.

The lectures, which are free to attend, are led mostly by current or former campus staff members. The talks, scheduled monthly through the end of the school year, cover a broad swath of topics from horticultural therapy to volunteering and requesting alternate work arrangements.

Ashby emphasized that the talks should be fun for participants. "We want a relaxed environment. It's not like someone's coming to hear a lecture and get quizzed on it."

Work/Life Coordinator Paula Shimada agreed. "This is a unique opportunity," she said, urging staff members to "take time for yourselves for your own self-growth."

Shimada became the unit's first coordinator in April, jump-starting its plans and developing ideas. Work/Life, a unit within Human Resources, received its first funds in the spring of 2004. Ashby and Staff Development and Professional Services Director Carina Celesia Moore organized the first Staff Work/Life Brown Bag Series last year.

This year, the department has added a new Web site with the goal of being, as Ashby said, "the front door to get people the services they need." These services can include child care, career counseling and flexible scheduling, among others.

"UC Davis always offered services for work/life, but they were always separate," Ashby said. "We're weaving together programs and services that already existed in one form or another."

The Work/Life brown-bag series was modeled after other staff-oriented series, including the career catalyst and the health awareness series.

Outside lives

Shimada, Ashby and other staff members decided on the topics and speakers in May and June, coming up with subjects that would address the "strands" of self, work life, community and loved ones.

The first talk was a panel discussion on Oct. 13 in which Ashby, Shimada, Moore and Acadamic and Staff Assistance Program Clinical Director Carol Kirshnit discussed the services and resources offered by Work/Life. About 30 people attended.

Ashby believes the series is worthwhile for staff members. She says employees' outside lives are just as important to consider as their work lives.

"Sometimes there's a bit of a backlash, people thinking, 'These are all fluffy, what does it have to do with business?'" Ashby said. "But everyone wins when workers are treated as whole people. They're more productive."