Stories of a family-friendly workplace

An 8-month-old was the youngest attendee at IARC’s annual retreat this year. While colleagues lined up to strategize IARC’s future, they took turns snuggling a squishy baby.

This blending of work and personal life is not particularly unusual at IARC, which, in August 2025, was one of eight employers to receive the Family Friendly Workplace Award from the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce. 

Chemical oceanographer Laura Whitmore was nine months pregnant at the retreat. Several months later — infant son in tow — she and her husband traveled to Kodiak to help mobilize the icebreaker Healy for an expedition to the Arctic Ocean. Though she didn’t go on the cruise, she set up scientific instruments and trained colleagues on how to collect the water samples for her research. 

“I was definitely nervous,” Whitmore remembered. “Like, are we gonna get to the ship, and they're gonna be like, ‘Get that baby off.’” However, her peers were welcoming and flexible, and they understood when she needed to pause to feed and care for her baby.  

Now, Whitmore and her husband both work 60% and share childcare duties. They often bring their toddler to work. He plays on the floor in their offices or naps in a stroller in the lab. He’s been around Whitmore’s scientific instruments so often that “he is a certified technician,” she joked. 

“What IARC does well is there is a community of families here,” said Whitmore. “There is a general positivity around children.”

Juggling kids' needs during the workday falls on IARC dads, too.

Nathan Kettle is a social scientist with IARC’s Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness (ACCAP). During the school year, he is responsible for pickups, after-school activities, middle-of-the-workday appointments and any unexpected needs of his two elementary-aged daughters. He deeply appreciates IARC and ACCAP’s flexibility and their trust that he will get his work done even if it’s not during a standard 9-5 schedule. 

“It makes me proud of where I work,” said Kettle. “Without this flexibility, I would burn out because it wouldn’t be sustainable. This environment enhances the work that I do.” 

Kettle feels that cultivating a family-friendly workplace also leads to positive interactions between colleagues. “It creates a culture of strong team relationships and enhances empathy and cooperation.”

Emily Lescak, IARC’s research coordinator who works remotely from Anchorage, wishes she found IARC earlier. For years, she struggled to find a sustainable balance between work and raising her two daughters.

“I had my first daughter when I was in my last year of my Ph.D., then my second was born the second year of my postdoc. I thought I would never be able to pursue a career in academia. I felt that all these doors slammed behind me,” Lescak remembered. “It just felt like it was a place where I didn't belong.” 

The expectation of a standard 40-hour, in-person work week at another job meant her girls regularly put in 10-hour days between drop-off and pickups. It negatively affected their health and well-being. 

The family-first approach at IARC is supported by director Hajo Eicken’s positive attitude toward kids. Lescak recalled a particularly memorable Zoom meeting when her daughters were curious and chatty and wanted to be included. Eicken engaged them in conversation and pulled out cool trinkets to show the girls. His willingness to spend time talking to her daughters made a lasting impression on Lescak.

Lescak expressed how grateful she is to be back supporting academia without having to sacrifice time with her kids. “I couldn’t ask for a better situation!”

In addition to the unparalleled flexibility and welcoming family atmosphere at IARC, the Broadening Participation Working Group is looking at ways to improve infrastructure. Members are considering things like adding changing stations in the bathrooms and making a kids' corner in one of the conference rooms.