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Author Suggests STEM Employers Change Their Ways In Order To Gain Young Workers

By John Ostapkovich

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The challenges of juggling work and home life are well-known to a lot of us but a study suggests that they are particularly acute in science fields.

A lot is said about the need to entice young people into STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) but a book from the Association for Women in Science finds not enough is being done to keep them.

Janet Bandows Koster, co-author of Equitable Solutions for Retaining a Robust STEM Workforce: Beyond Best Practices, says employers need to adapt to a see a change in what workers want.

"When we look at the under-40 respondents, both men and women and their need for family-friendly workplaces, their need for mobility, their need for recognition, we really need to start having this conversation about how we are going to keep an innovative workforce."

This is a lot more than telecommuting but reaches into child and elder care, and ways to keep credentials sharp. Koster says "the big ah-hah" of the study is that the workplace has to change if you want these younger workers in it.

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