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About Us

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Wherever you are in your life, work or academic journey, Stanford’s WorkLife Office provides the support and resources you need to navigate the ever-changing and competing demands of career, family and life, and chart a path toward professional and personal fulfillment that works for you. 

Whether starting or adding to your family, finding time for the activities you enjoy, maintaining your wellness or caring for aging relatives, the Stanford WorkLife team understands that life is rarely simple and we recognize that solutions to these challenges are as unique as each member of the diverse and global university community we serve.

We offer a comprehensive range of programs and services designed to help you plan ahead for predictable life events, as well as handle those unexpected challenges that come your way.

Our WorkLife team is made up of individuals who, like you, are working every day to live our best lives, spend time with family and friends and accomplish great things at work. We are here to help you do the same.

Please contact us if you have a question.

History

Stanford’s first formal child care program opened in 1970 at the old Stanford Elementary School on Mayfield and Santa Ynez. Since then, thousands of young children and their families have benefited from Stanford’s excellent child care programs, which are aligned with the desires of founders Leland and Jane Stanford. They wished to provide a high-quality educational experience to all children as a way to honor the memory of their own child, whom they lost at a young age.

Today Stanford is recognized as a leader in delivering effective and high-quality programs in support of all aspects of employees’ work and life, including innovative and generous financial assistance programs for child care and adoption. We are proud to have been the first university to be included in the Working Mother 100 Best Places to Work.

We actively participate in and assume leadership roles in work-life and child-focused organizations such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the College and University Work-Life-Family Association, of which Stanford was a founding member. Through these activities and our constant engagement with Stanford staff, students and faculty, we continue to refine and improve our programs aimed at the intersection of work, family and life.