In a new blog post for economicdevelopment.org, Jennifer Schnier (MAES, Ec.D(F), CEcD) argues that economic developers are overworked and under compensated. Can economic developers achieve a better work-life balance? Read the full article to find out!

Excerpt: "The time has come to review traditional work hours and determine how the economic development professional can continue to meet the changing needs of our economy without burning out in the meantime. This is important to me because I hear of tensions in the workplace from the many colleagues I meet at various conferences for economic development. I knew this was not an isolated problem and wanted to provide some quantifiable context to the issue.  My theory is that administrators need to better understand the economic landscape to gain the necessary assurances that work can be completed by EDPs with increased levels of autonomy.   In my major research paper for the University of Waterloo’s Local Economic Development master’s program, I had the opportunity to build support for my theory and explore the barriers faced by EDPs in their work environment."