August 2, 2006
The Workplace Flexibility 2010 News Roundup is a compilation of the latest news articles, reports and other materials related to workplace flexibility. The News Roundup appears twice-weekly. If you have questions about any of the items, please contact Jennifer Hedrick at jlh62@law.georgetown.edu.
Articles
Women's Deliberation
"As a philosopher, Linda R. Hirshman is in a field where death threats are not typically an occupational hazard. Until now. Hirshman has come out ardently in the media in favor of working mothers, so much so that she's invoked the wrath of a host of ‘mommy bloggers,’ also known as SAHM, stay-at-home-mothers, as well as a death threat that prompts her to not reveal where she lives. A former professor at Brandeis University, she and her husband, who has a different last name, live ‘somewhere’ in New York State.”
When Work is so Homelike, There's No Need to be at Home
"We are at the halfway point of summer. About now we begin to note how fast it's going. Some folks like to take their vacation at the end of August, but most of us can't wait that long for a little time away. But who, these days, is really away from work when they are ‘away’? Oh, we laugh at the guy with the cell phone in the woods and the woman tap-tapping on a laptop at the beach. Most of us don't go that far, but we do check our e-mail, or leave our hotel phone number ‘just in case.’ Technology, we've learned to say, has revolutionized the way we work."
The Problem of a Pregnant Pause
"Ten days before Karen Wright was scheduled to return to work after a six-month maternity leave, she received a shock: Her employer was transferring her to another position, still to be determined. ‘I was stunned, to say the least,’ says Mrs. Wright, who had spent six years as a university media relations director. ‘My reviews had been excellent, so I had no reason to believe I would lose my job.’ When she finally returned three months later to another position in the same division, she agreed in writing to accept a lower salary. ‘I wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't happened to me,’ Wright says. She is hardly alone.”
When a Family Pays for the Home Office
" …when you work from home and don't have a traditional office you drive to each morning, every place becomes your workspace: car, airplane, airport, bed, couch, hotel room, backyard patio and, of course, the home office itself. As a result, your work knows no traditional time clock. There's always a little something more you can do. And with a home office in particular, when your desk is just steps away, it's hard to close the door at quitting time and walk away from the job until tomorrow. Every time there's a lull in my day, or night, the room draws me in.”
Part-Time Partners: Making it Work
"For many women, success in law seems to come with an “either/or” choice: Either sacrifice family for success, or find another job with more manageable hours. While female associates still leave law firms at higher rates than their male counterparts, others are refusing to make this choice. Instead, these women are proving that lawyers can be just as successful on a part-time schedule—even achieving the rank of partner. While it’s not always easy to request a part-time work arrangement, many women who have done it say that they have been able to make it work.”