September 28, 2007
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
Work from Home Needs Monitoring
“IF I CAN'T SEE YOU, I don't know if you're doing your job. That's been the conventional wisdom managers have held and one reason many haven't been keen on letting workers telecommute. But the option of doing work from home, a coffee shop or anywhere you could set up a computer and phone, seems to have caught on — and not just for information technology workers.”
He's Happier, She's Less So
"Last year, a team of researchers added a novel twist to something known as a time-use survey. Instead of simply asking people what they had done over the course of their day, as pollsters have been doing since the 1960s, the researchers also asked how people felt during each activity. Were they happy? Interested? Tired? Stressed… Over [time] women have replaced housework with paid work — and, as a result, are spending almost as much time doing things they don’t enjoy as in the past. Forty years ago, a typical woman spent about 23 hours a week in an activity considered unpleasant, or 40 more minutes than a typical man. Today, with men working less, the gap is 90 minutes.”
Headquarters at Home and Proud to be There
"With about 50 percent of businesses in the United States based out of the home…transparency is likely to become more common. ‘Place honestly doesn’t matter anymore,’ said Maggie Jackson, author of ‘What’s Happening to Home’ (Sorin Books 2002). ‘It is no longer a faux pas to have a life at the other end of the telephone line.’ Ms. Jackson said. ‘It can make you feel like you’re dealing with a holistic person. And it is just another sign that we are moving away from the industrial age in that we no longer have two totally separate spheres called work and home.’”
The Business Case for Older Workers
"'The workforce is changing, and skills shortages are already plaguing many sectors of the economy. That’s why employers should be learning to attract and retain workers who are age 50 and over.’ Kathleen Rapp of the AARP shared her insights on those issues with an audience of HR professionals at the 7th Annual Vermont Human Resources Conference, held here Sept. 17-18, 2007. Some employers, such as Stanley Consultants of Muscatine, Iowa, have formalized phased retirement programs, which are designed to allow employees to move into retirement gradually by reducing their work schedules and allowing them to continue to receive a portion of their salaries as well as benefits such as health care and pension funds.”
Reports
The State of Responsible Business: Global Corporate Response to Environmental, Social and Governmental Challenges
"EIRIS is a leading global provider of independent research into the social, environmental and governance (ESG) performance of companies. Over the past quarter of a century EIRIS has conducted detailed research on the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on behalf of investors in the UK and abroad.” This report mentions flexible work arrangements and their relevancy on pages 9, 31, 33, 34 and 80.
The 2007 Urban Mobility Report
"Congestion is a problem in America’s 437 urban areas and it is getting worse in regions of all sizes. Congestion caused urban Americans to travel 4.2 billion hours more and to purchase an extra 2.9 billion gallons of fuel for a congestion cost of $78 billion (Exhibit 1). This was an increase of 220 million hours, 140 million gallons and $5 billion from 2004. THE solution to this problem is really to consider implementing ALL the solutions.” One potential solution is flexible work arrangements. See pages 14, 27 and 29 of the report.