April 11, 2008.
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 WF2010@law.georgetown.edu.
Articles
Raise Your Voice
“Although our group is still in its infancy, we have already begun discussions with the Graduate School about forming safety, leave and support policies for graduate students who are pregnant or have children and need additional flexibility. Let’s face it: Graduate school often coincides with when people start having children. Such changes are important for recruitment and retention of graduate students at Emory. Last February, professor Pamela Stone (Hunter College) addressed the Emory community regarding the reality of balancing work and family in high-powered careers. The perception has been that women who quit their careers to raise their children are “opting out.” However, many women are in fact shut out from their careers by the absence of policies or largely ineffective ones to help them balance dual responsibilities, despite their desires to continue work…. The issues she raises, however, are central to academic career paths, beginning in graduate school.”
Spend Your Vacation at Home and Return Really Rested
“I think there are new innovative ways to think of vacation,” said Lois Backon, vice president of the Families and Work Institute. A 2005 study by the group found that up to one-third of employees who get paid vacation time don’t use it all…. She said it’s important for your employer's’s bottom line as well as your own mental health to get away from the office once in a while. Employees who don’t take all their vacation time report feeling overworked with much higher stress levels than those who do use all their vacation time, Backon said. The more overworked, the more likely these employees were to make mistakes on the jobs, resent other co-workers who do take time off and have more unscheduled absences."
Adapting to Absenteeism
“Most workers take mental-health days or call out sick to take care of family or personal issues, but many time-off policies remain mired in the 1960s, when there were few dual-income households and less desire for work/life balance…. Yet most businesses have not adapted their absenteeism policies to accommodate workers who need time off for family and personal emergencies, says Ellen Kossek, a professor of labor and industrial relations at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich.”
Comeback Careerists: Reinventing Work After Time Away
“Of course, not all stories of women (or men) engineering a career comeback are as rosy. In fact, 93% of highly qualified professional women who have left the work force and been out for just over two years, are trying to get back in says Sylvia Ann Hewlett, the founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy and author of "Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success. "Though 74% do find work, only 40% say they are gainfully employed in full-time, mainstream jobs.”
It's in the Jeans
“Denim dads have a new style and attitude about what it means to be a man with kids. Without much soul-searching or critical thinking, they've made parenthood and the maintenance of a household a priority equal to, or sometimes even surpassing, career. Consider some revealing numbers: Today's moms spend about the same amount of time doing things with and taking care of their kids as moms did 25 years ago, but modern-day dads spend twice as much time with their kids, according to a study by the Families and Work Institute. Having enough flexibility in their work schedules to allow for this increased familial involvement often means more to them than climbing the corporate ladder.”
Next Phase of Working at Home: Leaving Home
“More than a decade after the Internet allowed millions of people to work at home, the next phase of telecommuting involves, well, not working at home. Organized "coworking" -- the concept of working solo alongside like-minded independents -- has spread to dozens of cities…. Coworking is gaining popularity as number of single-person businesses in the United States is skyrocketing. The nation added nearly 4 million one-person businesses between 2000 and 2005, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.”
The Best Ways to Bulletproof Your Job
“Even if you have negotiated a flexible schedule or you frequently telecommute, start showing your face in the office more often. It's harder for most bosses to lay off people they see every day than those who come in only now and then, says John Challenger, CEO of outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas.”
Six Smart Steps for Potential Stay-at-Home Dads
“There are many routes to work-family balance. For some, it’s a matter of finding a workplace that allows you to put family first without sacrificing a paycheck. For others, going the at-home route is the most attractive option. Becoming an at-home dad is as easy as telling your boss “I quit,” but it should be approached like any other life change — with a good deal of clear-headed consideration. There are six steps that all would-be at-home dads (and their wives) should take to fully understand their choice and prepare for the consequences…. Law professor Joan Williams has suggested that workers be allowed to work part-time, with an accordingly pro-rated salary — and benefits and advancement.”
Somerville Man Advocates for Home Health Care Workers at State House
“A proposal to increase wages and offer paid days off and state-sponsored health benefits for home health care workers won loud support at the [Massachusetts] State House on Tuesday but skeptics worry the plan will cost too much. With demand for health care services expected to grow along with the swelling numbers of aging Baby Boomers, advocates of the measure say the proposal would slow the extreme turnover of workers jumping to higher-paying retail or restaurant jobs. Advocates say inconsistent care is a hardship for elderly and disabled patients, who need help with cleaning, bathing and cooking.”
Blogs
FMLA 15 Years Old
“Today I attended the “15th Anniversary of Family Medical Leave Act: Achievements and Next Steps” hearing on Capitol Hill. The House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held the hearing. A distinguished panel of experts testified on the history, implementation and future of FMLA. The first person to testify was the Department of Labor’s Assistant Secretary for Employment Standards Victoria Lipnic. Victoria’s testimony focused on the DOL’s experience at administering FMLA and the recently published Notice of Proposed Rule Making on FMLA. “
Getting Beyond the At-Home Dad Thing
Last week, I had my 15 minutes of fame, appearing on the Today Show as something of an expert on at-home fathers. That was a somewhat uncomfortable position to be in: I haven't been an at-home dad by any definition for a couple of years, despite my continued interest and blogging… But I'm increasingly mystified by the press attention paid to at-home fathers. At the end of day, what I did during my tenure as an at-home dad was no different from what the moms in my neighborhood were up to. My growing discomfort is part of the reason that I've been writing more and more about work-life balance, which is an issue that is important for both the go-to-work set and the at-home set. “
Salon.com Fans the Flames of the Mommy Wars
“I hate even writing the term "Mommy Wars" any more, because even saying "the Mommy Wars are bogus" subtly reinforces the concept…. But, now that we're discussing it, here are my distilled thoughts on this issue: Motherhood is not about choice. Women don't often get to choose whether they work or choose whether they stay home. What if two women seek jobs, and one finds affordable childcare and the other one doesn't? Why on Earth do we try to pit those two women, or any two women for that matter, against each other? When it comes right down to it we are all facing similar challenges. Economic privilege and good luck may give some of us more options, but it's not really about choice.”
IBM Grows Emptier as Tucson Workers Report to "Virtual Office"
“More than 40 percent of your workers don't come to the office every day. But you don't care when or where they work, as long as they get the job done well. That's the IBM way of work-life balance. The company, which has about 1,450 full-time-equivalent jobs in Southern Arizona, is studying its increasingly virtual work force and is one of the corporate subjects of a research project at Northeastern University in Boston. "When employees have flexibility and autonomy on when and where they work, they're more productive and more committed to the business," said Andrea Jackson, IBM's manager of work-life, flexibility and mobility.”
When Flextime Isn't Working
“Rather than punishing all workers, management needs to overhaul the system to develop greater employee accountability for using flexibility and meeting performance objectives. Decision rules for accessibility and communication such as ensuring coverage for answering the phones on Fridays for departments whose employees have the option of working a four-day week need to be developed. One approach is to offer flexibility as a privilege rather than a right, and limit it to workers who are above-average performers, and only when coverage is in place to ensure the public and managers can talk to real people and not voice mail. If these conditions can be met, most good-performing workers should have access to flextime as part of a total workplace rewards strategy. This is a key tool for talent recruitment and retention that will benefit the state over the long run.
Revolution Anyone?
Let's change the dialogue starting with the language. From now on, there are no longer any so-called "Mommy Wars" there is now a bona fide "Mothers Revolution." To be part of it you have to love your kids and want to create a happy family whatever shape it takes. From now on, there are no WM, SAHM, WAHM -- we are all Working Moms however you define it, whatever you do. "Part-time" is hereby renamed a "condensed work-week." A "job-share" is now a "dual-talent-work project." There is family business and company business and both have equal value. A ballet recital or doctor’s appointment is family business and you needn't make any excuses when you take an hour to attend to it.
Global News
Work Family Flow Creates Better Workers and Better Parents
"A major US study by the Families and Work Institute, found that work can be good for family life and family life can be good for work. So work and family are not on separate ends of a seesaw. They are interconnected. Positive Psychology tells us that `well' parents are more productive and effective at work, and care better for their children", says Benveniste. "So Work Family Flow helps parents enjoy work and be the best parents they can be." Parent Wellbeing delivers one-day Work Family Flow workshops for companies, government agencies and organisations of all sizes, teaching participants practices that have been scientifically proven to increase wellbeing.”
Companies in Asia Lag Behind in Flexible Work Arrangements
The full report on the CSR survey previewed in Tuesday’s Roundup is now available. “This report by Grant Thornton shows that flexible work arrangements appear to be much less available in Asian economies than elsewhere in the world. In Germany and New Zealand 90 percent and 86 percent of private owned companies offer flex time arrangements which can mean things like staggered work hours or working from home arrangements. In Thailand this is 24 percent. In Japan this is 29 percent. Singapore appears to fare better with 40 percent of private owned companies offering flexible work arrangements.” Click here to download a copy of this report (PDF).
CSR Asia Research on Work-Life Balance in the Chinese Language Press
“[Y]ou can see coverage [of CSR Asia/University of Hong Kong research] in the following Chinese-language papers: Wen Wei Po, (The Oriental Daily, Macao Daily News, and Metro Hong Kong. Other unlinkable sources that carried reports are the Hong Kong Economic Times and The Sun. Even though the research is excellent and the issue is topical, I am still surprised at the depth of coverage it's received; editors clearly think that work-life balance is an issue people want to read about.