April 18, 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
Are There Too Many Women Doctors?
“But even those who disagree with McKinstry's position acknowledge that women doctors in the U.S. work less—47 hours per week on average, versus 53 for men. They also see about 10% fewer patients and tend to take more time off early in their careers. "It's pretty much an even bet that within a year or two of entering practice they will go on maternity leave," says Phillip Miller, a vice-president of the medical recruiting firm Merritt, Hawkins & Associates. "Then they are going to want more flexible hours." Such demands tend to irritate older doctors.”
Corporate Accountability and Workplace: Bitter? You Should Be!
“In his new book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times writes… "In a survey by the Families and Work Institute… two-thirds of employed parents responded that they didn't have enough time with their kids and just under two-thirds said they didn't have enough time with their spouses. The typical American worker toils 1,804 hours a year, 135 hours more per year than the typical British worker, 240 hours more than the average French worker, and 370 hours (or nine full-time weeks) more than the average German worker. No one in the world's advanced economies works more."
Moving Forward: Working Smarter, Not Harder
“Look at the work you do as a series of projects. What is your involvement in each project – and how can you increase it? Build up a portfolio of your successes, and make sure your achievements are known in the organisation. Organisational survivors are often not those with the best skills, but those who are most keenly tuned to office politics. This does not mean becoming a back-stabber or spin doctor, but it does mean being aware of today’s buzzwords… There is no such thing as the right work/life balance – it’s all about what works for you. The real test isn’t about counting the hours, it’s about the promises you make to yourself and others that you never fulfil: ‘one day I’ll…’ Make this year the year that you fulfil at least 25% of those promises. Consider flexible working, job share or some other arrangement if you really find that work leaves nothing left of you for living.”
Prepping Children for the 9 to 5
“Many years ago, my son was sitting in his booster seat at the kitchen table, scribbling madly on a legal pad with a crayon. When I asked him what he wanted for breakfast he waved me off with a shake of his head. “I working Mommy or my editor will be mad with me,” he said. He was parroting me, of course, and it was the first time I realized that my feelings about work could color his.… At a conference recently, Carol Bryce-Buchanan, the director of development for the Families and Work Institute, shared a different wrinkle of that concern.”
The Blogger Mom, In Your Face
‘The Salt Lake City resident enjoys enviable influence and enough ad revenue that her husband Jon quit his job in 2005 to manage advertising for Dooce (rhymes with moose)… Among the Web's 200,000-plus bloggers on parenting and family, few have succeeded to the extent of Ms. Armstrong; countless at-home parents would love to be in her position. But less obvious is the behind-the-scenes price an at-home mom pays to shoulder her way to prominence in the blogosphere -- giving up her privacy, sustained time off and any remnants of work-family boundaries at all.”
Family-Leave Plan is Halved
"A proposal to provide eight weeks of paid parental leave to federal employees was cut to four weeks by a key House Democrat yesterday as Republicans expressed concerns about the benefit's cost…The vote was on an amendment offered by Waxman to a bill sponsored by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), who has championed legislation for paid parental leave for the past eight years. The amended bill is "a positive step in the right direction," Maloney said in a statement. "While I would like to see eight weeks of paid leave, I understand that policymaking is about compromise and incremental change."
it's April 15: Do You Know Where Your Income Tax Dollars Are Going?
“Americans tend to think we are better off than families in most other industrial countries because we pay lower income taxes. But when we factor in the higher amount Americans pay for health care, child care, and education, the comparison is not always in our favor… Every other industrial nation in Western Europe, and most of the rest of the world as well, provides paid maternity leave, and in some cases paid paternity leave as well. Canada offers Employment Insurance for both maternity and paternity leave, allowing a couple to take up to 50 weeks leave, which can be divided between mother and father, at 55 percent of pay, up to a maximum of $435 per week. In addition, Canada's Universal Child Care Benefit pays families $100 per month for each child under age six. In Germany women get 6 weeks paid leave before the birth of a child and 8 weeks afterward. Either the mother or father is guaranteed up to three years unpaid but job-protected leave for child care.”
A Place for the Home Based
"Drop-in co-workers can share a worktable for free, while people seeking a more permanent space can rent a private desk for a monthly fee. All co-workers are expected to abide by the rules of respect, openness and positive collaboration…. This melting pot of experience from different business backgrounds creates a breeding ground for new ideas that's invaluable to co-workers. Co-working environments come in two forms: those that have a laid-back, indie vibe that's conducive to creativity--best for free-spirited workers like freelancers or web designers--and those that provide a more businesslike environment for people to meet with clients--as is the case for architects and real estate agents."
The New Oases: Nomadism Changes Buildings, Cities, and Traffic
"The fact that people are no longer tied to specific places for functions such as studying or learning, says Mr Mitchell, means that there is “a huge drop in demand for traditional, private, enclosed spaces” such as offices or classrooms, and simultaneously “a huge rise in demand for semi-public spaces that can be informally appropriated to ad-hoc workspaces”. This shift, he thinks, amounts to the biggest change in architecture in this century… The academic name for such spaces is “third places”, a term originally coined by the sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his 1989 book, “The Great, Good Place”…. The baby-boomers are starting to retire, forcing employers to compete for new talent by letting younger employees work wherever they please. Even the older workers are becoming nomadic.”
Balancing Work & Life: Flextime for Employees
"As large corporations struggle to figure out ways to offer alternative work arrangements, smaller employers are providing options such as flextime, part-time hours or telecommuting with relative ease. The latest research by the Families & Work Institute in New York found that small businesses with 50 to 99 employees are significantly more likely than bigger companies with 1,000 or more employees to allow workers to change starting and quitting times on a daily basis (17% vs. 4%); return to work gradually after childbirth or adoption (66% vs. 49%); and gradually phase into retirement (25% vs. 14%). "It's the smaller companies where innovation is bubbling up," says Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families & Work Institute, which studies workplace issues.”
Blogs
Family Leave Fracas
“[Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA))and other Democrats argued to Republicans, largely unsuccessfully, that "cost should not be an overriding issue ... offering a benefit to keep people in government has to be balanced against the costs of hiring and training new employees”…. Hammering out a balanced family-leave policy for federal employees also represents an opportunity to showcase how entrepreneurial and creative our country can be -- especially when it comes to finding solutions that don't necessary cost taxpayers money. What about offering full-time flextime to parents for the first three to six months after they return to work? Or letting them bring infants under six months to work? Or pair new parents to job-share on a temporary basis? Our country and our government have solved problems far bigger than a fair family-leave policy. It's not that hard in the overall scheme of challenges facing our country.”
Entrepreneurs & Work-Life Balance
“Entrepreneurs are a potent element that drives economies but should it be success at all costs? According to a global study on entrepreneurship from Babson College,almost 15% of the US population is working for startup companies that are less than 3.5 years old. About half of these companies will fail within five years. To successfully get these companies off the ground, founders face tremendous challenges; attracting customers, raising capital, hiring employees and fending off the competition — while theoretically trying to maintain a work-life balance for themselves and their teams.” Click here to view the report from Babson (PDF).
Outsourcing Can Go Both Ways (or, Would You Telecommute to Singapore?)
"Thomas Crampton posts a fascinating e-mail from the deputy editor of Singapore's Straits Times--sent out in the wake of the news of pending layoffs at the New York Times: “ Would you know anyone within the NYT who could help us put out the word that we would be happy to take on some copy-editors, which we are in dire need of. Ideally, they would operate in our newsroom in Singapore, but we are open to the idea of some working in the US.”
Urge to Purge: Beset by Housecleaning Fantasies
"Maybe I’ve been hit by some sort of busy working-mom spring fever…. Days filled with work, errands and playing with children leave little time for household clean-out projects. Videos and naps allow us to get basic chores like laundry and dishes done, but anything beyond that often gets pushed off — or truncated, like the broken table and chair sitting in the garage that we still haven’t taken to the dump. Unlike everyday chores, these types of clean-outs can’t really be outsourced."
Work/Life Nation: A Conscious Approach to Business
‘Those words from spiritual teacher and business maverick Deepak Chopra laid the foundation for a fascinating discussion on a conscious approach to business. My interview with Chopra also marks the launch of a new program here at the Work/Life Monitor - the WorkLife Nation Podcast. The radio series will also run on the Public Radio Exchange which is a feeder network for NPR. Every week I'll be reporting on how human values are being embraced in the workplace and in business - in a 24/7 world. From the elusive quest for work/life balance to social entrepreneurship - you'll hear from those on the cutting edge of our Work/Life Nation.”
CIOs Decide: Is Flexibility "Naive" or a Reality That Can't Be Ignored
"There it was, as plain as day: flexibility was either “naïve,” or it was a reality that couldn’t be ignored. I felt as if I were watching the broader cultural struggle between “the way we’ve always done things,” and “the way we need to start doing things” play out in real time. Which CIOs are positioning their organizations to adapt and grow in the future? In case you missed the video “Shift Happens” (which I mentioned in an earlier blog) a report on the future of work by the UK-based management think tank Chartered Management Institute makes the answer pretty clear. And it’s not the group who think strategic workplace flexibility is naïve.”
Reports & Surveys
Sense of Duty Beckons Sick Employees to Work
“A sense of obligation to co-workers is the top reason why some employees drag themselves into work even when they’re sick, according to a recent survey. The findings, released April 9, 2008, are from an annual online survey that LifeCare Inc. conducted in March with employees from its 1,500 client organizations. This was the first time in the survey’s three-year history that a sense of obligation to co-workers was the leading response.”
Global News
City Firms Open Doors for Work-Life Balance Research
“Thirteen law firms are opening their doors to independent researchers from work-life balance charity Working Families in a bid to determine how the legal world can improve retention rates…. Working Families has previously carried out similar research in other City entities and Addleshaws, which is the lead sponsor of the research, approached the charity suggesting it might do a survey of the legal market. Hardy said this move was ultimately driven by a focus on retention and talent. As well as getting inside the law firms themselves, the venture will involve interviews with key clients. Hardy explained that this was due to the perception that client demands effectively restrict flexible working practices.”
Male Managers in France - Global Perspectives
"This study demonstrates once more that attitudes and behaviour of fathers in France – irrespective of their social background – has been dramatically changing over the last two decades: for instance, 48% of these managers took the whole “paternity leave” (two weeks within the 4 months following the birth of a child, paid at full rate until a certain ceiling), 12% only a few days and 40% did not take advantage of this statutory leave. Most of the fathers would like to improve their work/life balance and 49% consider that they don’t devote enough time to their children. As far as their commitment to their job is concerned, the principle of “anytime, anywhere” is often called into question.”
Part-Time Working in the Netherlands
“ This report presents an outline of recent developments in the labour force participation and working hours of women. It also looks at how far these developments correlate with views on the role of women in the family and on the labour market. Attention is focused mainly on the Netherlands, though in some cases a comparison is made with other Western countries…. Part-time work in the Netherlands has not, as in some other countries, remained limited to marginal jobs, but is also a feature of mainstream employment. Women in particular take advantage of the opportunity to work part-time. This is one of the reasons for the high employment rate among women in the Netherlands. In general, Dutch women are very satisfied with their part-time jobs.” Although the report itself is in Dutch, this English summary provides a good overview.