April 29, 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
Smaller Companies Explore Ways to Offer Time Off For New Parents
“The FMLA does not apply to companies with fewer than 50 employees. In Louisiana, that means fathers aren’t guaranteed time off to take care of a new baby. “Louisiana law does not mandate paternity leave,” Burnside said. “Although an employer would be subject to a claim of gender discrimination in the terms and conditions of employment if it provided maternity, but not paternity, leave.” The absence of paternity leave creates a scenario where men often take all of their vacation time to be a part of the first weeks of their child’s life. However, it is often expected that they remain accessible to their employers. Under the Louisiana Discrimination Law, companies with 26 or more employees must provide female employees with six weeks of unpaid disability leave for a normal pregnancy and childbirth and up to four months of short-term disability to employees temporarily disabled on account of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. In a number of ways, Louisiana law is actually more generous than the FMLA in the benefits it provides.”
Wired to Work
“What didn't make its way into the headlines was any mention of an existing technology that doesn't involve steel wheels, levitation or building a single yard of new railway. It utilizes a technology that is clean, simple and road-tested. The system harnesses the Internet and is commonly known as telecommuting or telework. For the purposes of this article I've broadened the concept and called it mobile commuting. This includes working anywhere outside the office with broadband as well as wirelessly enabled laptops, blackberries and other mobile devices. In the Aloha State, as on the mainland, the concept of mobile commuting is now mainstream…. Although first responders and executives utilize mobile commuting, rank and file office workers usually don't have the option to work from home. If they did, the impact on our traffic patterns would be significant. Oahu has approximately 21,000 state and county workers. With approximately 83,000 daily commutes in and out of East Oahu alone, telecommuting could play a significant role in easing the morning and evening commutes.”
Employees Need to Take Charge of Career
“Susan Williams, president of human-resources firm HR Choice in Goodyear (hrchoice.com), offers tips to ensure you're paid in line with others in your field and receive "intangible rewards" that help you live life to the fullest…See your career as part of your life process. Though financial incentives are important, both men and women in today's workforce cite the need for family time as a key driver of retention. Education, infant care, elder care, medical issues and other life events may require the need for flexibility. The ability to telecommute, reduce hours or take personal time off at certain stages in life may signal your value to your employer more than any pay incentive.”
Ohio State Workers Are Coping: It's Now 8 to 5, With a 5-Day Week
“As flextime and telecommuting are becoming increasingly popular, state officials in Ohio have begun moving in the opposite direction with a plan to greatly restrict such arrangements for state workers…. Mr. Sylvester added that managers could still offer employees tele-work options in some agencies and flexible work hours. But he said “compressed” schedules — four-day workweeks, for example — would probably be mostly eliminated unless they could be justified for work reasons rather than personal ones. Representatives of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, the union that represents most state employees, say the plan will unnecessarily hurt state employees, and will force families to rearrange ride-sharing, child care, after-school activities and other responsibilities.”
Blogs
Not on Call: Young Doctors Want Work/Family Balance
“Doctors want family lives, too. A front page story in today’s WSJ says that young physicians intent on balancing work and family are challenging the assumption that a doctor should be available to treat patients around the clock. The attitudes are giving rise to different types of practice options. These range from small, primary-care facilities to jobs that keep doctors on predictable schedules by using a team-based approach that rotates multiple doctors among patients.”
Working While Mother: Brandeis University Women's Studies Research Center's Mother's Day Event to Focus on Discrimination in the Workplace
“The mainstream media loves to talk about "work-family balance." It tells personal stories about how hard it is to juggle deadlines and suppertimes, but rarely asks why that balance is so hard, and how it can be changed. Often, motherhood is when today’s young women first face serious job discrimination and the biases against mothers that are built into American culture, family policy and many marriages. This inter-generational panel discussion seeks to shed light on discrimination against mothers in the workplace and focus on what can be done to change things for the better. The discussion is moderated by E.J. Graff, WSRC Resident Scholar, and participants include Dana Gershengorn, Neena Pathak (’08) and Mothers Movement Online editor Judith Stadtman Tucker.”
Work+Life Flex as a Retention-Retirement Strategy? Yes, Say More Retirees and Companies
“The idea of using flexibility to strategically retain talent that would otherwise walk out of the door in retirement, was the focus of an excellent segment on NPR by Judy Martin, entitled “Workers, Employers Adjust to Phased Retirement.” Martin interviewed an IBM employee who reduced her schedule instead of retiring fully, and uses her extra time to play in a band! Last week, The New York Times ran a number of stories discussing “working” flexibly in retirement. Clearly, there’s an awareness building that work+life flexibility is a strategy we all need to use, but it still isn’t a natural part of how we think about work and retirement. We tend to make it about moms or younger employees, and in the process overlook a very important use of flex.”
Flexible Work Arrangements Promote Productivity
“While balancing work and family has received a lot of attention over the years, the truth is there’s more smoke than fire. People work longer hours in downsized and super competitive work environments that pressure people to make family a second priority….No wonder thousands of good people leave good jobs to take lower level, lower paying, more accommodating jobs elsewhere. This dilemma has fueled the dramatic rise of home-based and female-owned businesses in the U.S. By creating a Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA), companies can keep good employees and not force them to sacrifice family life. An FWA will help them benefit personally and professionally and the result will be people who are more loyal, committed and productive. FWA’s allow more options to employees who do not want or need a standard work schedule. A properly prepared FWA allows greater flexibility in balancing roles of work and home. It also can help prevent valuable employees from quitting and taking a less suitable position somewhere else.”
Reports & Surveys
M.B.A. Students: They're Not All Business
“Corporate recruiters take note: money isn’t everything. In a recent survey of M.B.A. students at 15 major business schools, respondents listed the factors most important to them in choosing a job. The No. 1 factor was “challenging and diverse job responsibilities.” Compensation came in second, followed by work-life balance.”
Workplace Flexibility Associated with Reduced Absences and Improved Job Commitment
“Workers who reported increased work flexibility from one year to the next also had fewer absences for illness and improved job commitment, according to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. In addition, these workers were less likely to say that health problems affected their job performance. The study’s results, based on a health survey completed by 3,193 employees of a large multinational pharmaceutical company, are reported in the current issue of the Psychologist-Manager Journal. “This study provides evidence that flexibility is associated with health or well-being over time,” said Joseph G. Grzywacz, Ph.D., senior author and an associate professor of family medicine. “For managers, the results suggest that implementing flexible work arrangements can contribute to the bottom-line.” The researchers analyzed data obtained from health risk appraisals to determine how increases or decreases in perceived flexibility from one year to the next were associated with a variety of factors. Workplace flexibility refers to workers’ ability to modify where, when and how long job-related work is performed. There are two main types of flexibility: location, such as telecommuting, and schedule, such as flextime and job sharing.”
What's New? (Family Friendly Employers Poll)
“Thank you to the 140 respondents who completed the survey on Family Friendly Employers. Here are the top responses to the following questions: How would you define a Family Friendly Employer?”: 1. Creates a work environment and culture that promotes employee health and life satisfaction while meeting business goals (66%) 2. Implements programs that promote the integration of work and family life (56%) 3. Develops policies that promote the integration of work and family life (54%) 4. Provides resources that assist employees with their work and family responsibilities (51%).” Also new from the Sloan Work and Family Research Network: “The April issue of the Network News, featuring an interview with Jane Randel of Liz Claiborne, Inc. and Jennifer Swanberg of the University of Kentucky on domestic violence and the workplace.”
Global News
Call Centre Home Working Trial
“BT call centre workers are set to work from home in a trial which could create new jobs and revolutionise the way the offices are run, the telecoms giant has announced. Around 15 volunteers at the centre in Thurso, northern Scotland, will operate online from their homes, using high speed broadband links in a practice known as "homeshoring". Brendan Dick, director of BT Scotland, said: "The pilot could herald major changes in work practices for BT and the wider contact centre industry." He continued: "Homeshoring is poised to become the next big trend in the industry and Scotland, as a fertile recruiting ground for contact centre operations, is well placed to create new jobs from it."A skilled and flexible workforce, low staff turnover and even the Scottish accent have been cited as factors in the sector's Scottish success story.”
'Job Flexibility Key to Loyalty'
“Employees who reported increased flexibility at the workplace also had fewer absences for illness and improved job commitment. Workplace flexibility refers to a workers' ability to modify where, when and how long job-related work is performed. There are two main types of flexibility: location, such as telecommuting, and schedule and job sharing.” This article is based on the Wake Forest University study released last week (see Reports & Surveys above for more information).
Japan Publishes Workforce Warning
“Japan's working population will shrink by more than a third by 2050, according to an annual government report…. The report blames the fall on declining birth rates and an ageing population, but it also highlights a failure to get women and elderly people into work. The document says allowances and benefits should be improved to make it easier for workers to raise children…. So this year's report for the first time includes targets to try to help emphasise a healthy work-life balance. Akira Imai, a senior official responsible for tackling declining birthrates, said the report marked a change in the government's attitude. "The government had previously left the task of promoting a better work-life balance to individual companies, but we determined that society as a whole needs to tackle the issue."