August 1 , 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
Hawaii's 4-day work week trial begins Monday
Advertiser Staff • Honolulu Advertiser • July 31, 2008
"The state will experiment with a four-day work week starting Monday, when the 111 employees of the state Department of Human Resources begin a Monday-Thursday schedule. The three-month pilot project is intended to reduce state expenses, including electricity costs, and make government more efficient, Gov. Linda Lingle said today in a news release. Other reasons for the experiment are quality-of-life issues for employees as well as the general public, including a more balanced work-life that gives individuals more time for family and personal matters, the statement said."
A Hidden Toll on Employment: Cut to Part Time
Peter Goodman • New York Times • July 31, 2008
"The number of Americans who have seen their full-time jobs chopped to part time because of weak business has swelled to more than 3.7 million — the largest figure since the government began tracking such data more than half a century ago. The loss of pay has become a primary source of pain for millions of American families, reinforcing the downturn gripping the economy. Paychecks are shrinking just as home prices plunge and gas prices soar, furthering the austerity across the nation."
Work Options for older Americans: Employee Benefits for the Era of Living Longer
John Turner • redOrbit.com • July 31, 2008
"Many of our social and employee benefit policies were designed for an era when people had shorter life expectancy and employers had a large cohort of younger workers to replace those retiring. In light of new demographic trends, this article examines work options for older Americans, provides an overview of benefits policy issues for an aging workforce and lists topics for further benefits policy analysis. The author also identifies policy options to facilitate work at older ages in a number of areas, including changes to employer retirement plans, Social Security, Medicare and disability policy. Every day, 12,000 baby boomers turn age 50. Continuing improvements in life expectancy mean that those people will live longer on average than any previous generation. The combination of increased life expectancy and an aging workforce has important implications for employee benefits. They raise the cost to employers of some benefits, while they motivate employers to use other benefits to encourage people to work longer."
Strickland pushing for compromise to sick-leave initiative
Mark Niquette • Columbus Dispatch, OH • July 30, 2008
"The Strickland administration is sending letters to about 500 business leaders and business representatives in a last-ditch effort for a compromise to keep a controversial proposal for mandatory sick days off the Nov. 4 ballot. The letter, signed by both Gov. Ted Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, urges the business community to work toward a compromise bill that could be crafted, passed by the legislature and signed into law by Sept. 5 – the last day to get the issue off the ballot. "While mounting an aggressive campaign against the measure in hopes of defeating it is certainly an understandable strategy for those in opposition ... we would like to suggest another route for you to consider – an alternative that is well underway and is what we believe is best for Ohio," the letter says."
Retiring in stages: Boomers get more options
Candice Choi • AP • July 30, 2008
"Not ready to retire just yet? Consider asking your boss if you can work part-time or telecommute. A study released Wednesday by Hewitt Associates found 61 percent of U.S. companies have or will develop programs that let workers retire in stages. The programs are intended to hold onto the experience of baby boomers, and ease the difficulty of replacing their skills. The study included 140 mid-size and large-size companies."
Home Warriors
Author Unlisted • The Economist • July 25, 2008
"When he commuted back in the 1970s, he spent 80 minutes a day strap-hanging on trains and buses, and hoofing it in between. On the odd times he drove, it took an hour and at least a gallon of petrol a day. By telecommuting, he reckons he's saved the planet some 2.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide for each of the past 25 years. He's not alone. Gartner Dataquest, a market-research company, reckons one in four employees in America worked from home for at least one day a week last year. Over half of all businesses in the United States now allow some form of telecommuting. European employers are further ahead still."
When Down Leads Up
Emily Dietrich • Mount Holyoke Alumni Quarterly • Summer 2008
"While most drivers leave gear choice to their automatic transmission, some prefer the control offered by shifting their own gears. Similarly, choosing a gear for career development—determining speed, effort, energy output—is a key to happiness, says Ellen Ernst Kossek '79, author of CEO of Me: Creating a Life That Works in the Flexible Job Age. In fact, a national poll by the Center for a New American Dream shows that 48 percent of Americans have opted to make less money to get more time and a more balanced lifestyle. Mount Holyoke alumnae are certainly among them, making adjustments within their careers, downshifting briefly to rev up again later, or starting over in a new business or field."
Blogs
Working...and Poor
Sandee Tisdale • Sloan Work and Family Blog • August 1, 2008
"Being in the work-family field, I am often inundated (happily so) with research, conversation, and policies surrounding flexible schedules, telework, employer-sponsored child care, and other family-friendly topics. Arguably, some of these topics may be more relevant to middle- and upper-class workers than the working poor. In my time with Lisa, I found myself so excited to be immersed in the course materials and her stories of her work with low-income individuals, as low-income working families were one of the primary reasons I sought my MSW a few years prior. I felt like I was going back to my roots."
Follow-Up on Clinician of the Week Chai Feldblum
Minna Kotkin • clinicians with not enough to do • July 28, 2008
"As legislative counsel of Workplace Flexibility 2010, a policy initiative located at Georgetown University Law Center, I am writing to highlight the importance of workplace flexibility to the disability community. Workplace Flexibility 2010 (WF2010) is a multi-year enterprise engaging in research, outreach, and consensus-building towards a national policy on workplace flexibility that will work for both employers and employees. We are the lead policy component of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's National Initiative on Workplace Flexibility, which seeks to make workplace flexibility a standard of the American workplace through a combination of voluntary employer efforts and thoughtful public policy."
Does Unlimited Vacation Equal No Vacation?
Marci Alboher • New York Times - Shifting Careers • July 31, 2008
"One of the trendy perks at progressive companies is unlimited vacation time. The pitch is that responsible adults are capable of managing their own time so why not allow them to decide which hours and days to work as long as as the work gets done. It's yet one more way that the employed are starting to resemble the self-employed. But as any entrepreneur knows, having the ability to take off as much time as you want doesn't necessarily mean that you'll use it."
Working at Home Casts Pall Over Home Life
Sue Shellenbarger • WSJ Online - The Juggle • July 30, 2008
"I've always believed that working from home, as I have for many years, is good for my family. But increasingly, I notice, it casts a pall over home life. As technology ties me more tightly to corporate headquarters, the atmosphere in my home office has grown steadily more tense and rushed. Because my home office occupies about one-third of a big dining-and-family room and, unfortunately, has no doors, that same sense of urgency sometimes pervades my whole house. On deadline days, both my kids, 17 and 20, often fall silent or retreat to their rooms during working hours."
Flex time for Columbia County government employees
Mary Ellen Cheatham • Georgia Public Broadcasting - Georgia News • July 30, 2008
"It's another example of how local governments are dealing with tough economic times. Columbia County offices have begun a flex schedule, with many of the agencies opting to open four days a week instead of five. And workdays lasting ten hours instead of eight. Officials hope the new schedule will save the county money on utilities. They also say it will help county employees save money on gas."
Reports and Surveys
Retiring Boomers Prompt Increased Employer Interest in Phased Retirement Programs, According to Hewitt Survey
Author Unlisted • BusinessWire • July 30, 2008
"U.S. employers are facing an unprecedented talent shortage, with 25 percent of the workforce nearing retirement age. To address this important issue and help transition employees to an easier and more affordable retirement, an increasing number of companies are considering implementing phased retirement programs, according to a new survey by Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing company. Hewitt's survey of more than 140 mid-size and large employers revealed that more than half (55 percent) have already evaluated the impact that potential retirements could have on their organization, and 61 percent have developed or will develop special programs to retain targeted, near-retirement employees. While just one-in-five (21 percent) believe that phased retirement is critical to their company's human resources strategy today, that number nearly triples (61 percent) when employers look ahead 5 years."
Global News
Laughter a positive sign
Amy Byrne • The Australian • August 1 , 2008
"Happiness in the workplace has become the new buzz phrase of corporate culture, the next step along from the pursuit of the fabled work/life balance. Some executives dismiss it as something of a soft topic, but there is a growing body of opinion that says happy workplaces are also more productive workplaces."
Gotland, Sweden: dare to switch off
Oliver Bennett • Telegraph, UK • August 1 , 2008
Glen Donovan of Earth, a luxury holiday agency, says that an increasing number of his beach holidays, particularly those in Africa and Indian Ocean resorts, have a "Robinson Crusoe" slant. Their attraction lies in their disconnection from the world at home - evinced in such phrases as "no news, no shoes" and "barefoot luxury" - and the aim is sybaritic isolation. Wi-Fi, plasma-screen televisions, pay-per-view films: frankly, who needs them? So, could this lead to a new way of holidaymaking? Carl Honoré, author of In Praise of Slow (Orion, £7.99) and an advocate of work-life balance, thinks that it could.