August 22, 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
Hoyer Advocates for a Four-Day Work Week
Joe Davidson • Washington Post • August 22, 2008
"Like long weekends? House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) is pushing a work week of four, 10-hour days for federal employees. In a letter, released this week, to the Office of Personnel Management, he asked the agency to "undertake comprehensive analysis of the transitioning to a 4-day work week for all possible federal employees and inform me by August 31, of any additional actions Congress would need to take to implement such a policy by the end of fiscal year 2008." Hoyer acknowledged that federal agencies and departments "already have discretion to implement alternative work schedules." That discretion is underlined by an OPM document, "Negotiating Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules," which says a 1982 law "authorizes a versatile and innovative work scheduling program for use in the Federal Government.""
N.H. task force aims to help working families
Dave Choate • Seacoast Online, NH • August 22, 2008
"The state Legislative Task Force on Work and Family met at Great Bay Community College on Wednesday, Aug. 20 to come up with ideas on how to help New Hampshire families do just that. Much of the discussion centered on how businesses can work with their employees to help them solve problems with child care and education. To highlight the issue, State Rep. Mary Gile, D-Concord, the task force chairwoman, read portions of a letter from a Newmarket resident who said she returned to work despite having an 18-month-old child at home. The woman recommended a variety of employer-sponsored options, which she said could help employees like herself, including paid family sick time if a child is ill and on-site day-care centers for larger employers."
Paid sick-leave mandate opposed by Strickland, Fisher
Aaron Marshall • Plain-Dealer, OH • August 22, 2008
"Gov. Ted Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher have come out against a labor-led push for a sick-day ballot initiative. "While we would hope that all Ohio businesses would make paid sick days available to their employees whenever possible, we believe that this initiative is unworkable, unwieldy and would be detrimental to Ohio's economy, and we will be opposing it and asking Ohioans to oppose it as a result," the Democratic duo said in a statement Thursday. If the proposal is approved by voters in November, Ohio would become the first state to require businesses with 25 employees or more to give workers seven days of paid sick leave a year. Business groups have called it a job killer while supporters argue it provides sorely needed paid leave that millions of Ohio workers don't have."
MBA Moms Most Likely to Opt Out
Alison Damast • BusinessWeek • August 21, 2008
"By the time they are 15 years out of college, 28% of the Harvard women who went on to get their MBAs were stay-at-home moms, compared to only 6% of women who got medical degrees, the authors found. The study also looked at the career paths of Harvard women who became lawyers and found 21% chose to stay home with their children. Some of the women in the study managed to to strike a balance between family life and work. For example, the highest percentage of women in the study to work part-time were doctors, while women in business, especially those in finance and banking, were the least likely to have done so, the study showed."
Workers' Job Satisfaction is Relatively High
Lydia Saad • Gallup Poll News • August 21, 2008
"The work environment encompasses numerous workload, interpersonal, financial, and other dimensions, and as the Gallup workplace survey shows, not all of these receive equally favorable reviews from American workers. On the positive side, large proportions of Americans who are employed either part-time or full-time say they are completely satisfied with the physical safety conditions where they work (73%), with their relations with coworkers (69%), and with the flexibility of their hours (61%). Solid majorities are also completely satisfied with their job security (55%) and their bosses or supervisors (53%). Only about half of workers are completely satisfied with the amount of vacation time they receive (51%), the amount of work required of them (50%), and the recognition they receive at work for their accomplishments (45%)."
Building Walls
Michael Diamond • Asbury Park Press, NJ • August 20, 2008
"There are signs that workers have a tough time establishing boundaries. One-third of American employees feel chronically overworked, and more than half of American employees have reported that at some time in the past month they felt overwhelmed by how much work they needed to complete, according to a 2005 study by Families and Work Institute, a New York research group. In the constant whirl of the global economy, it's a tough concept to master. Workers have been trained that the way to earn more money, establish job security or get promoted is to go above and beyond the call of duty. But workers are finding the job can stay with them long after the work day has ended. They jump to answer their cell phones and e-mail. They lie awake at night, trying to resolve workplace problems in their mind. And, perhaps ironically, their performance suffers."
States push laws to require paid sick days
Stephen Singer • Associated Press • August 20, 2008
"Businesses — especially small companies — argue that forcing them to offer paid sick days hinders their ability to provide a flexible array of benefits, such as a mix of vacation and personal days that also may be used by employees when they are sick. And they say it's a costly new mandate for businesses already struggling through a contracting economy. Nearly all large companies already offer paid sick leave to at least some of their workers, but state and federal mandates could require them to expand the benefit. Kahan and other workers' advocates believe paid sick time should be an employment standard, like the federal minimum wage. Advocates say the benefit is particularly needed for employees who handle food or work with children."
As Boomers retire, will 'brain drain' leave companies wanting?
Anne Springer • Gloucester Times, MA • August 20, 2008
"The Baby Boom generation, one of the most influential in history, is about to change workplace demographics in a big way, and employers and government agencies both will be affected by the changes. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that about 76 million Baby Boomers, or 43 percent of the current work force, will be eligible to retire within the next 10 to 15 years. As they retire, the conventional wisdom is that the workforce will shrink, with employers and government alike pondering how the economy will cope. Both are said to be seeking ways in which they can encourage many of the Boomers to retire later, thus softening the blow, since the following generations are much smaller, and with a smaller percentage of qualified workers."
Maloney Receives Award From Working Families Groups
John Toscano • Queens Gazette, NY • August 20, 2008
"Congressmember Carolyn Maloney's efforts to improve the American quality of life through family-friendly workplace policies has been recognized by two major working family organizations, who will award her the inaugural Best of Congress Award next month. The Queens/Manhattan lawmaker will be cited, based on her voting record and sponsorship and promotion of legislation to aid working families, as well as for policies and practices that she adopted in her congressional offices that support working families and flexible workplace options."
Blogs
Tomorrow's Lawyers Worry About Work/Family More Than Pay
Phoebe Taubman • MomsRising Blog • August 21, 2008
"Change is in the air this year. For the first time in a generation, young people are galvanized in record numbers by the presidential campaign and have devoted themselves with renewed energy to the democratic process. If they vote in numbers similar to those we have seen on the campaign trail, they could change the political landscape for years to come. These same young people are also poised to make a major impact on the legal profession. Today, working at a large law firm means long and unpredictable hours. New associates quickly learn to dread the Friday afternoon phone call saying that they need to cancel their plans and work through the weekend."
Email at The Playground: A Working Parent Works on Being "Present"
Jennifer Merritt • WSJ Online - The Juggle • August 21, 2008
"Clinical psychologist Dr. Henry Cloud is on a mission. In a recent Q&A on WSJ.com, Cloud discusses his new book, "The One Life Solution," which aims to help people reclaim their personal lives and still achieve success at work. Wouldn't we all like to find that elusive place? Dr. Cloud addresses a key piece of the work-life balance equation: boundaries between a person's work and personal life. To me, this is one of the biggest sticking points in my daily juggle. One example he cites hit home: "(Wives and husbands) go to the kids' soccer game, but they're emailing the office." I confess, this is me."
Total Leadership
Judi Casey • Sloan Work and Family Blog • August 21, 2008
"In July, we interviewed Stew Friedman about his new book, Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life. What appeals to me about the concept is that Stew frames total leadership as a win-win. Adjustments that we make to improve our personal lives will have a positive impact on other life areas. For example, if I make more time for community service activities, I may develop new skills that help me to be more focused and productive at work. In particular, I think this message may resonate with employers who anticipate that employees who improve their non-work lives will do so at the expense of their jobs. Total leadership anticipates a mutual gain for both employees and employers with employees who have more satisfying lives increasing performance and commitment."
Interning in the Blogger's Home Office
Sara Jane Berman • New York Times - Shifting Careers • August 20, 2008
"On my first day I noticed that the line between work and home life was blurred, which may be expected from the author who coined the term "slash" as a type of career. I quickly learned that for working out of a home, versatility was essential. One minute I was answering the phone "Hello, Marci's office" and next it was time to walk the dog or fix something for lunch."
Global News
Compress your work week for a better life
Anne Little • Consult Magazine, Australia • August 21, 2008
"LONGER is better when it comes to shift length for finding a better work-life balance, according to UK researchers. The UK Public Health Research Consortium has found that bringing in a compressed working week for shift workers could lead to better work practices and a healthier workplace. There is also the added bonus that the CWW introduction does not have a damaging effect on productivity and competitiveness for the organisation."
School kids 'struggling to balance work, study'
Author Unlisted • Australia Broadcasting Corporation • August 21, 2008
"Teachers are concerned increasing numbers of high school students are struggling to balance their studies with part-time work, prompting calls for greater flexibility. A national education forum being held in Sydney will today look at ways schools, governments and employers can enable students to complete their education while also gaining work experience."
More workers feel pressure to eat at desk and skip lunch break
Lanai Vasek • Herald Sun, Australia • August 20, 2008
"THE lunch hour could be in danger of dying out, with a growing number of workers feeling pressured to eat at their desks.It seems the lunch hour has become one of the biggest casualties of the softening job market, with experts suggesting almost 70 per cent of workers eat at their desks on a daily basis. Cramming everything into an eight-hour stretch seems to be the main problem for Aussie workers with employers piling up the workload in response to tightening budgets."