January 29, 2008.
Today’s News Roundup includes articles and blogs on strategies for achieving work-life balance, the need for increased family and medical leave, and the ecological perks of flexible work arrangements. Also featured, New Jersey state legislature introduces a reformulation last year’s paid leave bill, law firms across the US offer increased flexibility, and a Japanese firm takes work-life accommodations to a new level.
Articles
Perfecting the Work-Life Balance
“You can’t succeed unless the balance is good, says US life coach Ginger Cockerham, who gives ‘laser coaching’ to Times readers. Here she looks at how a PR with her own company manages her time."
Japanese Firm Offers "Heartache Leave" for Staff
“Lovelorn staff at a Japanese marketing company can take paid time off after a bad break-up with a partner, with more "heartache leave" on offer as they get older. Tokyo-based Hime & Company, which also gives staff paid time off to hit the shops during sales season, says heartache leave allows staff to cry themselves out and return to work refreshed. "Not everyone needs to take maternity leave but with heartbreak, everyone needs time off, just like when you get sick," [said] CEO Miki Hiradate.”
NJ: Paid Leave Effort Renewed
“Democratic senators on Monday renewed efforts to make New Jersey the third state to let workers take paid leave to care for either a sick relative or new child amid opposition from businesses and Republicans. The Senate budget committee pushed forward a measure to let employees take up to six weeks off with pay.”
Workers Must Be Happy With Job/Life Mix
“The easier it is to work anywhere, any hour of the day or night, the harder it becomes to turn work off. Why do some people thrive in this environment while others feel overwhelmed and overworked? Ellen Ernst Kossek and Brenda A. Lautsch offer a useful way of thinking about the issue in "CEO of Me: Creating a Life that Works in the Flexible Job Age."
Labor Dept. Working on Changes for Families Coping With Illness and Military Duty
“Labor Department officials said on Thursday that they had proposed new regulations that address some corporate complaints that workers are abusing the Family and Medical Leave Act. Under the proposals, workers would generally have to call in to request a leave before taking it; currently, employees can take off for two days before requesting a leave.”
Please visit WF2010’s Comment Review Memoranda for more information on related topics.
Ax the Double Tax
Traffic congestion in the nation's metropolitan areas wastes billions of dollars a year and adds countless tons of toxic pollutants and greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. One way to lessen congestion is to encourage certain workers to stay home and telecommute. In the New York metropolitan area, however, this sensible tactic is thwarted by New York's state tax code, which in some cases double-taxes residents of Connecticut and other states who work for New York companies but occasionally telecommute.
Caroline Offering Site for Telecommuters
Starting Friday, Caroline County residents wishing to telecommute to work can do so from the Community Services Center. Every Friday in February from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the county will offer free wireless Internet access and work spaces for telecommuting by Caroline residents. County staff will monitor the pilot program through the month to measure the level of interest.
WORK/LIFE BENEFITS: Reducing Worker Stress Pays Off
“An increasing number of South Florida employers recognize that even in tough economic times, work-life benefits are an important part of today's recruiting equation. For a candidate, these perks can be the pendulum upon which a job decision swings…. ''When an employee's personal life runs smoothly, their productivity continues uninterrupted,'' says Kathie Lingle, director of Alliance for Work-Life Progress, a national organization that advances work-life balance as a business strategy. ``These benefits create goodwill and make business sense.''
County Resets Commute Goals: State Program Aims to Ease Traffic Congestion, Cut Emissions
Spokane County’s commute-trip-reduction program has outperformed all others in the state, but still has fallen well short of the state-mandated program’s lofty original goals, says Aurora Crooks, the program director here….Avista offers preferred parking for employees who carpool, as well as subsidized bus passes, a van pool, covered bike racks, showers, and lockers. Swanson says the company also allows options such as flex time, compressed work-week schedules, and telecommuting, when possible, to reduce employee commuting.
Life's Work: Who's Cuddly Now? Law Firms
Over the last few years and, most strikingly, the last few months, law firms have been forced to rethink longstanding ways of doing business, if they are to remain fully competitive…. “There are things happening everywhere, enough to call it a movement,” said Deborah Epstein Henry, who founded Flex-Time Lawyers, a consulting firm that creates initiatives encouraging work-life balance for law firms, with an emphasis on the retention and promotion of women.
Lowenstein Sandler Invited to Join Center for Work-Life Policy's 'Hidden Brain Drain' Task Force
Lowenstein Sandler, ranked one of the "Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity and Women" by MultiCultural Law magazine, has been invited to join the "Hidden Brain Drain," an initiative of the Center for Work-Life Policy, a New York-based think tank. The Task Force is focused on realizing female and minority talent over the lifespan by examining key challenges and developing a second generation of policy and practice with enough heft and traction to drive change.”
How to Negotiate Flexible Work Arrangements
For those of you coveting the wondrous three-day work week the colleague down the hall brokered last year, take heart. Flexible work arrangements are on the rise, particularly in Alberta and Quebec, where keeping employees has become a top priority.
Justices Add More Cases on Job Discrimination
“The Supreme Court on Friday added two new employment discrimination cases to a docket on which such cases are already well represented… The new age discrimination case is the fifth such case the court has accepted this term, a high number given that the justices will decide fewer than 70 cases. Whether this trend simply reflects an aging workplace, or new pressures employers are placing on older workers to move out and make room for the young, is unclear.”
Blogs
Quit Work For a While to Have Kids, Your Career Will Be Just Fine
“The women of Generation X are not only having more children than the baby boom generation, but also supply fewer hours to the labor market,” and this makes women who do go back to work more valuable than people could have anticipated. The other contributing factor to the Gen X labor shortage is that Gen X men do not work the long hours that baby-boomer men worked. Instead, those aged 18 to 37 are more likely to view family as an equal or higher priority than work, according to the Families and Work Institute.
Law Firms Flirt With Flexibility
“Red flags in recent years are finally forcing the profession to question whether it's time to restructure billing practices, schedules and partnership tracks. They include a grassroots rebellion by students at Stanford, Yale, and New York University law schools; the American Bar Association calling for the end of the billable hour; Working Mother Magazine introducing the Top 50 Law Firms for Women; high numbers of young female lawyers leaving big firms and 78 percent attrition of associates of both sexes within five years.”