July 8, 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
I Choose My Choice!
“As you may have heard, some 50 years after Betty Friedan sprang us from domestic jail, we women … seem to have made a mess of it. What do we want? Not to be men (wrong again, Freud!), at least not businessmen—although slacker men, sans futon and bong, might appeal. In these post-Lisa-Belkin-New-York-Times-Magazine-“Opt-Out” years, we’ve now learned the worst: even female Harvard graduates are fleeing high-powered careers for a kinder, gentler Martha Stewart Living. Not only does the Problem Have a Name, it has its own line of Fiestaware!”
In Retirement, Doing Work That Matters
“In 1935, when Social Security was established for Americans 65 and older, the average life expectancy was 61. Today, Mr. Freedman points out, many baby boomers “can expect to live 30 or more years beyond traditional retirement age.” As 70 million baby boomers approach 65, the country is facing both an impoverished Social Security system and empty retirement accounts among millions of older people. In place of the hand-wringing and doomsday predictions, Mr. Freedman suggests creating new approaches and opportunities for 60-somethings, especially in the public and nonprofit sectors.”
Universities strive for solutions to work-life balance
“It's called the "unfinished revolution." The women's liberation movement of the sixties and seventies changed the landscape of the working world, but feminist leaders feel the changes didn't go far enough. Now universities are on the forefront of a growing trend, searching for solutions to balancing work and life with children.”
Gas prices fuel change in work culture
“Gas prices fuel changes in work culture As gas prices soar above $4 a gallon, scores of commuters are pushing for alternative work arrangements to avoid shelling out $50, $75, even $100 plus a week to get to and from their jobs. The hit they take at the gas pumps is spurring a shift in work culture. A complete transformation, if it happens, will turn the United States into a "telecommuter nation," workforce analysts predict.”
A how-to for stay-at-home mothers
“Melissa Stanton runs a vacuum over the carpet where one of her 5-year-old twins has left a trail of cereal, slices a watermelon for the other and swipes the kitchen counter with a sponge. Even with her 10-year-old son, Jack, at day camp, Stanton has her hands full. Between lunchtime spills and Nickelodeon thrills, the former high-level magazine editor, now a stay-at-home mom, has written what she calls a "support group in a book": The Stay-at-Home Survival Guide: Field-Tested Strategies for Staying Smart, Sane, and Connected While Caring for Your Kids, released last month. It's a compilation of surveys from mothers across the country and research conducted with experts on maintaining friendships, handling family finances and finding time for intimacy with an equally pooped-out partner.”
Please go away, for your own good!
“A husband and wife in the average middle-class household are, together, working 540 hours or three months more per year than the same couple would have worked a quarter century ago, mainly because married women are working considerably longer hours than before, writes Steve Greenhouse in "The Big Squeeze." […] What's worse is that we feel increasingly guilty about the effect such toil is having on our families — but are largely too scared to do anything about it. A recent survey found that two-thirds of employed parents said they didn't have enough time with their kids. The survey, by the Families and Work Institute, also found that just under two-thirds of such couples said they didn't have enough time with their spouses.”
Work week cut to be discussed
“Oklahoma's state employees have received only three raises in the past decade, leaving them with little help as the prices of food, fuel and utilities soar, said Scott Barger, the deputy director of the Oklahoma Public Employees Association, which represents about 10,500 state workers. As the price of gasoline approaches $4 per gallon, cutting one commute a week is one way that lawmakers could help state employees save money, he said. "Especially in rural Oklahoma, many state employees have a long way to drive," he said. A public hearing on the issue is set for 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday at the Capitol.”
Work past retirement age? Avoid pitfalls, penalties
“Congratulations on making such a smart move. Continuing to work means more income to supplement your retirement lifestyle, and you might even want to delay drawing Social Security benefits, since the system rewards you for waiting with higher monthly payments and cost-of-living increases. You'll probably also find that working is good for your overall health and brain fitness. But you do need to watch out for some pitfalls that could mean financial penalties for working past the traditional retirement age. Even though millions of 50-plus Americans are redefining their retirement years with a mix of work and leisure, our pension and Social Security laws haven't kept pace with the changes. If you have a certain type of defined benefit pension, your payments could be reduced significantly if you keep working. Your Social Security benefits could be sliced, too.”
On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble
“Google may be providing the greatest day care ever, but so what? It doesn’t matter how good the day care is if only its wealthiest employees can afford to use it. If Google had really wanted to do something path-breaking about its day care crisis, it would have spent less time creating elitist day care centers and more time figuring out how to “scale” day care for everybody no matter what their salaries. Instead, Google has shown that it thinks about day care the same way every other company does — as a luxury, not a benefit. Judging by what’s transpired, that’s what Google is fast becoming: just another company.”
On Campus, the '60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire
“At a conference titled “Generational Shockwaves,” sponsored in November by the TIAA-CREF Institute, Joan Girgus, a special assistant to the dean of faculty at Princeton, underscored how these sorts of concerns were increasingly on the minds of younger faculty members. Universities need to focus more on the “life” side of the work-life balance “because faculties historically were almost entirely male and the wives took care of the family side,” Ms. Girgus said. “I don’t think we can do that anymore.” Ask Ms. Goldrick-Rab if she believes there is a gap between her generation and the boomers, and she immediately answers yes.””
Early Retirees in New Ventures, Mostly for Fun
RISK-AVERSE? Clueless as to what P.&.L means? You, too, can be an entrepreneur. Not the hard-driving type who makes the business news pages. Rather, the laid-back, come-what-may variety. Many of them are part of the first wave of America’s 76 million baby boomers who are taking early retirement and turning their hobbies into small businesses. Very small businesses. They say their microbusinesses are a way to give focus to a favorite pastime, get more zest out of life and make a little money. The best part is they do not care if the ventures fail.
Blogs
Dream or Nightmare: The Four-Day Work Week
“Last Thursday, Utah embarked on a year-long experiment to switch its state employees to a four-day work week in order to save on energy costs and reduce employees’ commuting costs. Workers will now put in four, 10-hour days instead of five, eight-hour days. (Utah is not alone; a handful of small towns is also switching over to a four-day week, as the WSJ reported in May.)”
Autism disrupts work and pay, article says
“Parents of children with autism earn less and report more disruptions in their work, a new report by the American Academy of Pediatrics found. An emerging body of work is showing the impact an autism diagnosis has on a family, in part because there aren't enough services and support for this growing population. But researchers are still figuring out the impact. We reported on the strain and higher incidence of anxiety and depression among parents of children with autism in May.”
Hanging On to Top Talent
“As hiring on Wall Street sags, few people are talking any more about on-ramping programs — initiatives designed to make it easier for professionals and managers to return to work after career breaks for raising kids or other personal matters. Since 2004, Deloitte & Touche, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, among others, have all started such efforts. The programs were inspired in part by research by the Center for Work-Life Policy, New York, on the damaging “brain drain” caused by talented mothers and others opting out of fast-track careers.”
"I Choose, My Choice!:" Sex and the City is really so hot right now
“Yesterday, my dear friend Will sent me an Atlantic Monthly article called “I Choose My Choice!” by Sandra Tsing Loh. This being the phrase that Charlotte somewhat pathetically clings to when defending her decision to quit, or dare-I-say “opt-out,” of her unbelievably great job. The article makes a compelling (though now somewhat redundant) claim that the “fruits of the feminist revolution” are “sisterhood, empowerment, and eight hours a day in a cubicle.” Better reading, playing, and listening to NPR all day than toiling 80 hours a week in a boring and hated job. Who can argue with that?”
Why America Is Bad For Working Parents, Part II
“So this July 4th weekend, I'm mad as hell. I count my blessings about living here everyday, but I also demand more from my country than the crappy deal working parents like me are getting. Some of us would give up some of our hard-earned salary for a safe place to leave our kids when school is closed -- or for flex time when they get sick, or to have the chance to pick them up from school an hour early occasionally and get quality time. But we don't get that choice. Meanwhile, the heads of the big companies, who can afford nannies and exclusive private schools and the like for their kids, don't ever have to sweat it.”
Part 2 of Gilbert on Motherhood
“This post reviews part two of Neil Gilbert, A Mother’s Work: How Feminism, the Market, and Policy Shape Family Life (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008). In the book’s first section Gilbert described the long-term trend among American women toward having fewer children and investing more of their time in paid labor. In the second section he explains how capitalism, feminism, and government policy influence the choices women make about whether or not to have children and how to raise them.”
Laws We Don't Need
“Readers of this blog know that we’re not fans of traditional flexible work arrangements, but a recent article in Workforce Management has us rubbing our eyes in disbelief. The piece brings up some excellent points, including the fact that of 21 “high income” countries, the U.S. finished last in having laws that support flexible work arrangements.”
Reports and Surveys
Indians care about work-life balance more than money
Rajeshwari Sharma
• Livemint.com, India • July 7, 2008“Indians’ concerns over balancing work and life have surpassed worries about a slowing economy, according to the bi-annual global consumer opinion survey by market research company The Nielsen Co. About 20% of Indians cite achieving this balance as their main worry; 13% cite the economy as the second biggest. Globally, the state of the economy is the biggest concern, with 20% of the respondents citing it. The Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, conducted by Nielsen Customized Research, was conducted in April 2008 among 28,253 Internet users in 511 countries from Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America and West Asia.”
Global News
Mothers wobble in balancing act
“Less than 20 per cent of mothers are highly functioning at work and fulfilled at home, and find parenthood a positive experience, a national conference has heard. The women in this group tend to report the highest level of job control while working average office and domestic hours, according to Ibolya Losoncz from the Australian Government Department of Families and Community Services. To better understand the work-family life experience, Ms Losoncz has profiled mothers based on a variety of characteristics.”
Coping with guilt is part of a working life
“According to work-life balance researchers Beth Livingston and Timothy Judge at the University of Florida, parental guilt is remorse related to feeling that you've somehow violated a moral or social standard. Parents feel guilt if they perceive they haven't met certain social obligations involving their roles of parent and worker. Women, in particular, suffer daily internal conflict and guilt associated with these dual roles. But increasingly, men are feeling the same inner turmoil as they, too, try to balance work and home obligations.”
Teacher Strike Called Off
“A TEACHERS' strike has been averted after it was agreed that a member of staff could job share following maternity leave. Members of the National Union of Teachers at Norlington School for Boys in Norlington Road had voted in favour of a one-day strike on Tuesday in protest of what they viewed as "inflexible" working practices and discrimination against women with children.”