November 11, 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
Look For First Lady To Champion Working Women
“When Barack Obama officially takes office in January, his wife, Michelle, will make history as well, as she becomes the country's first African-American first lady. During the campaign, she championed the cause of working women, which she'll likely continue in the White House.”
I Do Know How She Does It
“Ms. Brown says her life is a textbook case of the ultimate juggle -- she has a demanding C-suite career and is the mother of three children -- yet she also serves as proof that melding work and family while keeping multiple balls in the air can be done. "I'm not someone who follows rules, I'm someone who makes them," she says, referring to how she's turned photo shoots into family vacations. "I didn't like leaving my husband and my children, so they came with me." Debora Spar, the new president of Barnard College, author of six nonfiction books and mother of three, says she's juggling too, moving from faculty meetings to student events to ballet recitals.”
Up the Ladder? How Dated, How Linear
“DID you ever think that something was one way for the longest time, and then one day realize that it was no longer that way? That is what is happening in corporate America. When it comes to how careers are built, many of us still have a mental image of the corporate ladder. It has a series of rungs that employees climb as they gain more authority in an organization. The ladder model has been the gold standard of personal success since organizational hierarchy was invented. But organizational hierarchy isn’t what it used to be. That is because, in two short generations, the face of the corporate work force has been transformed, partly by the presence of more women and aging baby boomers in the work force, the arrival of Generation Y and workers’ changing attitudes.”
Back to Work
“Missing from the last decade's worth of books about motherhood and work -- whether denouncing women for having children too early or too late, for working too much or too little -- has been the fact that most women with children change or redefine their careers as their children are born and grow. Unlike the straight and logical career path we may have imagined for ourselves as children, the road most mothers walk is crooked and non-linear.”
San Francisco to Milwaukee: Sick-leave law not bad
“Local business owners howling over a ballot measure forcing them to provide paid sick leave might take comfort from San Francisco's example. An official there said his city hasn't suffered since a similar law passed there two years ago. "Tell them in Milwaukee, the sky has not fallen here," said Greg Asay, a senior analyst with the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement. "We haven't seen a major impact in a negative way on the San Francisco economy." The binding referendum Milwaukee voters passed overwhelming Tuesday -- 68 percent to 32 percent -- spells out how workers in nongovernment jobs can accrue up to nine days of paid sick leave per year. Mayor Tom Barrett and local business associations opposed it.”
Mayor Bloomberg's Delicate Condition
“At the time of her demotion, Lancaster was one of Bloomberg’s highest-ranking female executives, managing a team that sold the company’s financial software worldwide. Her compensation was generous—a $130,000 base salary and a $285,000 deferred bonus the previous year. “It was a phenomenal place to learn and develop,” says Lancaster, a blond, green-eyed Englishwoman. She sits tensely in her lawyer’s downtown Manhattan office as she speaks for the first time to a reporter. “I worked with motivated, professional people. We worked very hard, and we had high-profile customers. It was exciting and challenging.” Following her demotion, though, and especially after she returned from maternity leave, Lancaster says, her status within the company went downhill. Time spent caring for her newborn twin boys cut into the marathon hours she used to put in at the office. She found herself without an official department and dropped another rung on the ladder until finally she complained to human resources, claiming that she hadn’t assumed an equivalent position in the company upon returning from maternity leave, as is required by federal law. Nothing changed. Almost a year to the day after she was demoted, Lancaster resigned, convinced that she’d been pushed out because she had become a mother. She hired a lawyer, who filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces antidiscrimination laws in the workplace.”
Blogs
Honoring Military Working Moms
“This Veterans Day, let's acknowledge the many veterans who are also working moms. There are 1.9 million female veterans of the military in the U.S., and they're more likely to work full-time than their civilian counterparts, according to the Census Bureau. Personally, I’m in awe of the moms I know who are in the military, and not just because they go back to work after only 6 weeks of maternity leave. They all seem to have homes that run like clockwork, and well-behaved yet spirited children. I'd like to get a little of that military precision, myself!”
The Loaded Language of Parenting
“Are Caroline Knise and Maritza McCarthy “Stay-at-Home-Moms”? After all – do mothers who care for young children really “stay home”? Or do they race from doctor to preschool, supermarket to library, playdate to shoe store to Gymboree? “Stay-at-Home” is what we called them on the joint Today Show/Motherlode spot that aired yesterday morning, but only for lack of a more perfect term. To write about parenting is to be reminded that language is loaded. Like other places where emotions run high, and where phrases that would otherwise sound benign take on the sting of accusation (think race, religion and politics), words to describe parenting can become a sandtrap.”
Military Moms - Michelle's Got Your Back
“Michelle Obama plans to focus her attention as First Lady on the needs of working and military families. "Women are struggling, families are struggling, but women bear that brunt," she told NPR. Once she gets her daughters, Malia and Sasha, settled into their new lives, she plans to take on the cause of the working mother. It's a role she knows well. In Chicago, she juggled a $212,000 a year job at the University of Chicago while raising two young daughters. And for the past four years, her husband has been largely absent while he campaigned first for Senator and then soldiered through an endless presidential campaign. She jokingly says her White House title will be Chief Mom.”
Sick at Work
“I know I looked like death warmed over on Friday, and I did my best to convalesce over the weekend. I dutifully stayed in bed, drank tea with honey, and kept myself on a DayQuil/NightQuil continuum. Despite these defensive measures, I woke up this morning feeling ill again. Unfortunately for you, it was imperative that I come into the office today because my editor is away on vacation (in Argentina!!!) for two weeks. I must support the person who is filling in for my boss while she is away. I have an article running in the next issue of BusinessWeek that needs to be updated and fact-checked. (I also needed to replace the box of tissues I absconded from a colleague on Friday.)”
How the Mom Vote Played in this Election
“For many people, from all parts our nation and all kinds of families, this election was really about addressing concerns like parents being worried that we're creating fewer opportunities for our children than their parents had, not more. It was about addressing the fact that a full quarter of families with young children were living in poverty before this current financial crisis--and sadly things are only getting worse. This was an historic election in many, many ways. Our nation elected a President who spoke powerfully about valuing women and families and put economic security policies--policies like the incredible lack of affordable early learning/childcare opportunities for young children, our need for sick days, fair pay, and the ridiculousness of not having a national paid family and medical leave policy while over 170 other countries do--at the front his political agenda in a way that previous Presidents haven't. The mainly invisible, shared struggles of women and families sorely needed to be addressed in the national political dialogue as our President-Elect did in his campaign.”
Global News
Flexible working could help to cut costs
Working on a well-balanced life
“IS OUR work-life balance socially and economically sustainable? Sustainability is about creating an environment that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Generally, sustainable policies are introduced to mitigate the demands of economic activity that overwhelm the capacity of the Earth's biological systems to supply resources and services. However, do these services include a work-life balance? Do these resources include the human ability to strive and to over-care? Investigating the demands of economic activity that overwhelm the capacity of individuals' biological and social systems to supply the motivation to strive has not yet been of great concern.”