October 21, 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
Michelle's focus group: Military families
“Every few weeks, Obama meets with military spouses in swing states, where she presents herself as a kindred spirit and Barack Obama as the best choice for their families. She attended the two debates with military family members. And at the Democratic National Convention, she led a day of service on behalf of Blue Star Families for Obama, a two-month old group with the tagline: “Pro-Military, Pro-Obama.” Obama aides say her work with military families has nothing to do with the controversy created by her February comment suggesting that the presidential campaign made her proud of the United States for the first time. But the effort could be viewed as an exercise in counterprogramming, serving as a rebuttal to criticism from Cindy McCain and others for a comment that Michelle Obama insists was misinterpreted – and the notion that her husband, a Democrat with no military service, cannot peel off voters from John McCain, an ex-Navy pilot and war hero.”
Internet, Cellphones May Strengthen Family Unit, Study Finds
“Parents and children might rush through their days in different directions, but the American family is as tight-knit as in the last generation -- or more so -- because of the widespread use of cellphones and the Internet, according to a new poll. In what was described as the first detailed survey of its kind, released yesterday, researchers reported that family life has not been weakened, as many had feared, by new technology. Rather, families have compensated for the stress and hurry of modern life with cellphone calls, e-mail and text messages and other new forms of communication.”
Women are more likely to outlive their savings
“Catherine McCandlish plans to work the rest of her life. Why? Now 55, she's accumulated only about $15,000 in retirement savings. [. . .] Hers is a concern for millions of American women whose hopes for the golden years are being tarnished by hard economic realities. The odds for a comfortable retirement are not in women's favor. More women than men are outliving their savings. Women are twice as likely to die in poverty as men. And prospects are even worse if those women are divorced or a minority. The reasons are clear: As a group, women work fewer years, earn less, save less, and then live longer than men. It's a potent recipe for financial insecurity.”
Work now, play later
“A Hub professor is touting the economic, social and psychological benefits of working longer for older folks who have seen their dreams of retirement at 62 dashed by the crumbling economy. Working “gives you structure and a sense of accomplishment,” said Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research Director Alicia Munnell. Munnell is recommending that people work until at least age 67. [. . .] A longer work life “reduces how long you have to support yourself, and the longer you wait to receive Social Security benefits, the higher those benefits will be,” Munnell said.”
Faces of the New Economy: Retirees
“Kathy Farrand is almost 62 years old. She's got health problems. She commutes 110 miles every day. And she wants to retire. But because of the financial crisis and the plummeting value of her retirement nest egg, she can't. Host Jacki Lyden starts our series "Faces of the New Economy," with a look at how Farrand and her financial adviser are trying to chart her future.”
Male Bonding (Or How Dad Lost 30 Pounds)
“TWO years ago, when my wife, Anita, was pregnant, we started discussing child care options. We tossed around the idea of my staying at home with the baby when she went back to work. At the time, she was working for a company that processes insurance claims for Rite Aid. We decided that the idea would be in the baby’s best interest and that it would be good for me, too. I was working in hotel sales — selling blocks of rooms to sports teams, corporate groups and school groups, for example — and I enjoyed it. But after eight years in the industry, I felt I had no job security. One hotel would often buy another, and the new management would come in and lay people off. I wanted more stability. I figured that I’d stay home for a year, then look for a job in a new field.”
High cost of cheap civic grace
“Three in 10 working Georgia families still struggle to get by, according to a report issued Tuesday by a public policy study group. “It used to be that if you worked hard with your muscle and showed up on time you could earn enough” to support a family, said Brandon Roberts, the principal author of the study produced by the Working Poor Families Project. “That’s increasingly no longer the case.” The report counts how many working families are low-income, defined as making less than $41,228 a year. The percentage of Georgia working families the report classified as low-income was also about 30 percent four years ago when the Working Poor Families Project last crunched the numbers.”
Making Telecommuting Work
“Telecommuting, or "teleworking" in consultantspeak, is growing among small businesses. "We are seeing more small companies than ever before embrace this," says Mike Williams, director of programs and employer services at the Atlanta-based nonprofit Clean Air Campaign, which helps companies set up telecommuting programs. The number of people working away from the office at least once a month has been growing at about 10% annually for several years, hitting 35 million this year, according to WorldatWork, an association for human resource professionals. About 12% of employees at companies with 21 to 100 people sometimes work remotely, according to a 2008 survey by technology company CDW. It's easy to see why telecommuting is gaining traction. A 2008 study from staffing firm Robert Half International, though it queried only accountants, found that telecommuting and flexible schedules were the third most important incentives when attracting new hires, behind salary and benefits but ahead of signing bonuses and extra vacation days.”
Does Paid Family and Sick Leave Improve Our Health?
“There are no U.S. micro level studies (at the individual level) that statistically show the health impact of paid leave. This study is the first of its kind, sampling over 50 thousand children using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a survey sponsored and conducted by AHRQ, the Agency for Health Research and Quality. This study is the first of a two part study examining the health impact of paid leave. Given the current debate in Congress on the importance of mandated paid leave, studies like these are timely and necessary if Congress is going to make policy decisions that are efficient and effective. The ability for working parents to meet the health needs of their children and families may be contingent upon the important component of paid leave. This paper analyzes the impact of paid leave on child health outcomes.”
Blogs
Keeping Work Stress Under Control at Home
“We’ve tackled this subject here before, but, it seems like something we all face regularly: Keeping work stress at bay when we get home. It’s becoming harder as the economy and its problems hit closer to home, with colleagues being laid off, clients disappearing and worries about whether or not our jobs are secure (and if they are, will there be a raise next year?). I’ve been pretty good at leaving work stress at the door. When I walk in and my son comes running, arms outstretched, yelling “Mommy, mommy,” the stress kind of melts away. Working at a newspaper has it’s fair share of tense moments. That’s particularly true these days, especially at a financial newspaper. I find that lately it’s been harder to leave the day at the door. I still give the big hug and smile, but the stress of the previous 9 or 10 hours seems to hang with me for longer.”
In a freefall economy, does work-life balance tip over?
“A cosmetologist friend thinks it might. She's a mother of two whose current profession allows her flexible hours and enjoyable work (if you think scraping dead skin cells off a stranger's face is a good time). Her employer doesn't offer benefits or high pay, though, so what with the shaky state of things, she's thinking of taking on a second job as a teacher's assistant. Meantime, her sister, a state employee, is hurrying back to work after giving birth because she's fearful of risking a solid job in this jittery job market.”
The Work-Life President
“We have complicated feelings about government’s role in work-life issues. As we noted in this post about government teleworkers, we’re glad there are laws on the books that support employee schedule control. The Family and Medical Leave Act is a good start, even if in an authentic ROWE, many of its provisos would be irrelevant. You don’t need to protect people’s time if you’re measuring them based on results. At the same time, as we wrote in our post about the FMLA, top-down laws aren’t going to change what people BELIEVE about work. Just check out the comments in Shellenbarger’s recent piece about the two candidates. You would think that jobs are a form of charity (as opposed to an exchange of money for services) and just having one should make you fall to your knees in gratitude. Still, our next president is going to have to do something. Our labor laws were designed for a 20th-century, manufacturing economy. Now that many of us are knowledge workers (and 24/7, global knowledge workers at that), we need to embrace our new economic realities.”
Whither (or, Wither) Goes Work-Life Balance?
“A couple of years ago, talk about work-life balance was all the rage. It was the key, many thought, to retaining talented, sought-after lawyers. Well, it may still be important for retaining lawyers, as our colleagues at Legal Week reported just days ago. But how much attention will the issue get now that so much of the economy has turned sour, and retaining high-paid associates is the least of many firms’ worries? Perusing recent blogs and news, we came across a lot of people abandoning the feisty can-do spirit of recent years.”
Global News
Flexible work changes 'reviewed'
“No 10 said Business Secretary Lord Mandelson was looking at "all regulations due to come into force", given the economic uncertainty. But the spokesman said ministers wanted to help families, adding "no decisions have been taken on any of this". The flexible working scheme was due to be extended to 4.5m parents of children up to the age of 16 from next April.”
With new advances in technology, why are we still jumping in the car?
“All around the world, workers in branch offices use the latest technology tools, from e-mails and instant messaging to Web portals and video conferencing, to get their jobs done. Even employees in the same building - often on the same floor or in adjacent cubicles - use these and other communication tools to collaborate. So why do so many people, especially those in information-based industries, still make the physical commute to and from the office, when they could just as easily use these tools to work from home and cut gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions?”
Legal eagles eye work-life move
“When Victoria Pegrum had her son five years ago, flexible working wasn’t part of the legal profession’s vocabulary. Until recently a single mother, she managed to arrange a four-day week but often felt sidelined. “Back then working reduced hours was very new in the legal profession. Often you were pushed into support-lawyer roles, but I felt pathetically grateful to be allowed to work four days,” she said. Just over a year later Pegrum joined the City firm Addleshaw Goddard, where she is now a managing associate. The law firm and Working Families, a charity, last week published a report, Legal Lives – Retaining Talent Through a Balanced Culture, on the need to adapt for a sector that is known for its punishing hours.”