September 23, 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
Moms need more protections from government
“Ironically, Betsy Hart's column entitled, "Government doesn't need to bail out working moms" was released on Thursday, at the very moment that the government was bailing out Wall Street, giving AIG access to possibly more than $85 billion in taxpayer dollars. What's wrong with our nation? That bailing out the big corporations is deemed acceptable, while helping families meet basic needs and protecting women from discrimination is too often dismissed as unnecessary and even un-American? It's time to change the conversation away from the tired, old trickle-down theories that got us into this mess, where the rich get richer as it gets harder and harder for working folks - and mothers in particular - to make ends meet. The price of milk is up. The price of gas is up, and so are the prices of childcare, healthcare, and the number of hours that need to be worked each day in order to keep up with monthly costs.”
Home Sweet Office: Telecommute Good for Business, Employees, and Planet
“Ever since OPEC vexed Jimmy Carter into wearing a cardigan, telecommuting has been touted as a fix for what ails the US office worker — the agony and expense of commuting, the drudgery of cubicles, the shortage of family time. Long before the advent of the Web, evangelists were confident that cordless phones and faxes had already made the office a relic. "Working from home holds the promise of a new American dream," Paul and Sarah Edwards gushed in their 1985 manifesto, Working From Home, in which they extolled the virtues of commuting from breakfast nook to den.”
Balancing Act
“Just as the human body slowly and carefully begins the process of rebuilding and recovery after trauma, so has the Capital Region after a crushing blow from Hurricane Gustav. In the weeks following the storm, streets have been cleared, trees removed from houses, business signs replaced and the process of restoring and rebuilding has become commonplace. But inside homes and businesses, residents and executives still are working to restore the normal balance of their work and personal lives. The balancing act, as it is typically called, is one that plays on the mind of most Americans. In particular, they struggle to separate and equalize the attention and effort given to their jobs with that given to their families.”
No Longer Ready to Reitre
“People such as Tim Kenney or Thomas Williams said the summer's stress over rising gas, food and energy prices now feels like nothing. Now they are watching hard-earned savings shrink or simply disappear. Kenney began to wonder if the very foundation of the economy, and with it people's dreams and plans, was crumbling. Jean Celine, 64, was already so worried about rising health-care costs that she'd been forcing herself to go to the gym every day to stay healthy. After last week, her nerves are shot. Like many her age, she has only a small pot of money to live on for the rest of her life. Any loss is a big loss. And the average 65-year-old retiree can expect to live 17 more years, the AARP says. So this weekend, Celine started a $15-an-hour job. "I'll probably be working for the rest of my life," she said. "Some golden years." After last week, psychologists took to the airwaves to tell people not to become sick over losing money, advising that pausing was better than panicking. But by then, enough people had sufficiently panicked to make a run on the $3.5 trillion in money market funds, similar to the bank runs that led to the Great Depression.”
Start Me Up
“The publication of “The Comeback” is nearly synchronous with two landmark moments in the debate about work/family balance: John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, and the 20th anniversary of the Harvard Business Review article that introduced the galvanizing notion of the mommy track. If Keller’s Everywoman can finally effect lasting political and economic change, perhaps her daughters won’t need to stage a career comeback: they won’t have to leave in the first place.”
Economy puts stay-at-home parents back to work
“Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor show that the state's unemployment rate rose by two-tenths of a percentage point to land at 5.4 percent in August. The nation's unemployment rate is higher, at 6.1 percent. It has forced some stay-at-home moms to return to work. Everything's gone up, from milk to diapers to gas, to our electric bill, and so I needed to go back to work," said Anne Calladonato. "I didn't necessarily want to but it was almost like we didn't have a choice." After staying home with her children for three years, Calladonato recently returned to work at a Maryland hospital. Her husband had been laid off from his job, and he got another one that paid significantly less.”
Sick-time debate chills in Ohio as battle shifts to Washington
“Like most people opposed to government-mandated paid sick leave, Columbus attorney Nelson Cary was in a pretty good mood Sept. 4. That morning, labor union leader Becky Williams said the Ohioans for Healthy Families coalition would ask that its paid sick leave issue be removed from the Nov. 4 statewide ballot. Citing the likelihood of a “shrill and vitriolic” ballot campaign that could divide the state, Williams said the coalition decided such a fight didn’t make sense for Ohio workers at this time. Ohio would have been the lone state with such a paid sick-leave mandate, putting it at a major disadvantage when it competed for economic development projects with other states, said Cary, who represents management in his law practice at Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease LLP.”
Bundle of Trouble
“Although studies indicate parents derive more purpose and meaning from life than nonparents, as a group, moms and dads in the United States also experience depression, emotional distress, and negative emotions (such as fear, anxiety, worry, and anger) far more than their child-free peers. What’s more, parents of grown children report no greater well-being than adults who never had children. [. . .] The disconnect lies in the social conditions in which Americans now parent; they’re far from ideal for allowing parents to reap the emotional benefits of having children. Parents cope with stressors that cancel out and often exceed the emotional rewards of having children. Making matters worse, parents and others perceive the strain as a private matter and a reflection of their inability to cope with the “normal” demands of parenthood.”
Blogs
Women Respond to Palin - Part 2, MomsRising
“A "grassroots" letter that will be presented to Sarah Palin by MomsRising is currently on their site, available for signature. To date, 20,000 women's names have been collected. The question is asked of Palin, "Where do you stand on issues that matter to me?" After extending heartfelt congratulations to the Governor on her path from "PTA to Vice Presidential candidate," the organization gets down to brass tacks by specifically asking what she and the Republican Party would do for mothers and families. MomsRising was founded in 2006. It grew out of a book project undertaken by Joan Blades and Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. Released on Mother's Day of that year, The Motherhood Manifesto, "explored the struggles of the American family." It later became a documentary film. Having reached a critical mass with their extensive research data, Blades and Rowe-Finkbeiner decided to mobilize the strength behind mothers' voices and their concerns.”
Work-Life Benefits: How Does Your Company Stack Up?
“At a time when working parents need a lot of support, this year’s annual list of “The Working Mother 100 Best Companies” strikes an ominous note for family-friendly benefits. In an unprecedented twist, six of the 100 companies chosen for the magazine’s hotly contested list – Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley – are either vanishing from the business landscape in their current form or being restructured by the government. Lehman is in bankruptcy proceedings, Merrill will merge with Bank of America. Fannie and Freddie have been taken over by the federal government. And Morgan Stanley and Goldman are being converted to traditional bank holding companies.”
Would You Go Back to Fulltime Office Work?
“Not everyone who teleworks does it for life. An online writer I know just went back to his old job as an on-site project manager. A quick surf to articles or blogs on telecommuting shows that not all people are happy with their experiences. [. . .] If telework is as great as promised, why do some people return to the office?”
Wall Streeters Reassess Their Careers
“People who earn their daily bread in the financial sector aren’t getting much sleep these days. A study released this week by the Center for Work Life Policy reports that more than 80 percent of female star performers are considering leaving their Wall Street careers, compared to 40 percent of men.”
Global News
Setback in fight against forced retirement
“Employers may be spared from a morass of costly age discrimination litigation following a European decision on the legality of the UK’s compulsory retirement rules. Older workers who say they are being unfairly forced out of the workplace at 65 were seeking a ruling that the government’s establishment of a “default” retirement age breaches EU equality laws. An adviser to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg on Tuesday rejected their claim, saying that such legislation would generally be considered lawful if it was put in place to address “legitimate” labour market aims.”
Special award winners
“The work-life balance policy includes initiatives such as having no core times when staff have to be in work. Many flexitime policies specify that staff must begin work by a certain time and cannot leave before a set time. If staff at Broadland want to work a short day they can do a minimum of five hours without taking leave. These flexibilities need to be agreed with line managers and take into account the needs of the services. The council employs two part-time caretakers whose duties include securing the building at the beginning and end of the day. This means that staff cannot start work until 7.45am and need to leave by 6.30pm. This ensures that a culture of long working hours does not develop or become expected.”
Time to take your leave
“TEMPTED to pull a sickie because your child wakes up with a mysterious rash? Or maybe you'd like to spend more time with your kids who are growing up too fast. Unknown to many parents there are some helpful options when you find yourself in these situations. Force majeure leave is provided for under the 1998 Parental Leave Act. It allows employees to take time off for urgent family reasons owing to illness or injury where their immediate presence is absolutely required. Parents are entitled to take three days in a period of 12 consecutive months or five days in a period of 36 consecutive months.”