April 17, 2009 .
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
Flexibility equals happy workers
“With unemployment on the rise — slowed only by a couple of glimmers of hope — job security is fast becoming a subject we will reminisce about with our grandchildren. These days, many workers think their companies see them simply as robots that can be tossed aside and quickly replaced. Therefore, they hesitate to ask for needed time off or schedule changes to deal with personal issues or family crisis, creating even more stress in their lives. Less productivity soon follows, and the vicious circle is complete. No parts of that scenario need exist, however, said Laura Flowers, manager of operations at the University of Kentucky's Institute for Workplace Innovation, also called IWIN.”
College Tells Women Healthy Balance Is Key
“A business class at George Washington University aims to teach young women how to balance their careers with their personal lives. Adjunct Professor Kathy Korman Frey and Alicia Buford, a senior business major at the university, is joined by regular parenting contributor Leslie Morgan Steiner, to discuss women and work-life balance.”
DuPont initiates unpaid leave
“The DuPont Co., the state's largest industrial employer, Monday resorted to a strategy it used in the Great Depression, asking salaried employees worldwide to take unpaid furloughs. In response to weak market conditions, DuPont's 75 senior leaders have agreed to take three weeks off without pay, said company spokesman Anthony Farina. Other salaried employees are being asked to voluntarily take the equivalent of two weeks off without pay. The company launched the program Monday, but did not make a public announcement. The company employs 57,000 people globally, including more than 8,000 in Delaware, where DuPont has its headquarters. Farina wasn't able to say how many positions in its work force are salaried. The company doesn't use the term "furlough" for the program because of laws and regulation in some countries where DuPont does business.”
Keeping Navy ship-shape through teleworking
“Usually, when you think about teleworking, you think cars, saving gas, and giving people more options instead of commuting. But for one branch of the Pentagon, its all about being ship shape. Sharie Bourbeau is Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Manpower, Training and Education with the U.S. Navy. As the luncheon keynote speaker to last week's Telework Exchange Town Hall, Bourbeau was more or less preaching to the choir when it comes to telework, but she says it's important to remember why telework is important to an agency that does most of its business out at sea.”
Economy dampens hope of a comfortable retirement
“Rising costs and uncertainty about the economy have workers less confident in their ability to save enough money to retire comfortably, say the authors of a new study released Tuesday. Even though workers are saving more and expecting to work longer to improve their chances of a happy retirement, there's still a disconnect. The survey shows many are failing to plan appropriately and making incorrect assumptions about retirement income.”
Governor Signs Employee Leave Sharing Bill
See page 3 of the newsletter for an article on a new law passed in Colorado that expands the conditions under which employees can share annual leave.
Blogs
A Woman's Nation
“For the first time in our nation's history, women now represent half of all workers and are becoming the primary breadwinners in more families than ever before. These two facts have far reaching consequences to government, business, faith communities, women and even men. Clearly, this country is now what I like to call "A Woman's Nation." [. . .] I am incredibly excited to begin working to understand how American women can best be supported in their ever-evolving roles, particularly as it relates to our growing economic influence in society. I look forward to sharing with you my stories and findings from this remarkable journey to uncover the modern American woman.”
How telecommuters can steer clear of layoffs
“I've been making my way through an interesting collection of articles on work/life balance that BusinessWeek recently published. One in the particular, "Telecommuting: Once a Perk, Now a Necessity," caught my eye today. The article discusses professionals who've been sent home to telecommute in order to save their employer money. In a classic case of "careful what you wish for," some workers with newfound telecommuting privileges find adjusting to the solitude and lack of structure more challenging than expected. (Fortunately, both issues have many remedies, which I'll discuss in an upcoming post.)”
Domestic Violence in the News
“Unfortunately, we continue to hear about cases of domestic violence in the local, national and international news almost every day. As you probably know, domestic or intimate partner violence affects people in all walks of life from low-income families, to blue collar and middle class families, to high earners and celebrities. [. . .] The Sloan Network has compiled information about domestic violence. In particular, we’ve focused on the impact of domestic violence at the workplace in the April 2008 Network News, an issue of the Effective Workplace Series, a Topic Page and a Fact Sheet. We just posted a new Work and Family Encyclopedia Entry: Domestic Violence and Work: Legal and Business Perspectives, by Marcy Karin and Paula Shapiro.”
The Case for Work/Life Programs
“The results were clear. In the early 1980s, the stock market would hardly react at all to such fluffy initiatives; if anything the effect of the fluffy announcement on a firm's share price was slightly negative (-0.35%). However, that changed quite a bit in the 1990s when the announcement of a work-family initiative resulted in a positive swing of the stock- on average 0.48%. Now that may seem peanuts to you, but if you're a $5 billion company, it means that even one such initiative could increase the value of your firm by 24 million. That's a lot of peanuts. And a lot of share-holder value.”
In Praise of Dr. Laura, Kind of
“The thing is, I agree with Dr. Laura's message that we adults should be responsible for our choices and their outcomes. I concur that gender differences are real and too-infrequently acknowledged in our society. I simply turn down the radio volume when she goes on a rant about how working moms are selfish for turning over our children for strangers to raise. Unfortunately, Dr. Laura is a smart, articulate, convincing woman. And now that she's released a book called, "In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms," I feel that I should address some of the mistakes in Dr. Laura's world view. Here's the short version of my counter argument. Working moms can be hands-on mothers who meet their children's needs. Children need their dads, and when moms are 100 percent in charge of the kids, dads are often sidelined. Women shouldn't have to put their careers on hold for 18 years or more in order to have a moral right to procreate.”
Global News
Parental leave 'would increase jobs'
“A UNIVERSAL system of paid parental leave could generate up to 9000 jobs by pushing more cash into the economy — with the extra taxes from those jobs cutting the scheme's net cost to $225 million, modelling suggests. As senior ministers wrap up days of intense haggling over budget measures, an Australia Institute analysis also says the scheme would pay for itself in the long run by luring 50,000 more women into paid work. To be released today, the Long Overdue: the Macroeconomic Benefits of Paid Parental Leave paper takes the initial scheme proposed by the Productivity Commission and models its impact on the economy.”
Budget rebuff to bosses and unions over state subsidies for workers on short time
“The TUC and employment organisations, including the Engineering Employers Federation yesterday lobbied the Treasury to back a temporary short-time working scheme. Under the plan the government would partially compensate workers for lost earnings where there was an agreed reduction in working hours and pay, and a commitment to training. The TUC and other groups said: "Such a scheme would be vital to keeping workers in employment and would help viable businesses survive during the global downturn." They said that in Germany, state support for short-time working is available for 18 months from the date of application, and may be extended to two years if unemployment continues to rise. A similar scheme, ProAct, is under way in Wales. But government sources said ministers could not see a way in which the scheme would be free from abuse by financially solvent companies.”
EU Work-Life Balance Tilts Against Women
“Residents of Nordic countries stand out among EU member states, with just 20% of Finns, 34% of Danes, and 35% of Swedes finding it ("very" or "fairly") difficult to combine their working lives with family responsibilities. Northern European countries such as the United Kingdom (32%), Ireland (32%), and the Netherlands (20%) also had relatively few respondents saying it is a challenge to find the right balance. The five EU member states with the most respondents citing problems in this domain are in the southern and eastern parts of Europe, with Hungarian and Portuguese respondents reporting the most trouble: 77% and 72%, respectively, said they find it difficult to combine work and family life.”