February 6, 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
As Layoffs Surge, Women May Pass Men in Job Force
“With the recession on the brink of becoming the longest in the postwar era, a milestone may be at hand: Women are poised to surpass men on the nation’s payrolls, taking the majority for the first time in American history. [. . .] Economists have predicted before that women would one day dominate the labor force as more ventured outside the home. The number of women entering the work force slowed and even dipped during the boom years earlier this decade, though, prompting a debate about whether women truly wanted to be both breadwinners and caregivers. [. . .] Women may be safer in their jobs, but tend to find it harder to support a family. For one thing, they work fewer overall hours than men. Women are much more likely to be in part-time jobs without health insurance or unemployment insurance. Even in full-time jobs, women earn 80 cents for each dollar of their male counterparts’ income, according to the government data.”
Flexibility can offer alternatives to downsizing
“Hardly a day goes by without reading about plant closures, company downsizing, or small businesses folding. Layoffs are hitting record-setting proportions. Yet some companies are containing labor costs not by slashing their workforce, but by working flexibly. Yes, that's right. Innovative employers are instituting flexible work options as an alternative to, or in hope of avoiding, layoffs. Reduced work schedules, 4- to 10-hour days, telecommuting, job-sharing or unpaid vacations are solutions that have minimized job cuts at places such as Dell, FedEx and The Courier Journal. Dell has requested that employees take one week of leave without pay. FedEx has cut salaries of senior executives and salaried-exempt employees by 5 to 20 percent. This delivery giant estimates a $600 million savings through salary reductions.”
Is the Work-Life Balance Tipping in Work's Favor?
“Work-life balance discussions, once so prevalent among firm management and young lawyers alike, have been overshadowed by the current economic environment. But have the initiatives been completely relegated to the back burner? Some say yes. They say the economic recession in which the country now finds itself could be bridging the gap between Generation X and the baby boomers, with both sides focusing more on office time and billable hours. But others see the harsher environment as an opportunity to bolster flex-scheduling or telecommuting programs.”
Life's Work
“I don’t know when women (men, note well, never talk about work being outside of life) started the self-destructive notion that their work was not worthy of being included in the undertaking we call "life." But I do know that language matters. You name it, you own it. When women use language that separates their work from their very existence, their life, they are guaranteeing they will never get what they need from either. I don’t think it’s overstating to assert that when women talk about work versus life, or balancing work and life, what they mean is private life, or family life. There was a time in history when, for certain middle-class, mostly white women, their families were their whole lives. They did not work in the public sphere, they did not work in the market economy. That time is long past in the United States. For many women, it was never the case.”
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act won't close wage gap between men and women
“The first bill President Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which provides women and minorities with critical tools to challenge discriminatory pay practices. In overturning a misguided Supreme Court opinion limiting pay equity suits, the act marks an important step forward but, by itself, it is unlikely to close the wage gap between men and women. Why? Because pay discrimination is only a part of the problem. [. . .] In addition to discrimination, one of the chief factors causing the wage gap is that women are more likely to have major interruptions in their work history due to family obligations. While some women choose to leave the workforce when a child comes along or a parent is ill, too many are forced to leave because they do not have the right to take time off from work for family responsibilities without the threat of losing a job or losing necessary salary to keep the family afloat.”
No Waiting: Younger Women Say Yes to Motherhood
“For the first time since government records have been kept, the average age at which women have their first babies posted a decline -- according to newly released data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Mothers' mean age at their first childbirth fell to 25.0 years in 2006, the most recent figures available, from 25.2 in 2005. Women ages 20 to 24 led the shift, with a 5% increase in the rate of first births. [. . .] But some experts also see a shift in attitudes. More young women today just assume they'll have both a career and a family, and on their own timetable, says Stephanie Coontz, director of research for the Council on Contemporary Families. Young women feel less compelled to spend a decade proving themselves on the job before kids, she says.”
Till Children Do Us Part
“The Cowans found that the average drop in marital satisfaction was almost entirely accounted for by the couples who slid into being parents, disagreed over it or were ambivalent about it. Couples who planned or equally welcomed the conception were likely to maintain or even increase their marital satisfaction after the child was born. Marital quality also tends to decline when parents backslide into more traditional gender roles. Once a child arrives, lack of paid parental leave often leads the wife to quit her job and the husband to work more. This produces discontent on both sides. The wife resents her husband’s lack of involvement in child care and housework. The husband resents his wife’s ingratitude for the long hours he works to support the family. When the Cowans designed programs to help couples resolve these differences, they had fewer conflicts and higher marital quality. And the children did better socially and academically because their parents were happier.”
Keeping Work/Life Programs
“It's still too early to tell just what effect, if any, this recession will have on corporate America's evolving commitment to work/life balance. What is becoming clear to both employers and employees are the ramifications of cutting those programs -- something employers learned from the 2001 recession. Though actual numbers aren't in yet, Jackie James, research director for the Boston College Center for Work & Family, says she's hearing from the center's membership of more than 100 HR leaders nationwide that, unlike work/life cuts in the previous downturn, "there's no drastic pulling back at this point." Though most of her members say they aren't asking for, or getting, anything new in workplace-flexibility or job-sharing programs -- or even more ancillary perks such as on-site daycare or fitness centers -- "many are now preparing to go before top leadership in a very proactive way to argue that work/life offerings already in place be spared" the cost-cutting ax.”
Medford woman hopes to build support for military family leave
“With hundreds of members of the Oregon National Guard deploying to war this spring, one Medford woman wants lawmakers to pass a national military family leave act. Stacy Bannerman is going to Washington D.C. this month to try and build support for a law that is similar to one passed in Washington state last year. It gives employees 15 days of unpaid leave if their spouse is notified of deployment or has returned home.”
The Drive to Go From the Factory to the Classroom
“With an unpredictable workweek schedule -- rotating 10-hour days that included alternating weekend work -- and indecision about a major, Ms. Becker found it difficult to complete the degree quickly. Even though she earned good grades, she regularly had to drop courses after missing too many lectures. It took nearly 11 years of coursework at six different colleges for Ms. Becker to earn her bachelor's degree in managerial economics in 1990 from the University of Michigan-Dearborn. [. . .] Ms. Becker, now 49, wrapped up her doctorate in education in December and is an assistant professor at Eastern Michigan's department of interdisciplinary technology. Her proudest accomplishment, she says, is creating a new undergraduate degree in Technology Management. The program caters primarily to displaced, middle-aged auto workers who want to transition into management roles but need a bachelor's degree to make it through the door.”
Blogs
Omero: Women's Issues In The Post-Ledbetter Era
“Other national polling suggests even more issues of interest. A 2008 National Women's Law Center poll conducted by Hart Research showed clear majorities of both men and women agreeing "we need to do more to help families balance work and family." Specifically, majorities of both genders support government funding to expand access to quality affordable child care and early education, and also expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act to make all workers eligible. Like with the price tag above, when a question includes the phrase "increasing government funding" and still garners majority support from both men and women, then you know you've found a popular issue.”
Moms take on extra work in down economy
“San Francisco mom Esther Lee gave birth to her second child, Cory, in January and Lee is already preparing to return to work in March. She's thankful that her employer, the Equality Federation, is open to a flexible schedule and might even allow her to bring Cory into the office, but still she's taking only six weeks off. After she had her first child, Christopher, now 3, she stayed home for 18 months. ‘But those were different times,’ Lee says. ‘With the economy being so shakey I feel pressure to return to the office as soon as possible.’ Lee and her partner carry a mortgage for a Noe Valley home. They're also paying for an independent school. Lee's parents help out with tuition but Lee worries about her parent's financial situation. How does Lee feel about returning to work?”
The Granite State Introduces a Trifecta of Work-Family Bills
“Yesterday, three new work-family bills, part of the New Hampshire Women’s Lobby’s (NHWL) Work and Family Economic Sustainability Initiative (“Initiative”), were heard by the House Labor and Commerce Committees in New Hampshire. The Initiative, developed by the NHWL, several New Hampshire legislators, including Representatives Mary Stuart Gile and Carla Skinder, and other allies, is comprised of the following bills….”
Steelers Head Coach-Dad, and Work + Life "Fit" Advocate
“Tomlin explains how important his stepfather’s involvement was in making him the man who will lead the Steelers in the Super Bowl this year. He talks about how, “In my own home, that means I make my wife and our children—Dino, Mason and Harlyn Quinn—my No. 1 priority.” Then he says…”I also try to make my life fit into theirs.” That’s right, Coach Mike Tomlin is all about work+life “fit!” He continues, “When I can, I drive them to school, coach their sports teams and go over their homework. If they are proud of me for coaching the Steelers, that’s great, but I want them to know that my primary purpose in life is to be their dad.” The reality is that he has a very big job that requires a lot of travel for a good part of the year. But he understands that it’s the small things—homework help, a ride to school—that make a big difference, and he works hard to “fit” them in.”
Global News
Family-friendly 'right' unenforceable
“THE Federal Government's watering down of its promised right for parents to seek flexible work arrangements to help with family responsibilities has been slammed by industrial relations and labour law academics. In submissions to a Senate inquiry into the Government's Fair Work Bill, experts said the right will be largely meaningless and deliver few benefits for employees because it is not legally enforceable. The bill gives employees with preschool children a legislated right to request family-friendly work patterns, such as different starting and finishing times or part-time employment.”