February 27, 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
Hingham co-op builds on women's focus to balance family, business
“In a failed toy store in Hingham Square, four women are taking on the recession in style. Their brainchild, which opened in December, is a cooperative shop that the four "mompreneurs" hope will weather the recession and serve as an incubator for other mothers with business ideas. "We wanted to do something creative and mom-friendly," after leaving full-time careers to raise their children, said cofounder Bonnie Hertberg. The Coop in Hingham Square is riding national surges in two categories: cooperatives and women-owned businesses.”
A Late Pass for the Teacher
“From a corner office in Tysons Corner, Steve Ingrassia managed 600 employees last year and secured classified contracts for the federal government. Now he reports to work at Fairfax High School, where he shares a workroom with 20 other teachers and is responsible for the math and computer science education for five classes of teenagers. After a 30-year career in information technology, Ingrassia left his vice president title and six-figure income for a chance to work his way up the from the bottom of the salary scale in teaching. [. . .] When his third and youngest daughter began preparing for college graduation and her first career, Ingrassia started making plans for his second career. He dusted off his college transcript, took a national math test and enrolled in a career-changer program at George Mason University in fall 2007.”
Women Re-Enter Technical Fields
“It will come as no surprise that many career re-entry programs, designed to help at-home mothers return to the work force, are disappearing, victims of hard times among the Wall Street firms and banks that led the so-called on-ramping trend. But a new bright spot is emerging. Small, innovative return-to-work programs are springing up in other sectors -- specifically in science, engineering and technology. Prospects for long-term job growth in these fields are relatively good, and many employers expect a talent shortage, partly because of high quit rates among experienced women. Honeywell, General Electric, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and even the British government have all launched programs to provide women scientists, engineers and technicians the tools they need to jump-start stalled careers. Some of the new programs provide only training, coaching, networking and referrals, while others offer actual jobs with lower return-to-work barriers through special training or mentoring.”
Measure would ensure time off for Iowa caucuses
“Most Iowans could get unpaid time off work to attend the state's precinct caucuses under a measure being considered in an Iowa House committee. The measure backed by Rep. Elesha Gayman, D-Davenport, would respond to criticism that the presidential caucuses unfairly exclude people who must work on weekday nights when the event is held. The proposal would exclude some emergency workers who can't be spared from their jobs. The plan comes as Iowa activists already look ahead to 2012 and the never-ending task of protecting the state's leadoff position in the presidential nominating process. Leaders in other states have sought to change the system, arguing that the caucuses aren't a true measure of public sentiment and that Iowa and New Hampshire have too much power in winnowing the field of presidential candidates.”
UI considers parental leave policy
“University of Iowa officials are considering a new policy that would give new parents, particularly fathers, a little more flexibility. Called the parental leave policy, it redefines new parents to include mothers, fathers and domestic partners who become a parent through birth, adoption, guardianship or fostering. The broadened scope of who is a "new parent" opens the door for who can use sick time, rather than just vacation, to spend with a new child. Previous policies granted new biological mothers and adoptive parents the use of sick time, but new fathers only could use vacation time. If approved, all new parents could use 15 days of sick leave a year for the purpose of being with a new child.”
Schakowsky: Pushing for More After Ledbetter
“In June, Michelle Obama made a last-minute decision to take time out of her campaign schedule to speak at the annual fundraising luncheon for the National Partnership for Women and Families, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that lobbies for workplace fairness and balance. It was an auspicious sign that the group would have a key ally in the White House if her husband, Barack Obama, won the presidential race. Now first lady, Michelle Obama has appointed Jocelyn Frye, formerly the general counsel for the National Partnership, to be her policy director and has pledged to use her position to help working women balance responsibilities to their careers and families. Michelle Obama has not publicly laid out a work-family legislative agenda; a spokesperson did not return a call for comment.”
For families, layoffs shift responsibilities, roles
“Wrangling over who takes out the trash is the least of their worries. When Steve Hartel lost his second job in five years last June, his wife, Lisa Alecci, again became the family's sole breadwinner. Now, she may have to give up her chosen role as the go-to parent working flexibly and look for a better paying job. His vision of being the main provider for their family of five is on hold for now. Household roles have grown messy. Frustrations are high. [. . .] With deep waves of layoffs predominantly hitting men, women's share of family earnings has become more crucial than ever. But the shift ing tides in male and female fortunes are shaking up relations in even the most progressive partnerships. Ultimately, the recession may further dismantle traditional gender roles and redefine what it means to be a "family provider" - but the gains won't be without pain.”
Blogs
Fried by Fridays: End-of-the-Week Blues
"Things move so quickly with his development that each weekend, I have to relearn his habits and routines, asking my husband (who is home with him during the week) when the baby should nap, for example, or what time of day to give him solid food. Of course my husband keeps me updated throughout the week on how the baby’s doing, but the updates are not a substitute for being there.It’s not that I go through a week without spending time with my son — we have a morning and evening routine that we both enjoy. But that adds up to about two hours a day, and during some of it, he’s nodding off to sleep. Though, to be fair, this is a big chunk of the baby’s time — he’s only awake for about 10 hours a day."
The Messy Side of Working From Home
“One side effect of the downturn may well be more parents working from home. For some it will be involuntary — cobbling together a home business after losing an office job. For some it will be a way to save on the expenses of going elsewhere for work — no more office space to lease, no more commuting costs. And for many it will be a way to save on child care. Work during nap time, or play dates, or on wi-fi while watching karate practice. It can be done. Right? RIGHT? Working from home solves many problems, but as one who has done it for nearly 15 years, I should warn you that it creates others you might not expect. My first day as a “work from home mom” found me on one side of the door in my new office-over-the-garage with my 3-year-old son on the other. Our baby-sitter was there (I never dared try to write and parent at the exact same time when the boys were little), but Evan knew I was just out of reach, and he spent the better part of three days shrieking for me.”
Are You a Cloudworker?
“While advances in technology and concerns about the environment have made it more desirable and easier to be a telecommuter, the terms telework and telecommuter may have become a little outdated. As more people work from home, optimal productivity requires tools and skills to manage collaborations between remote workers and workers located at company offices. Plantronics, a manufacturer and marketer of lightweight communications headset products, recently sponsored a contest to replace the word telecommuter. The winner was ‘cloudworker’ submitted by Venkatesh Rao, a blogger and a scientist at Xerox, who said that a cloudworker is ‘somebody who uses on-demand technology and collaboration tools, such as unified communications, to work anywhere and anytime, and uses the resulting freedom to enable a my-size-fits-me career path and lifestyle. The metaphor of the cloud extends well beyond cloud computing and software as service applications to include work environments, distributed teams, and communication tools.’”
Paid Maternity Leave: breastfeeding won't work without it
“Things can be done to make the workplace a little more breastfeeding-friendly. For example, workplaces can establish lactation rooms, and they can provide employees with the break time they need to express their milk. They can provide on-site or near-site day care. They can provide flex-time programs. They might even offer breastfeeding support programs. But what mothers and infants need more than anything else during the first few months of life is time to be together.”
Global News
'Give up work to help your husband'
“In the book, Basham sets out a strategy for women who want to stay at home but can't afford to. ‘Most research says 80% of women want to work fewer hours when their kids are young,’ she says. ‘How can you ignore that and tell them they're wrong or naive?’ She argues that women can opt out of the nine-to-five by focusing on helping their husbands be more successful in their careers, and find fulfilment by doing so. And as a happy side-effect, she says, these more traditional marriages are less likely to end in divorce. She cites herself and a series of high-profile couples as examples, and backs her argument up with statistics such as: ‘Men whose wives aren't employed earn on average 31% more than single men, but for men whose wives have full-time jobs, that number drops to 3.4%.’”
WRAPUP 1- Muted German jobless rise eases some economy angst
“German unemployment rose less than expected this month and consumer morale improved going into March, slightly lifting some of the gloom over Europe's largest economy -- although probably only temporarily. Unemployment rose by 40,000 on the month, less than the consensus forecast for an increase of 60,000 ECONDE, as firms put workers on shorter shifts to avoid heavy redundancies. The figures provided some relief from a recent run of grim economic news from Germany, which suffered its worst quarter since reunification in the last three months of 2008 and faces its deepest recession since World War Two this year.”