January 13, 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
Baby Food
“The benefits of breast-feeding are unrivalled; breast-feeding rates in the United States are low; the combination makes for a public-health dilemma. [. . .] One big reason so many women stop breast-feeding is that more than half of mothers of infants under six months old go to work. The 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act guarantees only twelve weeks of (unpaid) maternity leave and, in marked contrast to established practice in other industrial nations, neither the government nor the typical employer offers much more. To follow a doctor’s orders, a woman who returns to work twelve weeks after childbirth has to find a way to feed her baby her own milk for another nine months. The nation suffers, in short, from a Human Milk Gap.”
Working from home: Not for every 'Mr. Mom'
“Going back to work after my wife had our first child was an emotional roller coaster. I forced myself out of bed, shaved my beard and got dressed on the morning of my return. I performed these work week rituals while cursing the fact that I matched only one number on my last lottery ticket, so I had to show up that day. After being out of the office for a little more than two weeks on paternity leave, I knew the transition back to work would be tough. I coped with this fact, like any rational new parent would, by increasing the number of lottery tickets that I purchased.”
Layoff Alternative: Reducing Associate Hours
“Would nervous associates jump at the opportunity to work reduced hours at reduced pay if it meant their law firms would forgo layoffs? Officials with the Project for Attorney Retention (PAR) and several legal consultants think so. They are recommending that law firms take a serious look at implementing reduced-hours programs as a way to manage through the flagging economy while protecting their reputations in legal circles. [. . .] The PAR -- an initiative of the Center for WorkLife Law at University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco -- has long advocated for reduced hours as a way for law firms to retain attorneys, particularly women and minorities.”
Daddy's Home, and a Bit Lost
“SCOTT BERRY has always been a morning person. For years he would wake up at 5 a.m., shower, shave and, tamping down a twinge of regret, plant quiet kisses on his two sleeping children and his wife, before backing his BMW out of the driveway. As the family breadwinner, he worked long hours at his job as a technology analyst for a boutique investment firm in Manhattan. The demands of his work and the substantial commute from his home in Darien meant he rarely saw Samantha, 8, and Max, 7, before his wife, Tracey, had them in their pajamas and ready for bed. Then in December 2007, Mr. Berry, 49, lost his job. He immediately looked for a new position but found opportunities puzzlingly elusive. In mid-2008 came the rout on Wall Street. “The good news is, I don’t feel singled out for unemployment,” he said, running his hand through his light-brown hair.”
Work-force survey: High morale, but concern about appraisals
“Though the latest survey of the federal work force shows morale remains high, concerns are growing about how performance is measured. Slightly fewer federal employees — 63 percent, down from 64 percent two years ago — felt their performance appraisals accurately reflected their job performance, according to the 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey. Employees also reported growing dissatisfaction with how their supervisors support their efforts to balance their work and personal lives, sick and vacation leave, and alternative work schedules. [. . .] But Nancy Kichak, associate director of OPM’s Strategic Human Resources Policy Division, said the declining satisfaction with work-life balance and performance appraisals is disappointing and needs improvement.”
After Layoffs, Couples Wrestle With Role Reversal
“In short order, Bell morphed from homemaker mother of two boys--9 and 16--into the mother who works nearly 24-7 and barely has time to cook or attend church on Sunday, let alone take her kids to sporting events. Along the way, her husband--who has taken over caring for the kids fulltime and helping his wife's business when needed--has commandeered the kitchen, preparing almost all of the family's dinners while also doing time-consuming housework such as grocery shopping. He's pushing the 16-year-old to help more around the house and he's also become quite adept at keeping the house clean, Bell says. Primary female breadwinners have been steadily rising since the 1960s, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2007 more than 4 million families looked to mom as the main breadwinner, double the number in 1990.”
Part-Time Lawyers Still a Rarity and Three Quarters Are Women, Survey Says
“Forget the bluster about firms accommodating flexible schedules to help lawyers balance professional and family life. The fact is that part-time lawyering is still a rarity at firms and is showing little sign of increase. A new survey by NALP, formerly the National Association for Law Placement, shows that part-time partners and associates made up 5.6 percent of lawyers at about 1,500 law offices nationally in 2008. That's marginally up from 5.4 percent in 2007 and 4.7 percent in 2005. And, as has been the case since NALP began gathering statistics, women make up the vast majority of part-timers: 74 percent in 2008. Among women lawyers, 12.8 percent work part time, compared with 2 percent of men. Part-timers make up 12 percent of women partners and 9.7 percent of women associates”
Blogs
Should You Start Maternity Leave Before Baby Is Born
“A year ago, when I was 8 months pregnant, I started slacking off from work. Although I didn’t officially go on leave until my son was born in early February, I had a very understanding manager, a father of three, who let me slow down dramatically at work during the last few weeks of pregnancy. Turns out, going on leave before giving birth is good for both mothers and their babies, according to new research out of the University of California, Berkeley. The researchers looked out how time off work, both before and after giving birth, impacts the health of mothers and their babies. Most new moms take some time off work after delivering their babies, but few start leave before giving birth. They should consider it, according to the researchers.”
Finally, some hiring and flex work statistics to cheer about
“After Friday's bleak Bureau of Labor statistics report (unemployment: new, improved, and now at a 16-year high of 7.2 percent!), it was refreshing to find a couple of hopeful nuggets in CareerBuilder.com's annual jobs forecast for 2009. Sure, there was the depressing news that out of the 3,200+ U.S. private sector employers surveyed, only 14 percent planned to increase their full-time staff and 8 percent planned to increase their part-time staff -- a 50+ percent decrease from corresponding figures in the 2008 report.”
Economy Down, Family Time Up?
“Lately, I have found myself reading endless bits of information on how the economy is going to affect working families. Today, I realized that there are two parallel stories happening right now in the conversation about what will happen to families in this time of economic recession (some are even saying ‘depression’).”
How Work-Life Balance Is Like the Goerge Bush Center for Intelligence (Oxymorons R Us)
“While I agree with Dana that there's plenty to be done in terms of restructuring the American workplace to make it more family-friendly, even in the most accommodating circumstances, stories don't write themselves and kids need you when they need you. But you know what? Lucky, lucky us if that is our worst problem. Marjorie Williams wrote a great column about this one time, to the effect that what the complaining childless people don't get is that part of their compensation is: they don't have to deal with children. And that what complaining people with children tend to forget is: part of our compensation is that we do.”
Global News
French proposal to extend maternity leave gets approval after Rachida Dati row
“The proposal by higher education minister Valerie Pécresse suggests passing an "institutional reform" that would make it the norm for ministers who give birth to be replaced by a deputy for a 16-week interim period. Four months, six weeks before birth and ten afterwards, is the legal amount of paid leave entitled to working French mothers but has not applied in practice to women politicians. "In the current system, Rachida Dati didn't have the choice (to stay at home)," said Mrs Pécresse, a mother of three. "I would have done the same thing," she told Le Journal du Dimanche.”
Women, resist the siren call of the cupcake!
“If you were a poor Muslim girl, the second of 12 children born to an immigrant labourer and an illiterate mother, possessed only of fire, intelligence and a fabulous pair of pins, had scrabbled through racism and gropey misogyny to the pinnacle of French politics, why would you risk everything for such a trifle as a baby? Rachida Dati, the French Justice Minister, doesn't want to be a poster girl for single mothers or a handy precedent for maternity leave reformers. Rather, by rushing back to the Élysée five days after a Caesarean - to save herself from being reshuffled into oblivion - she might hold on to the bigger prize, her shot at changing the world. In a tribute to Helen Suzman, the South African politician who died at the new year, her niece recounted how her aunt was impatient with young children and loathed nursing them when they fell ill. When you're an MP single-handedly trying to topple the apartheid regime, whiny, flu-ridden tots must indeed be a bit of a drag. Though these days a Suzman might feel too guilty to leave hot little brows just to make a speech against the pass laws or visit Mandela on Robben Island.”