July 14, 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
Welch: 'No Such Thing as Work-Life Balance'
“Former General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jack Welch has some blunt words for women climbing the corporate ladder: you may have to choose between taking time off to raise children and reaching the corner office. ‘There's no such thing as work-life balance,’ Mr. Welch told the Society for Human Resource Management's annual conference in New Orleans on June 28. ‘There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences.’ Mr. Welch said those who take time off for family could be passed over for promotions if ‘you're not there in the clutch.’”
The Way We Live Now
“This isn’t the old story of a career woman trying to balance work and family. This is the story of pressures that affect men as well as women (men are just more likely to make fools of themselves in response, as the news of the last few years indicates). It’s the story of people in a meritocracy that gets more purified and competitive by the year, with the time demands growing more and more insistent.”
In West Wing: Grueling Schedules, Bleary Eyes
“In a city where work can border on obsession, the Obama staffers stand out. They are not quite the walking dead, but their eyes are frequently ringed with the bags that accompany exhaustion. [. . .] Political Washington has long fostered a workaholic culture, the expectation that the rewards of service on the big stage of national government come with 18-hour, on-call days. But even the most hardy of Obama's staff members are beginning to recognize the toll that the pace is taking.”
Delayed Retirements Are Boon and Bane for Firms ["Subscriber Content Preview"]
“Plunging stock values are prompting many older workers to delay retirement, creating surprising benefits for some employers but nagging concerns for others. In a recent survey of more than 2,200 U.S. workers by consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide, 44% of respondents age 50 or older said they plan to postpone retirement; half of those say they plan to work at least three years longer than previously expected. That has added pressure on companies struggling to reduce payroll as profit dwindles. It also threatens to clog the pipeline for companies that want to bring in new blood.”
Recession forces Indiana families to adopt new roles
“Mike Sweeney missed much of his first child's first year, working 50 to 60 hours a week as a restaurant manager. He's making up for it now, changing 15 to 20 diapers a day for his year-old twins. The recession is doing more than scrambling family finances: It is changing family dynamics. Women who had chosen to stay home and care for their children increasingly are supporting their families financially after their husbands are laid off. At the same time, there's a growing cadre of laid-off men taking the kids to the park and making sure they get to soccer practice on time -- in short, becoming Mr. Moms while their wives bring home the bacon.”
America's oldest worker dies in Kansas at age 106
“Waldo McBurney, who was designated as America's oldest worker, has died. He was 106. The Hays Daily News reported that McBurney died Wednesday at the Gove County Medical Center in Quinter. McBurney gained fame in 2006 when he was named America's oldest worker by the Washington-based Experience Works. But he had already seen his share of the spotlight as an award-winning athlete in senior games.“
Collect Now, or Later? Timing Your Social Security Benefits
“Collecting Social Security as soon as you are eligible is a tempting proposition — but experts agree you should try to resist if you can. The majority of people don’t follow that advice, choosing instead to start benefits early. Why wait to collect what is rightfully yours? That logic may sound reasonable now. But in reality, the bigger risk is that you will live to a ripe old age. You can claim Social Security any time from age 62 to 70, but the longer you wait, the larger your monthly check. And many people come out ahead if they wait at least until their full retirement age, which is different from the day you stop working for good. For people born 1943 to 1954, full retirement age is 66, and it creeps up for younger people.”
Blogs
Schedule Creep: When the Most Convenient Time for Personal Tasks Is at Work
“Most employees plan their vacations on company time, says a recent Harris Interactive survey of 2,065 adults for Randstad US, a staffing concern. (Young workers below age 45 are the most likely to do so, the survey also found.) The data reflect a general trend toward personal pursuits spilling into work time. Many jugglers save part of the work day for Little League coaching work, planning kids’ birthday parties, team-manager duties for kids’ sports or heading school fundraisers, as I’ve written in the past. For some, integrating extracurricular pursuits with office life is the only way to get everything done. For other workers, however, stealing work time for personal matters is payback for ‘schedule creep’ – the tendency of work to expand beyond allotted hours and fill all available time. Rachel has posted on how hard it can be to get out of the office and avoid work interruptions on vacation. It’s no doubt getting tougher for many people this summer, as post-layoff workloads mount.”
Myth #1: An invisible hand in the market dictates that work must be inflexible, brutish , and long
“Enter Pamela Stone, a sociology professor at Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. In 2008, Stone published Opting Out? Why Women Really Quit Careers and Head Home (University of California Press) to academic and popular acclaim. Based on in-depth interviews with married moms who quit their high-status jobs, Stone’s work is a welcome antidote to years of bickering about professional women and the workplace. We caught up with Stone in New York to discuss her book. We don’t want to overwhelm you with too much brilliance all at once, so we’ll be posting our conversation with Stone in four parts. In Part One, Stone debunks common myths about the workplace and provides some refreshingly pragmatic and recession-friendly advice on how to improve it.”
Why Americans Are The Worst Vacationers
“What has happened to our vacations? We work all year, and save up our hard earned dollars for a getaway, only to spend far more money than we intended, race around, and get annoyed with each other. For families, the trends are mega watt destinations like Disney, Great Wolf Lodges or all inclusive resorts with constant stimulation, plenty of places to burn cash, and little in unstructured relaxation or spontaneous adventure. Many are not able to take a vacation at all this summer - can't afford it. Sadly, these are often the times we need it the most. A vacation can be created with very little money; the commodity we are all lacking is time. Whether the job doesn't allow it, or workers are afraid to leave; Americans take fewer vacations than most other countries, and the ones we do take are getting busier, more expensive and consumer driven. Are we the worst vacationers in the developed world?”
One step forward, one back, two sort of sideways...on Workplace Flex
“Sen. Chris Dodd & company want input on workplace flexibility - And they got some. As you can see in the comments I applaud the response’s enthusiasm, I’m just not sure how they will work in practice and the community has also discussed the merits of legislating workplace flexibility on this blog before. I still believe it will be better if it comes from employers and they are given incentives by the government. I do like the response to EWendt’s comment, though and perhaps I am just entrenched in my thinking and need a shift. So I’m classifying this as a sort of sideways step on workplace flex. Because I like having the discussion…but the content and audience are still concerning to me.”
Global News
Whatever happened to touted work-life balance?
“Back in the heady days of 1998, Nortel Networks Corp. was renowned not only for its stock value but for its innovative strategies to keep its workers happy. The once-proud Canadian telecommunications giant's Brampton, Ont. complex was famous for its indoor rock climbing wall, and there was even a zen garden if anyone needed to re-centre themselves. Nortel wanted its employees to want to go to work, but more importantly the company helped pioneer telecommuting and flexible group work schedules, which became mainstays in corporate culture.”
Swine flu could bring UK to a halt, Whitehall told
“Several million people could become ill with either seasonal flu or swine flu by the end of the year. Schools would close and transport and other vital services, such as GP surgeries, would be put under severe strain. As a result, health officials are considering plans that would allow people with suspected swine flu to take up to two weeks off work without a doctor's note. At present employees are allowed to sign themselves off sick for seven days. According to data revealed at the Whitehall meeting, 38% of businesses have no response plans for dealing with a pandemic. At the meeting, transport bosses outlined details of how trains, airports and bus services would function. Transport for London officials said staff shortages could produce a reduced tube service but argued this would be sufficient as there would be fewer commuters.”