July 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
Work and Life -- and Blogging the Balance
“At times it is hard not to think that the ‘work-life balance’ is like the Loch Ness monster -- there are lots of sightings but no one has ever found it, and no one ever will. More important: Is it possible that so much agonizing and discussing may make life harder rather than easier? In short, is it possible to lose your balance, so to speak, by overthinking the work-life balance?”
Opinion: Family leave has to be part of health care reform
“The comprehensive health care reform legislation about to reach the House and Senate floors shows that Congress is working toward a real overhaul of the system. But expanding coverage and lowering costs isn't enough. We need a federal system of paid family and medical leave insurance that enables all Americans to take time off to cope with major life events. This is about embracing real family values: shielding families from the devastating loss of income when an earner becomes ill or cares for a new child or sick loved one. By bolstering families, Congress can also stabilize the economy.”
Kaine Asks Virginians to Telework August 3
“Gov. Timothy M. Kaine joined Telework!VA and Telework Exchange Wednesday in encouraging individuals and organizations to pledge to telework from home or a remote location on Telework Day: August 3. Employees and organization representatives across Virginia can go online to sign up to telework, calculate the potential cost savings and environmental savings realized by teleworking, determine telework eligibility, and access additional telework-related resources. [. . .] Telework Day follows Kaine’s June 10 executive order to reduce energy consumption and increase energy efficiency at executive branch agencies and institutions. The goal of Telework Day is to encourage private employers to offer telework to their employees on this one day as a catalyst to drive more pervasive telework adoption across Virginia.”
Politics, family intertwined for women politicians
“Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a rising star in the Democratic Party, resisted interest reaching all the way to the White House for her to run for higher office next year. One of the reasons: A campaign for U.S. Senate or governor would have been a burden on her young family. ‘We have two wonderful little daughters, and I want to be around to see them,’ the 42-year-old Madigan said last week during her surprise announcement that she would instead run again for her state job. Maintaining the delicate balance between work and family is a struggle for all working moms, but for women politicians, private decisions about climbing the career ladder end up dissected on the evening news. Like Madigan, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and former acting Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift all have seen their choices open to public scrutiny.”
Will Flextime Set You Up To Be Laid Off?
“Before the recession hit, allowing a flexible work schedule was one of the ways employers retained the best talent. Some staffers opted to telecommute a few days a week. Others worked a compressed work week of four 10-hour days. Some did a more traditional part-time schedule. But as the economy has worsened and layoffs multiplied, many of those employees are wondering if their flexible schedules are making them targets for layoffs. They fear that out of sight means out of mind--and out of a job.”
Companies gain with teleworking
“Alison Gleeson manages 1,100 employees nationwide, and she's doing it from a home office in Bloomfield Hills for part of her work week. Gleeson is a married mother of two elementary school-age kids, Marcus and Alexandria Beaton, and works as a vice president of commercial sales for information technology giant Cisco Systems, based in San Jose, Calif. [. . .] Gleeson's experience mirrors that of some 2,000 Cisco employees, who participated in a recent survey that found that telecommuting generates multimillion-dollar savings for the corporation and contributes to high satisfaction among employees.”
Reports
Family-Friendly Workplaces: Do Unions Make a Difference?
“This report analyzes the ‘union difference’ in family-friendly workplace policies and finds that in areas such as paid family leave, paid sick days, family health insurance, and child-care benefits unionized workers receive more generous family-friendly benefits than their nonunionized counterparts.”
Blogs
Momentum Seen for Requiring Paid Sick Leave
“Three cities — San Francisco, Milwaukee and Washington — have adopted legislation requiring employers to provide paid sick days to their employees. At a mayoral candidates’ forum this month, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said he would support such a requirement for large companies. The mayor’s qualified endorsement — announced at a forum sponsored by the union-backed Working Families Party (which ended up backing City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. for mayor) — gave new hope to advocates for workers.”
Sonia Sotomayor's Story: Do You Have To Be a Workaholic To Rise High In Your Job?
“It’s clear, from Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s Senate confirmation hearings, that she has a warm relationship with her family and friends, including her beloved mother and brother. But in her rise through the legal profession, she has made a number of personal sacrifices, most notably marriage and children.”
"Elsewhere, USA" and the Blending of Work and Family
“I am almost done reading Elsewhere, USA by Dalton Conley, and am finding the book to be teeming with interesting observations on how 21st century living blurs the distinctions between work and family life, public and private space, and leisure and work (the blurring of which Conley coins, ‘weisure.’) Conley discusses the causes in depth (e.g., entrance of women in the workforce and technological advances), as well as the outcome for middle- and upper-class American workers (e.g., increased economic anxiety and an ever-growing sense that one should always be working.)”
A Future For Work-Life Balance
“The Wall Street Journal today reports that former General Electric CEO, and all-around business guru, Jack Welch thinks work-life balance is a fiction -- if you want to be at the top of your game. I think Welch is right for his generation, but as technology continues to advance, so should work-life balance. [. . .] With each day that passes, the necessity of actually being in an office diminishes. Unless you work in a factory or some other labor-intensive job, where you do your work doesn't really matter. This is especially relevant to executives who spend their lives in meetings, writing memos or planning corporate strategy.”
Global News
It's time the law caught up with us over-65s
“Retirement — the clock and the party when you’re 65 — is beginning to feel a bit out of date. I’ve long wanted it phased out, so that we can each negotiate our way out of the workforce in our own good time. How much better it would be if we could decide for ourselves how much energy and passion for work we still have. We all have different levels of skill and enthusiasm, and we all age at different rates. What has the number 65 got to do with it? Precious little.”
Dads 'lose out' on parent leave
“The UK's system of maternity and paternity leave is unfair to poorer mothers, detrimental to fathers and bad for the economy, a think-tank argues. Fathers are excluded from the system and are ‘at best treated as an irrelevance’, the Reform report says. The report says poorer parents are hit twice, with less time off and lower maternity pay. The government said its pay package is ‘generous and progressive’ and fair to parents and employers. The report says parental leave still encourages families to adopt a traditional division of responsibilities, because its maternity leave allowance is relatively high in comparison to other developed countries, but its paternity leave is low.”