July 31, 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
9to5 appeals sick leave ruling
“The organization that led the drive for a paid sick day ordinance in the city of Milwaukee has appealed a court decision that struck down the measure, but the city has not yet decided whether it will join in the appeal. City Attorney Grant Langley said Thursday that he's still consulting with members of the Common Council and Mayor Tom Barrett on whether the city should join with 9to5, the National Association of Working Women, to appeal the June 12 ruling. In June, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Thomas Cooper ruled the controversial paid sick day ordinance, which mandates private employers provide paid sick leave, was invalidly enacted and unconstitutional. The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce had filed a lawsuit to stop the ordinance, which was passed by 69% of city voters in the November election.”
Not retiring comes with a bonus: better health
“Rather than retiring and relaxing into a life of leisure, increasing numbers of older Americans are remaining on the job or returning to the workforce. They're prodded in part by the harsh economy and their shrinking nest eggs, but holding down a job has benefits beyond pulling a paycheck. Scientists say that older adults who work, whether part time or full time, are healthier as a whole, particularly if they like their jobs. ‘Continuing to work gives people a sense of meaning and purpose,’ says psychology professor Harvey Sterns, director and senior fellow at the Institute for Life-Span Development and Gerontology at the University of Akron in Ohio. And that can translate into lasting mental and physical vigor.”
Idea of the Day: Require Federal Contractors to Provide Work-Family Benefits
“When the federal government has greater information about the availability of family-friendly policies, Congress and the administration should explore requiring all federal contractors to offer benefits at least as good as those offered to federal government employees. In the interim, the government should follow the recent recommendation made by Workplace Flexibility 2010 to adopt a pilot project requiring federal contractors that have hourly workers working on federal contracts to provide at least two types of flexible, family-friendly work arrangements.”
Press restart on your career
“Plenty of mothers share Li's sentiment. In a recent survey by MyWorkButterfly.com, a website for moms returning to the workforce, 71% of mothers who went back to work named financial security as the most important benefit. But these days many stay-at-home moms, like retirees and others who have been off the full-time track for a while, are finding that nabbing a job is no easy matter. Not only are they facing the most sour job market in decades, but they're also competing with scores of candidates who don't have a rusty skill set and a gap in their résumé to explain. The following strategies should help Li - and anyone else embarking on a post-hiatus job hunt - get a foot back in the door.”
Here Comes My Baby
“I've seen an ad in the pregnancy magazines that shows a smiling female executive behind a desk talking hands-free on the phone. Her breasts are hooked up to a high-tech pumping device. Will that be me in a few months? Probably not. I work in the middle of a crowded newsroom. And let's face it, buying the right brand of breast pump will not allay all the anxieties I have about becoming a working mother. I don't know what to expect when our first child arrives any day now, or when I eventually go back to the job I love. My worries range from the practical--who will watch our baby, and how will I work through the sleep deprivation--to the silly--what will it be like asking my husband for money when my measly eight weeks of disability pay runs out?”
Can we afford the time off?
“Sunshine glowed on patches of mountain snow. An occasional trout broke the sparkling plane of Maggie Pond. A gentle breeze stirred the fir tree outside our Breckenridge, Colo., window. Inside, five laptops hummed. Welcome to summer vacation, 2009. Thanks to a free WiFi connection, we were tethered to our jobs back in Kansas City and Dallas. Two CPAs, a lawyer, a geographic information systems specialist and me: We kept up. As the United States wrestles with what to do with its health care and health insurance systems, analysts note that other developed nations, especially in Europe, take more time off from work than we do. And their middle-aged citizens are about half as likely to have heart disease, hypertension or diabetes.”
Getting From At-Home to On-the-Job, Even Now
“Few job seekers face higher hurdles than at-home parents trying to return to the work force. Mothers at home full-time crested in 2004 at a recent high of 31.2%, among married-couple families with children, government data show; at-home dads, who often face even greater bias than returning mothers, make up about 5%. Many of these parents now need or want to get back to work. Beyond the recession and employer bias against dropouts, many also are burdened by outdated skills and self-doubt.”
MnDOT touts its program to promote telecommuting
“Twin Cities employers who want to help workers telecommute rather than travel to work can get some help from a seemingly unlikely source: the Minnesota Department of Transportation. On Tuesday, Khani Sahebjam, deputy commissioner of MnDOT, outlined a new program called eWorkPlace that aims to have 2,700 people working remotely by June of next year. The program, a collaboration between MnDOT and the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, is funded by a $3.2 million state appropriation. Its aim: Encourage metro-area companies to promote a flexible work policy by promoting the cost benefits for employers. For MnDOT, increased telecommuting means less congestion.”
Sloan Network News
Edited by Karen Corday, Volume 11(7) of the Network News features an interview with Katie Corrigan and Chai Feldblum, Co-Directors of Workplace Flexibility 2010, a graphic that represents the “Type of Available Flexible Work Arrangement by Size of Employer,” and a report by Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay on “parental leave in Canada.”
Blogs
Good practice makes perfect
“Keen to draw attention to restaurants who treat their staff well, earlier this month a New York restaurant association launched the inaugural Exceptional Workplace Awards. The awards coincided with the launch of a code of conduct for restaurants to sign up to and display in their windows alongside their framed reviews and recommendations.”
Making the touch choices...or are they?
“I talk a lot about understanding when work takes precedence vs. when other interests take precedence and having the flexibility to be able to move between them. But what about the conviction? When does something other than a great work opportunity take precedence? [. . .] I also think this kind of decision-making and brazen choice is what employers need to pay attention to. We value our careers, but we also value many other aspects of life and Gen X and Gen Y are more than willing to say ‘no’ or ‘your rules don’t work for me.’ And I think employers who stick to their out-dated rules will find that they can’t hire the kind of talent they need to achieve great results.”
How to Maximize Your Efficiency as a Part-Timer
“When going part-time reduces your availability at work, how can you remain rock-solid reliable for your colleagues without short-changing your own time and energy? As a new part-timer, I've found that anticipating what my full-time colleagues will need when I'm not at work and my ability to maintain work/life balance go hand-in-hand. Indeed, recognizing that your needs as a part-timer and others' needs as full-timers are complementary is the secret to adapting efficiently to part-time status. Here are some tips on how to achieve that efficiency (see my previous post for tips on how to adapt culturally).”
The Union Difference
“Netsy Firestein, Director of the Labor Project for Working Families, and Jenifer MacGillvary, Communications Coordinator from the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education, recently issued a new report, Family-Friendly Workplaces: Do Unions Make a Difference? Upon reviewing a number of studies that compare union workplaces with nonunion workplaces vis-à-vis the promotion of a variety of family-friendly policies, the report resoundingly concludes that yes, unions do make a difference.”
Follow your inner compass, or, How to lead
“Do you think that having a successful professional life and a successful personal life at the same time is possible? Ehrling: I think that you have to be realistic. You cannot have everything. You can have a part of everything in life at the same time. It depends on what kinds of goals you have. If you’re going to be the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world, or if you want to be a political leader, you have to realize that it’s really very, very hard work. Of course you can’t be home at five o’clock in the afternoon and have four kids. It’s not realistic. Then you have to say, ‘well, maybe I will work for a small company and be flexible.’ You have to make compromises. You have to be able to make compromises.”
When the Fantasy of Not Working Becomes an Uneasy Reality
“So here I am. With just over one month left of my summer off, I now know that I want to—and financial necessity dictates that I probably need to—work. I also know that I need to, if possible, find some way to find a way to work that allows more balance in my life. I've loved being able to see the kids after school, to cook dinner leisurely instead of frantically with one eye always on the Blackberry. I honestly don't know, as the industry i worked in my entire career shrinks and changes, what my professsional future holds. But I do realize now that being one of those other mothers is not sheer bliss.”
Global News
The stress of being a female lawyer
“The first overwhelming burden that faces a young legal mother is the question of when she goes back to work again and whether she will be downgraded according to the time she takes off. In a still predominantly men-orientated world, male lawyers seem to resent the time that women have off for maternity leave, many complaining of what they perceive as holding the fort after a woman’s decision to become pregnant. Many women complain that on their return to the legal profession, they are expected to work at twice the pace to make up for the time off, which puts inordinate pressure on them when they are trying to develop a sensible working pattern and balance.”
It's not work-life fears that hold back women
“It is sometimes suggested that female academics do not go for the top jobs in higher education because of the price they would have to pay in terms of their work-life balance. However, research from Glasgow Caledonian University suggests that this theory is wide of the mark, and that women in academia are just as willing as their male counterparts to sacrifice more of their time to further their careers. Duncan McTavish and Karen Miller, readers in Caledonian Business School's division of public policy, surveyed almost 3,500 higher education staff for the study.”
Sick days: Pain now or pain later?
“The city says its sick-bank liability for the two union locals totals $140 million. If, for example, half of the 30,000 striking employees took a payout in the near future, taxpayers would save millions in the long run – but could take a quick hit of more than the approximately $40 million paid out for sick days over the past two years. The city has allocated $63 million to a sick-bank reserve. Until the details of the strike-ending deals are made public, and until workers like Higginson declare their intentions, it will be unclear whether the reserve is large enough to cover near-term payouts.”