June 2, 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
Family Leave law means changes, adjustments for both workers and employees
“On July 1, workers taking time off to bond with a newborn or adopted child or care for a sick family member will be allowed to apply for payments from the state for six weeks under a new law called the Family Leave Insurance Benefits Law. Carla Dorsi knows the law well, and she should. Not just because she specializes in employment law at the Newark firm Gibbons P.C., but also because she plans to take advantage of it to care for her newborn. We spoke with Dorsi to get the lowdown on the new law.”
On Hill, a Flurry of Bills Aimed at Federal Workers
“Congress is returning to work today with a full plate of measures important to federal workers, including several that would expand the protections and benefits offered to current and former government employees. The House is scheduled to vote this week on a bill that would grant federal employees four weeks of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. Another House measure giving the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products includes provisions that would change the benefits structure for federal workers.”
Womenomics: Can Women Blend Work and Family Better With Flextime?
“On one recent Wednesday afternoon, a working mother named Heidi Rudolph Mitchell had a meal with her twin 10-year-olds during normal work hours. But Mitchell didn't have to sneak out of the office to have the quality time with her children because her employer, Sara Lee, allows her flextime. It gives her the ability to work from home, or -- on the day in question -- from a restaurant if she so chooses. And for Mitchell, that schedule helps provide the work-life balance so many women seek.”
Opinion: Swine flu should encourage paid sick days
“As the panic over H1N1 swine flu gives way to more reasoned precaution, Colorado has learned a very important lesson: We all have a shared responsibility for ensuring that our communities are healthy. And when our communities are threatened, we all need to step up and do what we can. [. . .] As members of the Colorado Legislature, both past and present, we believe there is more we can do to protect our public health and protect our economy. We can send a message that the citizens, businesses and elected officials of the state of Colorado support paid sick days for every worker.”
She works too hard for the money
“Mommy wars, brain drains, opt-out revolutions -- working mothers have been through (or at least been warned about) them all. Now comes "Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success," a new book by Claire Shipman, senior national correspondent for ABC News' "Good Morning America" and mother of two, and Katty Kay, Washington correspondent and anchor for "BBC World News America" and mother of four. In their book, the news veterans call for women to say no to 60-plus-hour work weeks and overly demanding jobs that yank them away from their families. Instead, they urge working women to use their clout in the workplace to demand fewer hours at the office, turn down non-family-friendly assignments, and take control of their time by working from home more, checking e-mail less and avoiding meetings whenever possible.”
Working Parents Get Some Help
“Working parents know how challenging it can be to take care of your kids needs, whether it's a doctor's appointment or a parent-teacher conference. Now a bill signed into law on Monday by Governor Ritter makes it easier. The measure allows parents and legal guardians to attend their child's academic activities without fear of jeopardizing their job. Under the new law, employees are allowed to take up to six hours of unpaid time off a month and 18 hours in a school year.”
'Can't talk now'
“When the global engineering firm AMEC banned cellphone calls or texting while driving on company time, there was skepticism. Employees grumbled that they'd be less productive. Hard-core multitaskers exchanged coping strategies, such as stowing phones in briefcases or car trunks. But within a year of the 2005 edict, AMEC workers became converts, with nearly 84 percent anonymously reporting in a company survey that they have stopped or cut back on talking or texting while driving even outside of work. And AMEC became a company ahead of its time. Now, with an unfortunate trolley crash underscoring the risks of distracted driving and a litany of companies being taken to court for their workers' on-the-road negligence, numerous employers are following AMEC's lead and cracking down on employee yakking and e-mailing behind the wheel on company time. Some are creating new bans. Others recently tightened existing policies to also ban texting or even hands- free cellphone accessories.”
Blogs
Who's Happy And Why
“Money and happiness, it seems, really do not go hand in hand -- at least not in the manner you would expect. The World Database of Happiness presents one of the most interesting examinations into whether or not money buys happiness. This database is an ongoing register of scientific research on the subjective enjoyment of life. [. . .] But underlying these thought-provoking results is the simple fact that more is not necessarily better when it comes to enjoying life and feeling satisfied. More may be more, but it is never enough. We're caught up in the myth that by achieving and going up the ladder and having more stuff we'll feel full inside. Yet it isn't so.”
LEARN WorkFamily: A Free Online Resource Network for Unions
“The Labor Project for Working Families has launched a FREE online labor education and resource network – LEARN WorkFamily – to help unions build a family friendly workplace culture. This unique resource network features the nation’s only online database of contract language on work family issues such as family leave, childcare, elder care, flexible work options, adoption, bereavement leave and much more. Each day millions of working families are being forced to choose between caring for their families and holding on to their jobs. Workers should not have to choose.”
Flex Work for Whom?
“Paid work is a stiff aspect of daily life and an unyielding necessity for people who pay their own bills. But a new report from Workplace Flexibility 2010, financed by the Sloan Foundation, calls for an ambitious national campaign to promote flexible work arrangements. While the report is chock full of good ideas, it doesn’t directly acknowledge that what some workers call “flexibility”, others might call “vulnerability to pay cuts. Flexible work arrangements range from part-time and part-year work to telecommuting and individually negotiated schedules. Many highly educated women and men workers put a premium on flexibility to balance work and family obligations.”
Report Highlights Benefits of Flexible Work Arrangements
“Is now the time for boosting flexible work arrangements? In a paper released earlier this month by Georgetown Law, a 22-person task force of employers, researchers, consultants and other experts answers with an emphatic yes. ‘…We believe the current crisis underscores the need for, and value of, flexible work arrangements,’ writes the National Advisory Commission on Workplace Flexibility. ‘Flexible work arrangements give workers a fair chance to juggle the competing demands of personal life and work successfully, particularly during the time when older workers need to work longer to secure retirement and women’s labor force participation is on the rise. And employers want to retain their best workers both now, in order to meet their business needs and to get the job done as efficiently as possible, and in the future when the economy improves.’”
Do women lack ambition? Chime in.
“Do women lack ambition? That was the question posed by Anna Fels, in a 2004 article in the Harvard Business Review, and again at a provocative luncheon panel earlier this week in a room full of high-powered women lawyers at a New York City law firm. There were two panelists: Claudia Trupp, a criminal defense attorney and mother of three, whose new book, "Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes," explores what it means to inhabit her two very different roles; and Fels, a psychiatrist, whose new book, “Necessary Dreams," examines the loaded question of women and ambition. Deborah Epstein Henry, founder and president of Flex-Time Lawyers, organized and moderated the conversation.”
Global News
Job sharing that works
“It’s mind-boggling, how a young mother can work full-time in the demanding legal profession. But Jessica Yeung and Anne Lau have managed to find an ideal work-life balance. The two lawyers at the Vancouver office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) share everything except their name-plates and in-trays: They have the same assistant, computer monitor and desk. And their clients are happy with the set-up as they are billed for the price of one lawyer, but have access almost 24/7. The two women have been job sharing since January 2008 without a glitch.”
Question of the week: Would more generous parental leave actually be worse for employees?
“The possibility of an employee taking maternity or paternity leave is most likely a factor considered by a number of employers (albeit subconsciously). Maternity leave involves both pay and absence for the employer. As the majority of pay can be recovered from the government, it is often the issue of absence, and return to work, which causes greater practical problems. [. . .] Parental leave in this country doesn't suit mothers, or fathers, or kids. But whenever anyone suggests designing it around what families need, critics pop up to claim that it would make life too difficult for employers. The implication is clear: you can't be a good parent and a reliable employee. But let's look at this another way: if we don't change the current arrangements for parental leave, who is it that misses out when the pay rises are handed out or the promotions decided? It's women.”
Time rules 'catastrophic'
“Waiting lists could soar and hospital units forced to close to emergencies, Royal College of Surgeons president John Black has said. The European Working Time Directive limits the number of hours doctors and surgeons can work each week to 48. The Department of Health said it was listening to concerns and providing expert support to staff. The directive, which comes into force on 1 August, aims to stop the practice of many doctors working far in excess of 48 hours a week.”
Aequus Partners' Diversity and Flexibility e-newsletter, May 2009
"Each month we publish a complimentary e-newsletter on diversity, flexibility, work/life balance and related issues to our global readership of practitioners, policy makers and academics. The newsletter highlights cutting-edge research, international and legal developments, as well as upcoming events (eg conferences) which discuss diversity, flexibility, equity and well-being."