June 19, 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
Protecting Your Job While Chronically Ill
“It started with an odd sensation in her right hand and a feeling of exhaustion so profound she could hardly get through an hour of work, let alone a full day. [. . .] Workers with chronic illnesses face chronic uncertainty, forced to worry not only about their health but about their jobs as well. The protections afforded chronically ill workers in the United States are thin and somewhat vague. To protect their health and their jobs, workers must navigate employers’ policies, which may include short- and long-term disability plans, as well as a patchwork of federal laws and regulations. A recent study by the Center for Economics and Policy Research, a Washington, D.C., research organization, found that among 22 rich nations, the United States is the only one that does not guarantee workers paid time off for illness.”
Dads At Work: Paternity Leave in 2009
“Working fathers and their employers are likely to see some changes in paternity-related leave in 2009 and beyond. One reason for change is that the existing economic recession, now poised to be the longest in the postwar era, has disproportionately affected men. In fact, news reports indicate that 82% of the recession-related job losses have befallen men. Men tend to be more heavily represented in industries more susceptible to recession woes – such as manufacturing and construction. Women in the workforce tend to be concentrated in education, health care, and other similar fields that are less effected in times of economic crisis. What impact this will have on whether those dads who are still employed take paternity or other care-related leave is unclear, although it is likely that some effect will materialize.”
Study: Dad Working Too Much
“BlackBerry in hand and baby in tow, dads don't have much down time these days. Now, a new study reveals many Danish men are clocking up to 40 hours of overtime at work each week. Obviously, work is organized somewhat differently in many European countries, but the Danish study could apply to the United States, where longer work hours are becoming the norm as well, say the researchers. For instance, while nearly 9 percent of U.S. employees reported working more than 50 hours a week in 1983, more than 12 percent indicated the same in 2002. Among all workers surveyed in 2002, more than 17 percent of men overworked compared with nearly 7 percent of women. (The data come from the Current Population Survey, which is a monthly survey of about 50,000 households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)”
Worried Sick Over Sick Leave
“Please excuse Frankie and Flo Fed if they seem a bit standoffish when President Obama and congressional leaders congratulate themselves on Congress's approval of landmark tobacco legislation last week. Obama probably will have a signing ceremony soon for the legislation that gives the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco, restrict its advertising and ban toxins that make smoking deadly. Hopefully, the measure eventually will lead to a steep decline in smoking, particularly among children. But for all the good the legislation can do, the absence of one amendment left federal employees looking as lonely as the nicotine junkies who gather outside office doorways because they are unwelcome inside.”
Milwaukee's sick-leave ordinance struck down
“A Wisconsin judge has struck down Milwaukee's sick leave law, a fledgling ordinance that never really took off since voters approved it last fall. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Thomas R. Cooper on Friday held that the ordinance, which would have required local businesses to provide employees with paid sick days, was unconstitutional and invalidly enacted. Milwaukee, San Francisco and Washington are the only three cities in the country to have adopted paid sick-leave laws in recent years, although no legal challenges have surfaced elsewhere.”
Work-Sharing May Help Companies Avoid Layoffs
“As companies struggle to make it from recession to recovery, many are turning to a novel but unheralded program that cuts their costs while sparing their workers’ jobs. Under the program, known as work-sharing, employers reduce their workers’ weekly hours and pay, often by 20 or 40 percent, and then states make up some of the lost wages, usually half, from their unemployment funds. Even though 17 states have adopted the program, and many executives and economists hail it as a way to keep workers employed and companies staffed with skilled labor, only a fraction of the businesses and workers that are actually eligible are benefiting.”
Blogs
Findings From The Layoff Lab
“Sarcasm aside, I feel for those—men and women—for whom a shift in roles due to an unexpected loss in income scrambles life in ways from which there is no easy recovery. But while there are many who are devastated economically, emotionally, and irretrievably by unemployment, there is also research showing younger men in particular are willing to forgo raises and promotions if it would mean they could spend more time with their families. Forgoing a raise is not the same as losing a job, but still. Role recalibration is not always a wash. Sometimes, as in our case, and as long as the job loss is temporary, the recalibration is a boon. Clearly there's a range. We'll see what happens when Marco goes back to work.”
"Workplace Flexibility for everyone: including those on the shop floor"
This post comes from a blog maintained by Juliet Bourke of Aequus Partners, an Australian management consultancy firm: “The business demands of the 24/7 global economy in combination with employees’ needs to meet work and family responsibilities are creating a demand for flexible work solutions. However, within many workplaces, flexible work policies and practices are only offered to professional, salaried workers, at the exclusion of workers in hourly jobs. Moreover, the typical forms of flexible work options offered to salaried workers (flex-time, part-time work or job sharing) do not easily transfer to hourly jobs, especially hourly jobs in the retail sector. As a result, it is not unusual for managers, supervisors and human resource practitioners to consider it impossible to provide workplace flexibility for people in hourly jobs.”
How Important is Workplace Flexibility to Dads?
“This weekend is father’s day and it’s nice to see Dads and workplace flexibility getting some ink already. My question this week is how important is workplace flexibility to the Dads? Please feel free to weigh in even if your kids are fully grown or if you haven’t decided whether or not you are going to have kids, yet. Also, women feel free to weigh in for your husbands/partners/kids’ Dads.“
Rankings Offer Congress Insider View of Federal Agencies
“The recently released 2009 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings provide this kind of unvarnished insight -- offering an important measure of agency management and leadership, and providing an alert system for signs of trouble and dysfunction. There is nothing more powerful than what employees have to say about their workplaces. When agencies are badly managed and workers are unhappy, a low level of engagement and poor performance often follow, and the public suffers. The 2009 rankings, developed from the Office of Personnel Management's 2008 survey of 212,000 federal employees at 278 large and small agencies and agency subcomponents, suggest that some of the country's most challenging issues are being handled by organizations held in low esteem by their own workers. The red flag is waving, and Congress should pay attention.”
Kids With Disabilities Shut Out by Economy
“A caring society benefits us all. Sadly, this simple truth still surprises us. We assume that lean, mean, Darwinian forms of capitalism are best, when mounting evidence show that a caring society is more beneficial, even economically. Socially responsible and diverse companies, for instance, fare better on many measures. Companies where women make up from 14 to 38 percent of top management have an average 35 percent higher return on equity than employers with the lowest women’s executive representation, Catalyst data shows. Doing the “right thing” is good business, as many in the work-life field know.”
Global News
Protect job, defuse demographic time bomb - have babies!
“Worried about losing your job during the economic crisis? Then make the most of Germany’s generous parental benefits and job protection for parents on baby leave, and take time off to procreate. That’s at least the message coming from a leading economist in Germany, who is urging the government to do even more for young families, and echoing loudly in the German media. It may seem counterintuitive — traditionally, birth rates are seen falling during downturns, as people fear for their jobs, worry about a fall in income and seek to reduce costs — but some politicians and researchers say using the recession to have children could be advantageous for all: individuals, companies and the future economy.”
The evolution of fatherhood
“Once upon a time there was an animal notable for the way males and females of the species divided childcare duties. The mother tended to stay close to the nest, nurturing the young and keeping the home clean and tidy. The father provided for the family, heading out to hunt and gather. He kept his mate and their fledgelings fed and watered and saw his role as protector. But while he might occasionally give his offspring a peck to keep them in line, he was very much a secondary figure when it came to grooming the young for the day when they flew the nest.”