June 23, 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.
Announcements
Workplace Flexibility News: Flexibility for Hourly Workers, Public Policy Update and More
On Wednesday, June 24, the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor will host a teleconference on “Workplace Flexibility News: Flexibility for Hourly Workers, Public Policy Update and More.” Part of the “Free Flex-Options” series, the teleconference will feature remarks by WF2010 Legislative Counsel Liz Watson. Ms. Watson will discuss various strategies for developing Flexible Work Arrangements that are responsive to the needs of employers and employees. John Wilcox, Deputy Director of Corporate Voices for Working Families, will discuss the findings of a recent study by Corporate Voices’ on the benefits of flexibility for hourly workers. The teleconference is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. and end at 3:00 p.m. To register, visit the event page at the address below.
Articles
Leaders urge access to 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.”
Push for Time Off Gains in Many States
“New and strengthened Democratic majorities in many state legislatures are pushing measures that require businesses to grant employees additional time off for personal or family reasons. Governors in Colorado and Nevada signed laws within the past month that give employees unpaid leave for school-related events, becoming the first states to do so in a decade. Wisconsin lawmakers will take up similar legislation this fall. Lawmakers in roughly a dozen other states are debating measures that would require employers to grant paid family or sick leave; President Barack Obama campaigned in support of such laws last year.”
Experts: Dads embracing active parenting more
“It's just after lunch on a Friday, and Johnny Ruiz of Gilbert is outside with his three boys, pumping up the tires on their bikes. Like a growing number of fathers, Ruiz spends a lot of time with his kids, juggling part-time jobs so he can be home when they get out of school. In most families, it's still Mom who does the majority of the work when it comes to raising children, but in more and more homes, Dad is coming close. Over the past 10 years, experts say, a new breed of dad has been surfacing: He's more hands-on right from the start. He's going to appointments with the obstetrician and reading to his baby in utero. He's more touchy-feely, hugging and kissing the children as much as Mom does. He's taking the kids to school, volunteering in their classrooms and helping with homework.”
Daddy on board
“As a father, Jeremy Adam Smith has played many roles. The 39-year-old editor and writer from San Francisco has been a working dad with a stay-at-home wife, a stay-at-home dad with a working wife, and half of a two-income couple. The kicker: His son, Liko, is just 4 years old. In his new book, ‘The Daddy Shift: How Stay-at-Home Dads, Breadwinning Moms and Shared Parenting Are Transforming the American Family,’ Smith argues that fatherhood in America is changing as it comes to encompass taking care of kids, as well as providing for them. And as the recession throws so many men out of work, he contends that fluid family arrangements like his own are becoming more common. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are just 159,000 stay-at-home dads in the country, but Smith suggests that those numbers undercount many fathers, including him, who have served as their children's primary caregivers by day and continued working part-time at night or in the early morning.”
Time Off Debate: Infancy Vs. The Teen Years
“Many working mothers like Shenker struggle daily with the push-and-pull of pursuing fulfilling careers and devoting themselves to their kids. This inevitably begs the question: When do your kids really need you? The research is limited and sometimes contradictory, but more parents and experts believe that clearing your schedule to be with your infant may not be as important as reducing your hours to help guide your preteen through the rocky years of young adulthood. A 2007 study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development that examined almost 1,400 children for a 15-year period found that children in daycare or in the care of nannies, even infants under 12 months of age, fared no worse than children with 24/7 maternal care. In most cases, the study revealed, children in high-quality outside care showed better language and cognitive skills than those in the care of stay-at-home moms.”
Reports
Paid Sick Days Don't Cause Unemployment
“Critics of legislation requiring employers to provide paid sick days frequently argue that these measures will lead to job loss and raise the national unemployment rate. However, this issue brief shows that the experience of 22 countries with the highest level of social and economic development (as measured by the Human Development Index) suggests that there is no statistically significant relationship between national unemployment rates and legally-mandated access to paid sick days and leave.”
Blogs
How Boomers Can Change the World (Again)
“The Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative, a coalition of 15 faculty from Harvard Business School, Law School, Kennedy School, School of Public Health, and Graduate School of Education (I'm chair and director), is mid-way through the first round of an educational innovation to help experienced leaders at the peak of their professions make the transition to their next years of service. A select group of Advanced Leadership Fellows, some accompanied by their partners, are spending a flexible but intensive year at Harvard, taking advantage of university courses and resources while participating in special Advanced Leadership programs identifying ways to lead significant systemic change in education, health care, community development, and the environment.”
After Metro Crash, OPM Encourages Teleworking
“The Office of Personnel Management has strongly urged federal managers to allow employees to telework from home today to avoid delays on Metro following last night's deadly crash. Federal government offices in Washington, D.C. will however open on time and operate under normal operating status today. ‘To the extent possible, managers are encouraged to allow employees on alternate work schedules to reschedule their day off,’ according to an OPM statement sent early this morning. ‘Managers are encouraged to allow up to 2 hours of excused absence to account for travel delays.’ The Obama administration has tasked OPM in recent months with developing new government-wide teleworking guidelines, as Congress considers legislation making the practice easier.”
Another Casualty of the House Bubble: Labor Mobility
“Rather than temporary layoffs of workers during periods of slack demand, modern recession-driven unemployment tends to result from the destruction of jobs, firms, even industries. That's why long-term unemployment creeps up, and skilled workers are having a harder time than they used to during downturns: it takes longer to match a skilled worker with an appropriate position than to slot body into a low-skilled place. In those conditions, workers need geographic mobility to offer them a wider variety of potentially appropriate jobs. But this time around, they're tied down by overpriced real estate and underwater mortgages. The article suggests that families may pick up the strain, with one spouse staying behind to sell the house while the other spouse moves. But that's a very temporary, and a very bad, fix--at best, that means trying to support two households rather than one on family income.”
Millennial Dads Bend Traditional Gender Roles
“A friend recently gave birth to twins. When I visited them today, she sat feeding one baby a bottle, while dad was bathing the other baby--classically--in the kitchen sink. Does this scene surprise you? Probably not, if you're under age twenty-nine. According to a recent study by the Families and Work Institute, today many men and women are chucking traditional parenting roles -- as in, the mom takes care of both those babies while the dad goes to work to earn money. Only 41% of the people surveyed held that view, down from 64 percent in 1977. Men's attitudes have changed even more than women's: 74 percent ascribed to traditional roles for parents in 1977 while today only 42 percent do.”
Responsible Fatherhood
“On Friday the President hosted some well-known fathers and everyday dads from across the country to discuss what fathers are doing to strengthen themselves, their families and their communities.”
Global News
Does teleworking really cut emissions?
“Amid the chaos of this month's Tube strike, BT's marketing folk seized the moment by offering free demonstrations of its latest high-definition video conferencing software to show Londoners that there is another way – teleworking. Besides saving time and cutting out the hassle of travel, working from home and meeting electronically are widely promoted as being two of the most promising areas where technology can help curb CO2 emissions. But are they? According to the IT industry, teleworking has the potential to reduce global CO2 emissions by as much as 260m tonnes by 2020. BT claims that in 2005, internal use of video conferencing allowed it to save more than 54,000 tonnes of CO2 by reducing the need for travel and face-to-face meetings. Similarly last year Cisco reckons it saved more than 47,000 tonnes of CO2.”
More will need to work beyond 65 as Wales' population ages, suggests expert
“WALES has to wake up to the challenge of an ageing workforce with more than 40% of the population likely to be aged 50 and over by 2031. That was the warning from experts and older people’s charities last night as official statistics show that the population of over 50s in Wales increased by 15.6% in from 1991-2007, and stood at 1.11 million in 2007. That means it is already at 37% of the overall population and is higher than the UK figure of 34%, according to the data published by the Welsh Assembly Government.”
Being flexible Work arrangements can help with vacations, job satisfaction, recruiting
“With summer vacations just around the corner, the issue of "how to get the work done" is top of mind for most employers. At the same time, we know that work/life conflict for employees is also a big issue. Many feel they are doing more than one job (and some are) and many employees are indeed struggling with stress from overwork. They need their vacation time. Yet while vacation scheduling is a hot topic during the summer, the answer to ensuring full staffing complements isn't just about summer, it's about developing a year-round strategy and solution. This is where instituting flexible work arrangements can help.”