March 24, 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
Firms, GCs Will Huddle to Discuss Diversity and Work/Life Balance
“Later this month, leaders from a dozen law firms will sit down in Chicago with a dozen general counsel from major U.S. companies to discuss two issues that have long plagued law firms: lack of diversity and lack of work/life balance. The meeting will be the first of the Diversity and Flexibility Connection -- an initiative spearheaded by the Project for Attorney Retention. The idea behind the initiative is that diversity and work/life balance should not be treated as two independent issues, as they commonly are. The participants will hold two meetings to develop a list of best practices that promote both diversity and work/life balance among attorneys. The group will also develop a system to weigh how effective those best practices are.”
A generation on the sidelines: In youth sports, money can dictate who plays and who doesn't
“Sports have had a reputation as a social equalizer, where talent triumphs regardless of race, background or income. But Minnesota students' migration away from school-sponsored sports is making a mockery of that ideal. [. . .] As the recession worsens, sports are increasingly not only about who is stronger or faster — but who is richer. [. . .] Money doesn't buy just equipment — but time itself. Wealthy families are more likely to have one nonworking parent, usually a mom, who can serve as a taxi driver for the endless series of games and tournaments. Elementary-school hockey can require as many as 18 tournaments in a 24-week season, said Mark Kuisle, president of the Minnesota State High School League Board of Directors. "Parents don't want to give up that amount of time," he said. Working-class families are more likely to have two working parents or, worse, a single parent. Those parents can't handle ferrying children to practices.”
As Cuts Loom, Will Working From Home Lead to a Layoff?
“With the recession forcing businesses to cut back on workers, employees are increasingly doing all they can to hang onto their jobs and are forgoing many of the benefits that once allowed them to balance the demands of work and family life. In good times, workers frequently seized the opportunity to use "flex time" and family leave, to telecommute and to take paid sick days. But, according to workplace consultants, human resources specialists and employees themselves, those days are slipping away. More workers are giving up those arrangements, or resisting asking about them in the first place, out of fears that doing so will make them appear less committed to their work and therefore more expendable.”
Obama's staff works full time at balancing life with job
“Some afternoons in the West Wing, as he wonders how best to convey the White House's messages about an economic downturn, financial calamity, job loss and some of the toughest foreign policy challenges of a generation, Robert Gibbs finds himself thinking about a turtle named Yertle. In the back of his mind, the press secretary to President Barack Obama is trying to figure out if he can get home for story time with his 5-year-old son, Ethan, whose book of choice is frequently the Dr. Seuss classic about the king of the pond.”
A Battle for Jobs Pits the Young Against the Old
“Among the many things the average professional deals with daily: getting ahead at work; helping the kids with their homework; driving the school carpool; spending quality time with their significant other; caring for elderly parents; dealing with chores in the home; trying to get in just a few minutes to catch up with friends. Life can feel like a constant battle between our professional and personal lives, especially now, with the economic distress making our lives more challenging than ever in so many ways. Before you beat yourself up about not being able to get everything done, consider these tips for achieving a better balance between your work and the rest of your life this year.”
Blogs
Work-Related Program Activities
“This reminds me of the larger issue of activities designed not to be work, but to appear to be work. Pretty much nobody with an office job, for example, takes in a weekday matinee once a week as I did when I was on a work-from-home schedule. But at the same time, pretty much everybody with an office job spends more than two hours a week basically slacking off rather than working. The key, however, is to slack off by doing things that look like work to the casual observer, rather than things (like going to a movie) that are clearly not work. This is why blog traffic drops dramatically during non-work days and non-work hours. Looking at a computer is more-or-less what an office worker is supposed to be doing, so looking at a blog for a bit can pass for working.”
Pending report shows kids slipping into poverty
“A new report in the works shows that the recession could push another 40,000 children into poverty in Washington. That’s the conclusion of the research group Washington Kids Count, based at the University of Washington. It is preparing to release its report at a time the Legislature is about to release a budget that calls for sharp cuts in almost all areas of government. [. . .] The report suggests steps to improve policies that support low-income families to work, including removal of disincentives such as policies that disqualify a person from receiving assistance when working in jobs that pay a little. It also recommends keeping benefits needed by children, including health care coverage, early learning programs, paid family leave (which actually doesn’t exist in fact, despite existing in law), and food stamps eligibility.”
Self-Employed Women Balance Work, Family Life
“Self-employed women have been an increasing demographic in our society over the past 15 years: A recent study, entitled Self-Employed Women and Time Use, administered by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration, compared self-employed women to wage-and-salary earners and found that self-employed women are able to spend more time with their children and families, compared to their wage-and-salary earning counterparts. The study found that self-employed women spend about 3.5 more hours per week in household activities than wage-and-salary earning women do, and 6 more hours than men do.”
How to make money and build your career without a full-time job
“With graduation around the corner and the economy plunging deeper into recession, many students are facing the possibility that they may graduate without full-time jobs. While this is not the ideal scenario, especially for those with student loans, it is not the end of the world. [. . .] Become an Urban Intern. Urban Interns is an innovative Web site that connects small-business owners and busy professionals with a pool of qualified, college-educated part-time assistants looking for flexible paid or unpaid opportunities.”
Looking a Flexible-Schedule Gift Horse in the Mouth
“Raising happy, healthy, adjusted children is the responsibility of our entire population, and the burden of doing so should not rest on the mother’s shoulders alone. However, the United States, unlike other industrialized nations, has little legislation to promote this ideal. Absent the FMLA, permitting new parents 12 weeks (unpaid) to bond with their children, and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which prevents employers from discriminating against women on the basis of their pregnancy, accommodations or benefits to assist new mothers in balancing their work and families are left largely to the employer’s discretion.”
Global News
Employees' potential going to waste, survey finds
“Too many employers are badly equipped to weather the recession because they use workers' skills and talents poorly, tie them up in rules and procedures and give them little say over how they do their work, research out today has shown. The Work Foundation said a survey of more than 2,000 employees found that 40% had more skills than their jobs required, and 65% of workers said the primary characteristic of the organisations they worked for was 'rule and policy bound'. Two-fifths of participants said they had little or no flexibility over the hours they worked and 20% of graduates are in 'low knowledge content' jobs. [. . .] He said that to keep job losses to a minimum, organisations should give staff more responsibility, move away from rules and procedure-based workplace cultures and re-organise work and use new technologies to give individuals more flexibility over hours.”
Sick-leave policy more generous than others
“A proposed sick-leave policy for city management staff initially appears to be more generous than benefits packages offered by public and private employers in the city and across the region. Managers and non-unionized employees in New Brunswick's public service can collect full salary for four months before they can receive benefits under an insured, long-term disability plan, said Vicki Squires, a vice-president with Regional Health Authority B. The employees must first accumulate enough sick days to take the time off. Every year, staff receives 15 sick days, which means they would have to bank sick time for eight years before they could receive full salary when ill and off the job for four months. Should they not have enough sick days banked, they could apply for a federal employment insurance program to support their sick leave until they can receive long-term disability benefits.”