March 27, 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
Gender roles see a 'conflict' shift in work-life balance
New Workplace Equalizer: Ambition
“After decades of glacial change in gender roles, a new generation of working women is proving to be as ambitious as their male counterparts, as measured by their eagerness to move up the career ladder. Based on a unique long-term study of attitudes in the U.S. work force, about two-thirds of both men and women under age 29 say they desire more responsibility on the job. Having children doesn't dent the ambitions of young women workers; 69% of mothers in this age group say they want to move up on the job, compared with 66% of women without children, says the study of about 3,500 wage, salaried and self-employed workers and small-business owners, released Thursday by the nonprofit Families and Work Institute in New York. That compares with a marked difference among these groups as recently as 2002, when only 48% of young working mothers, compared with 66% of men and 61% of young women without children, said they wanted to climb the career ladder.”
Working Moms Concerned About Looming Budget Cuts
“As companies struggle to stay afloat in the recession, many institutions are slashing their budgets. According to a recent Washington Post article, work-life balance programs may be the first to go. And some wonder about the impact on working moms. Author Sylvia Ann Hewlett, of the Center for Work-Life Policy, explains.”
More Young People Lining Up for Government Jobs
“Amid the economic hard times, many students are as motivated by the desire for a steady job as by public service. [. . .] An annual survey of undergraduates by the Partnership for Public Service and Universum USA released in January found that government and public service was the most popular of 46 career options for American undergrads, with 17 percent naming it their top choice. [. . .] A second attraction, More said, is that students are more interested in "finding a balance between work and family life" and find government day care and annual leave benefits attractive.”
Return of the Stay-at-Home Parents
“For decades, leaving a job to raise kids meant kissing your career goodbye. Now, employers are embracing employees who took a parenting detour. Goldman Sachs launched a "returnship" program last September--the first of its kind--that lets women return to explore a new field for eight weeks with pay but without guarantee of employment. Eleven professionals took part in the initial launch, and job offers were extended to five of them. Sara Lee also offers part-time paid internships through its own program for parents and others who have taken time off, such as military personnel. Honeywell and UBS have developed their own programs for returning parents, too.”
'Face time' trumps telecommuting during recession
“After a round of buyouts and layoffs, Lo's department was restructured and she has a new boss. She says it's important to be in the office to get that face time, to learn what her new boss expects and about her new roles and responsibilities. World at Work, an Arizona-based human-resources trade group, says that while occasional telecommuting has risen in the U.S. over the past few years, it estimates that the number of workers telecommuting ‘almost every day’ has declined by 2.2 million between 2006 and 2008, to 13.5 million. John McKee, author of ‘Career Wisdom — 101 Proven Ways to Ensure Workplace Success,’ offers this advice to workers these days: Be in the office whenever the boss is in, whether that's on the weekends or late at night. ‘Let her or him see that you share the same work ethic,’ he advises. ‘Simply put, if your boss is at work, you should be as well.’”
Get Used to a 'Working Retirement'
“There is a major social and cultural message in the current economic collapse to the future retirees of the U.S.: Forget retirement. That's right. The recession is making clear what we've suspected for a long time. The concept of not working and embracing leisure for the last third of life isn't practical for most people. Put it this way: Survey after survey has shown that a majority of aging baby boomers plan on working in retirement. Well, that plan is coming true. Economic downturns often accelerate change. For instance, in the latter part of the 19th century, the country moved from a rural, farm economy to an urban, industrial one. The wealthy associated old age with leisure, but for everyone else it usually meant involuntary unemployment and a humiliating dependence upon family, charity, or community organizations for shelter and food. Policy reformers agitated for some kind of a financial safety net for the nation's impoverished and isolated elderly.”
Blogs
The Anti-Mommy Bias
“During the 1920s and 1930s, many employers refused to hire married women, or fired them once they married. As my fellow Economix blogger Casey Mulligan points out, such “marriage bars” are not allowed today. But family responsibilities still weigh more heavily on women than on men, accounting for much of the pay gap between the sexes. Some policy analysts argue that mothers make a lifestyle choice, opting for easier, more flexible work over greater responsibility and higher pay. Others, like myself, argue that our economic system imposes unfair penalties on those who care for others. But shouldn’t both sides in this debate protest when women (or men) are penalized simply because they are caregivers? Considerable evidence suggests that maternal responsibility intensifies gender stereotyping in harmful — and often illegal — ways.”
Women and Work: Why Employers' Work/Life Policies Can - and Should - Survive the Recession
“It's no surprise to the vast majority of us who have both a job and family responsibilities that something's not working at work. The American workplace is perfectly suited for the American workforce...of the 1950s. Even today, when 46% of the U.S. workforce is made up of women and 81% of women have children by age 44, most good jobs in the U.S. (those with good benefits and pay and opportunities for advancement) are designed around the ideal of a worker who is available for and devoted to work 24/7, with no domestic responsibilities. Some employers, understanding that having a mismatch between your workforce and your workplace doesn't make good business sense, have allowed for greater flexibility, quality reduced hours jobs, telecommuting, and other workplace policies that better reflect their workers' lives.”
Work + Life Flexibility Crossroads - Will We Go Forward or Backward?
“I knew we’d arrived at the crossroad I envisioned last February, when I read this week’s Washington Post article, “As Cuts Loom, Will Working From Home Lead to a Layoff?” The experts, employees, and managers interviewed (as well as people commenting online) recognize and express the knee-jerk response I feared then, “Forget flexibility, people are just luck to have jobs.” The question becomes whether this backward-looking response will prevail, or will the wisdom of the organizations that recognize there’s no going back on workplace flexibility if their businesses and the people who work for them are to succeed? Instead of a “policy,” “benefit,” “program,” or “arrangement” reserved for good times, will flexibility take its rightful place as a way of operating, as part of the culture and core strategy?”
NICE Work: Work/Family Policy - Stimulate That!
“Can someone puh-lease get all the Wall Street shills like this one off my t.v.? As the economic horizons look darker and darker, economists at Janet Gornick and Pam Stone’s awesome work/family mini-conference at the Eastern Sociological Society meeting in Baltimore this weekend presented, by way of contrast, really nice work. At the concluding panel, “Public Policy and Working Families: Providing, Supporting, and Equalizing Access,” Heather Boushey (Center for American Progress), Chai Feldblum (Workplace Flexibility 2010), Heidi Hartmann (Institute for Women’s Policy Research) and John Schmitt (Center for Economic and Policy Research) discussed horizons for work and family policy. And they really took Obama adviser Rahm Emanuel’s advice to “never waste a perfectly good crisis” to heart. All four demonstrated that the particulars of the current downturn plus key demographic trends will help us to move work/family policy issues higher up on Obama’s and Congress’s priorities list, even in these hard times.”
More Three-Day Wekends
“Would you like 10 more three-day weekends per year? Would you still take them if the third day was unpaid—and if your alternative was getting laid off? One of the biggest costs any employer faces is payroll. In the ongoing economic crisis, employers are looking for any way to cut costs, and many are resorting to layoffs. But many others—from RV makers in Oregon to the Gannett newspaper chain to the state government of California—have turned to involuntary furloughs, or unpaid days off, as a way of cutting payroll costs while avoiding painful layoffs. A forced furlough is better than losing a job, but it leaves already-at-risk employees feeling even more powerless, buffeted about by bosses and balance sheets.”
Global News
In the family way
“The recent economic recession has affected everything from vacations to real estate; decisions to start and raise a family are no different. Job and income insecurity are likely to play a huge role in such decisions. Professor Angela Campbell, a McGill law professor specializing in health and family/child law, said that women might opt to shorten their maternity leaves in light of the need to buttress income or concerns over possible company downsizing. “[Women may] want the income or if the company is downsizing they don’t want to be vulnerable; they want to put in face time at the office,” she said. Although the Canadian federal government does provide paid maternity leave and the additional option of parental leave, which can be shared between both parents, the government only reimburses 55 per cent of an individual’s salary during their time on leave; in tough economic times that may not be enough to subsist on.”
Work life balance and the recession
“I believe the downturn will profoundly change the way we see work and leisure. We will see more companies looking at options like three day working weeks, four day weekends, nine day fortnights, annual leave buy backs where you take your allocated weeks, and buy extra, sabbaticals in non-peak times, and carving out time for community and not-for-profit activity. It's a point I explore in my column here. This will force many to re-evaluate work life balance and for many, it won't be easy. Less time at work is often not filled that easily with leisure activities. Some people have built their identity around their work, their health is not necessarily that good and they might have few outside interests because they had been so preoccuped with their career. Possibly, they might also have less than ideal family relationships.”