May 1, 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
OPM Chief Thinks Telecommuting Has a Nice Ring to It
“Deep inside the current swine flu scare, there may be a silver lining for federal employees -- greater acceptance of telework in musty bureaucracies. Although increased telecommuting has been a federal workplace goal for many years, statistics show a difference between theory and practice. Part of the problem has been managers who are reluctant to approve at-home working arrangements because they can't see -- which really means they don't trust -- staffers who aren't in their cubicles. John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, wants to change that mind-set. And the swine flu emergency provides a timely, if unfortunate, backdrop to showcase the need for agencies to continue government operations if circumstances make working in the office risky.”
Penn State plays integral role in $35 million stress project
“How employees manage stress at work and in their homes is the focus of Penn State's portion of a $35 million National Institutes of Health grant that will also test the efficacy of a workplace intervention designed to reduce employee stress and promote well-being. [. . .] The project is groundbreaking because it goes beyond analyzing employees and managers. Researchers are measuring the amount of stress that spreads from work life to family life and testing an intervention that aims to minimize that transfer of stress. In doing so, researchers hope to improve the physical and psychological well-being of managers, employees and their families.”
Why the Earnings Gender Gap in Business? Women Work Less
“The worlds of finance and big business are notoriously dominated by middle-aged men. But recent research suggests that this may not be for the usually suspected reason — a glass ceiling molded from male prejudice. The research, by Marianne Bertrand, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and two Harvard economics professors, Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz, provides a statistical explanation: women with children fall behind because they work less, the study says. The joint paper, “Dynamics of the Gender Gap for Young Professionals in the Financial and Corporate Sectors,” tracks the careers of male and female graduates of the Chicago business school who received their master’s degree in business administration between 1990 and 2006. It follows their progression into the corporate and financial sectors and shows how career paths differ by gender in terms of earnings and labor force participation, several years after graduation.”
School flu closings put working moms in a bind
“Nearly half of the people who work for private employers in the US have no paid sick leave, according to an analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among low-income workers in private employment, almost 80 percent have no paid sick time. Of those workers in private employment who have paid sick leave, only a third can take a paid sick day to care for an ill child. [. . .] Currently, only three cities in the US require companies to offer paid sick leave: San Francisco, Milwaukee, and Washington. Bills to require paid sick leave are pending in several states as well as in Congress. The proposed Healthy Families Act would require employers to guarantee workers seven days of paid sick leave a year to "recover from a short term illness, to care for a sick family member, to seek medical care or to seek assistance related to domestic violence," according to a letter sent to Democratic members of Congress from the bill's sponsors, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D) of Connecticut.”
Flu Crisis Underscores Need For Updated Telework Policies
“Put simply, the mission of the federal government could suffer because federal workers might not go to the office if they, or people dependent on them, are ill. Or as Cindy Auten, general manager of Telework Exchange, a public-private partnership that promotes telecommuting, asks: "If Uncle Sam calls in sick, who will tend to America in a time of an emergency?" Part of the answer: federal workers at home. You don't always have to go to work to be at work. This swine flu outbreak reminds managers that they need to make sure their telework policies are up-to-date and well-tested.”
Unions Put Paid Family Leave on the Table
“Not so long ago, family-friendly benefits were mainly considered the concern of young female workers. But no more, says sociologist and labor leader Jamie F. Dangler. "When we began working on family leave in 2001, members who did not have primary responsibility for the care of children perceived family leave as an issue of young mothers," said Dangler, associate professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Cortland. She is also the chair of the statewide family leave committee of the United University Professors, which represents more than 34,000 academic and professional staff on 29 State University of New York campuses. But over the years, Dangler said that the committee's statewide surveys, presentations on campuses and highlighting of family leave at a 2006 delegate assembly have shown that the needle is moving. Now, she says, members are more likely to see family leave as an issue that affects everyone at some point in their lives and careers and that it should be included in the contract.”
'Family-Friendly,' White House-Style
“I'm writing a Mother's Day column early this year -- not exactly the one I intended. The column I was planning began: Why is this Mother's Day different from all other Mother's Days? Answer: Because this Mother's Day, there are many more mothers in the White House -- and mothers of young children -- than ever before. [. . .] This is a huge change from previous White Houses, Republican and Democratic. Two theories that may explain it: First, when it comes to the mothers with young children, a generational shift. [. . .] Second, the workplace -- even the White House workplace, to the extent it can -- is becoming more flexible. Dads -- even White House dads -- are more involved than they used to be, and more familiar, thanks to their own working wives, with the juggling that that entails.”
Unions Get Family-Friendly Online Advice
“As the recession deepens, some union watchers expect leaders to intensify the push for family-friendly benefits to help members cope with financial stress and monetary uncertainty in the economy. "In these difficult times when workers are under so much stress, flexible hours, child and elder care and other family-friendly benefits are as critical for workers as fair pay, job security and other traditional issues at the bargaining table," said Netsy Firestein, executive director of the Labor Project for Working Families in Berkeley, Calif. Firestein said unions often lack research departments to provide information on laws that impact programs or studies that will persuade employers that such programs boost productivity. "Union representatives may also lack experience in bargaining family-friendly benefits," she added.”
Blogs
A Sick Situation
“Food service employees are the least likely to have access to sick leave. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, only 14 percent of the people serving and handling food in restaurants can stay home from work when they’re coughing and sneezing, without fear of losing their jobs. José Oliva, the policy coordinator for the advocacy group Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, told me that among the food service employees he normally counsels – many of whom, like Del Valle, speak poor English and earn well below the minimum wage for tipped employees – only about one percent can stay home sick without the fear of losing pay or even their jobs.”
Busting the Opt-Out Mom Myth
“An upcoming Census Bureau report — previewed as a poster at a demographers conference we are attending — looks at the phenomenon of women voluntarily leaving the workforce after having kids. The media has long weighed in on this topic, enough that a few Census demographers decided to give the trend a closer look, using data from the American Community Survey. Their finding — in contrast to media accounts but similar to some economists — is that most working women return to the work force a year after having a child. With women’s earnings making up a significant chunk of household income, the demographers say, families may find it too costly to punt on a second paycheck or an additional retirement account.”
When Retirement Means More Work
“Even before the recession began, Americans should have been considering the possibility that they might have to work past the average retirement age of 63. Longer life expectancies mean you will need more dough for retirement. And now, it will take the typical 55-year-old employee two extra years in the workforce simply to recoup 2008’s market losses, according to the consulting firm Hewitt Associates. Other studies have come up with similar numbers. The Employee Benefit Research Institute calculated that employees with between 20 and 29 years on the job will have to work an extra year and 10 months to neutralize retirement account losses. If workers panic and pull their remaining cash out of the market, it will take even longer for them to recover: two years and four months, according to EBRI. Continued employment allows seniors to save more and reduce the number of years over which their savings must be spread.”
How the recession impacts your ability to negotiate your work schedule
“My question is: what impact will the new labor force shift have on women's ability to negotiate roles at work that allow them to be caregivers? Women in power often have to contend with the "ideal worker" stereotype. We've always idealized the hard-striving, dominant man with a wife at home to take care of matters outside the office. Now, as many of those ideal workers are losing their jobs, women have an opportunity to redefine what an ideal worker is. But we have to play it carefully.”
Global News
Going to work sick risky in the long term
“Repeatedly going to work when you're down with the flu or other illness, perhaps because of job insecurity, might be bad for your health in the long run, a new study suggests. [. . .] Workers who don't take a sick day now and again, when they are sick, risk having a lengthier spell of sick leave down the road, perhaps because they don't give their body the time it needs to get better, explained Hansen, with the department of occupational medicine, Herning Hospital, Denmark,. The findings are based on almost 12,000 Danish workers employed continuously for at least one year who answered questions on work, family and attitudes about going to work while sick versus staying home.”
Moms finding fewer jobs to go back to after maternity leave
“Ontario's Human Rights Legal Support Centre, an independent agency funded by the province to provide free legal services to people experiencing discrimination, are now averaging 10 to 15 calls a week from pregnant women who are frightened for their jobs, can't nail down return-to-work dates or have been told there will be no job waiting for them at the end of their maternity leave. [. . .] In lots of other cases the firings are far more cleverly masked, says one new mother who didn't want her name used because she's still negotiating her severance package. Two weeks ago, the pharmaceutical firm where she has worked for more than a decade laid off two pregnant women and 14 workers on maternity leave, but their pinks slips went out with dozens of others.”