September 15, 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
Small businesses need a backup plan for flu season, federal government says
“When his only employee got sick and had to miss 14 months of work, Sandy Chase ran Record Collector, a purveyor of rare and vintage vinyl, alone. [. . .] He's got no plan for facing the coming flu season, Chase said, other than to frequently wash his hands and eat lots of fruits and vegetables. But with the threat of widespread infection from the H1N1 virus looming over the fall and winter, the federal government Monday warned that small businesses such as Chase's could be devastated if owners didn't develop detailed contingency plans. In a report distributed online and to chambers of commerce nationwide, the Department of Homeland Security and the Small Business Administration offered guidelines for making it through an outbreak, including the suggestion that employees get paid time off to care for sick children.”
A World of Hurt
“Fifteen million Americans are locked in the nightmare of unemployment, nearly 10 percent of the work force. A third have been jobless for more than six months. Thirteen percent of Latinos and 15 percent of blacks are out of work. (Those are some of the official statistics. The reality is much worse.) [. . .] A national survey of jobless workers by a pair of professors at Rutgers University shows just how traumatized the work force has become in this downturn. Two-thirds of respondents said that they had become depressed. More than half said it was the first time they had ever lost a job, and 80 percent said there was little or no chance that they would be able to get their jobs back when the economy improves.”
Lots of Fear Remains Over Economy, Job Losses
“Despite fresh signs that the worst may be over for the beleaguered U.S. economy, there has been no letup in public fears about possible financial hardship ahead and there is broad concern that not enough is being done to avert another meltdown, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Painful personal experiences over the past year continue to dampen the outlook of many Americans. About two-thirds of those polled say they have been hurt financially by the recession, with extensive reports that job losses and pay reductions are hitting home. Most call the economic situation a source of stress in their lives, and that anxiety also stems from apprehension of what may lie ahead for their families.”
Coalition backs paid sick leave
“At a Monday afternoon news conference in Burlington’s Old North End, the coalition presented Dr. Jan Carney, a University of Vermont associate dean of public health, who said guidelines recommend people stay home if they think they have the flu, and it would be easier for people with paid sick leave to do so. UVM medical student Joanna Conant said she is participating in research evaluating the effects of paid sick leave on public health. She said the research indicates children whose parents have paid sick leave are more likely to stay home from school when ill and are more likely to get medical treatment than children whose parents do not have paid sick leave at their jobs.”
Flexible work schedules take hit amid downsizing
“Some employees at Eli Lilly and Co. will see their flexible work schedules abolished as the company downsizes in an effort to become more efficient. The company confirmed Monday it has done away with compressed work schedules, which allowed workers to complete their 40 hours in a shorter week, and summer work hours, which allowed employees to take a day off to stay home when their children were out of school.”
President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts
“Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts: Chai R. Feldblum, Commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [. . .] President Obama said, ‘This group brings a dedication and expertise in their fields that will serve this administration and the American people well. As we work to advance equal rights, keep our nation safe and put our country back on a path to prosperity, I look forward to working with these fine individuals in the months and years ahead.’”
More women supporting families
“By 6 a.m. most weekday mornings, Germain Patterson is rustling up breakfast for his two daughters and wife Tina so they can get to school and work. Then, he heads back to bed or to the computer until about 9, when his 3-year-old son gets up. Then it’s a day of housework, teaching his son the alphabet or going to the park, and more job-hunting online.”
Life In (and After) Our Great Recession
“Such psychological inferences may be squishy, but all of these accounts agree on one workaday detail of middle-class life: the effort to maintain the highest-possible standard of material living in an age of reduced circumstances meant that the physical burden of the new normal fell overwhelmingly on women. The hours of what were then called servants were cut, or those workers were fired altogether (just as is now happening with the hours and jobs of housekeepers, nannies, and—at least here in Southern California—gardeners), but the tasks they performed remained to be done.”
U.S. Department of Labor Employment Strategy Demonstrates Improved Recruitment and Retention Outcomes for Workers of All Abilities
“The results of 31 funded initiatives from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), demonstrates that Customized Employment (CE) is a unique recruitment and retention strategy. Based on the identified business needs of an employer and a match of the individual job candidate’s strengths, conditions, and interests, employers can negotiate created jobs or re-structured jobs (through task re-assignment, alternative job design, and/or job sharing).” The article is on Page 2.
Reports
Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress
“Increasing concerns have been raised since a long time about the adequacy of current measures of economic performance, in particular those based on GDP figures. Moreover, there are broader concerns about the relevance of these figures as measures of societal well-being, as well as measures of economic, environmental, and social sustainability.”
Blogs
Georgetown Law Professor Chosen for EEOC
“President Barack Obama has decided to nominate Chai Feldblum, a Georgetown University law professor who has advocated for flexibility in the workplace and for expanded rights for gays and lesbians, to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the White House said Monday. Feldblum has taught at Georgetown since 1991, co-directing an initiative that promotes alternative work schedules and other flexibility initiatives. She also founded and directs the law school’s Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic, a one-semester program that trains students to work on Capitol Hill and other legislative contexts.”
Kim Clijsters and What We Lost With Lehman
“What Clijsters has done, said Stacey Allaster, the new chief executive of the Women's Tennis Association, in an article in The New York Times, "sends an incredible message to working moms that you can have a career and be successful at your profession." Yet it's a message that many corporations still don't get, especially those in fast-paced, high-pressure industries like the financial sector. Once you decide to take the off-ramp from your career super-highway, the thinking goes, you can never rev up the pace to get back on the on-ramp. Lehman, however, didn't believe that. Lehman led the way in developing the first and best-in-class program for on-ramping women.“
Welcome to the New Work+Life Flex Normal
“Last year an economic bomb detonated and laid to waste the rules and institutions that have guided our decisions related to work, life and business for generations. Shell-shocked and disoriented, we’re starting to emerge slowly from the rubble wondering not only “What happened?” but “What’s next? Welcome to the New Work+Life Flex Normal blog. As the dust settles, it’s clear greater flexibility in work, life, career and business is here to stay. Before the recession, a few fraying threads connected us to a work+life reality that was rapidly becoming obsolete for more than a decade.”
Early Learning and Work-Life Lobbyists Need to Spend More Time Together
“Today quality early learning and work-life balance are inseparable thanks to the growing number of families with two parents in the rat race – two-income households jumped from 60 to 65 percent of families from 1986 to 2008 - struggling and now demanding top-quality care. The connection was obvious this morning during an online dialogue hosted by Work and Family. The topic was the disconnect between the public perception of work and family and the reality, and it showcased an increasingly powerful coalition pushing for changes in work-life policies. What is interesting for early learning folks is that many of the comments were about demands for quality child care.”
Global News
Workers can claim back holidays ruined by illness
“Workers who are ill during their holidays can now claim the time back from their employers following a landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice. The court said that employees had the right to ask for statutory leave to be ‘reallocated’ when it was spoilt by sickness. Under the terms of the judgment, employees will be allowed to carry any annual leave marred by illness over into the next holiday year. The ruling, made over a case in Spain, is in effect a new interpretation of the European Working Time Directive, which applies in Britain across the entire private and public sector.”
Sarkozy attacks focus on economic growth
“Arguing that gross domestic product (GDP) – the standard means of measuring a country's economic growth – ignores other factors vital to the well-being of its population, the report proposes a new indicator which would be calculated with GDP but take into account a broader view. A new indicator would look at issues such as environmental protection and work/life balance as well as economic output to rate a country's ability to maintain the "sustainable" happiness of its inhabitants.”