Archive for January, 2009

What’s New

Karen Corday January 30th, 2009

New From the Network:

Work and Family News Headlines:

  • Obama Touts Middle-Class Task Force Led by Biden
    Philip Elliott of the Associated Press reports on the formal announcement of a new White House task force, led by Vice President Joe Biden. Goals for the task force include “expanding opportunities for education and training; improving the work-family balance; restoring labor standards, including workplace safety; and protecting retirement security.”
  • Obama Signs Equal Pay Law
    Athena Jones of MSNBC reports that President Barak Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act on January 29th. The law extends the statute of limitations for suing an employer for equal pay.

See our main site for more!

Work and Family News from Around the Globe:

  • More Than a Million Pensioners Forced to Work to Top Up Shrinking Benefits
    Harry Wallop of the United Kingdom’s Telegraph reports that “figures from the Office for National Statistics, published on Tuesday, paint a stark picture of pensioners becoming increasingly reliant on their savings and on having to go out to work.”
  • Britain Needs a Shorter-Hours Culture
    David Spencer of the United Kingdom’s Guardian calls for a change in traditional orthodox economic theory to a more radical approach that would readjust work time to reduce the jobless rate and improve work life quality.

See our main site for more!

Top Ten Countries: Where in the World Does the Network Go?

Judi Casey January 28th, 2009

Where in the world does the Sloan Network go? Below are the top ten countries that have visited the Sloan Network from July 1 through December 31, 2008. In total, there were over 130,000 visits from 190 countries and territories. For the top ten countries listed below, we are reporting the total number of visits, followed by the percentage of the total visits.

1.) US (83,137; 72%)
2.) UK (9,513; 8%)
3.) Canada (7,023; 6%)
4.) India (3,716: 3%)
5.) Australia (3,592; 3%)
6.) Philippines (2,890; 3%)
7.) Malaysia (2,060; 2%)
8.) Germany (1,466; 1%)
9.) Singapore (1,178; 1%)
10.) South Africa (959; 1%)

In order to attract more global visitors, we have added Work and Family News from around the Globe and the International Corner in the Network News. We always cast a global net when gathering high-quality articles for the Literature Database and the Network site resources.

Our Top Blog Posts of 2008

Judi Casey January 27th, 2009

Perhaps you are new to the Network blog, and haven’t caught up with older 2008 blog postings. Here’s a list of the ten most widely read blogs from last year.

1.) Action Plan for Working Parents Caring for Children with Disabilities
2.) Work-Family Issues for Employed Parents of Children with Disabilities
3.) A Legal Pitfall to Telecommuting
4.) Work-Life Flexibility and the Recession: Core Business Strategy
5.) Small Businesses and the Use of Flexible Work Schedules
6.) Top Ten Trends in Work-Life and Work-Family
7.) How Workplace Characteristics Impact Employee Wellbeing
8.) The Special Case of Military Spouses Returning to Work After a Career Break
9.) Technology: Beneficial or Detrimental to Working Fathers?
10.) Can Flexibility Still Work in the Current Economy?

Please join us in 2009. We love to hear your comments, and we’re always looking for guest bloggers, too.

Balancing Sick Children and Work Schedules

Featured Guest Blogger January 26th, 2009

This post was contributed by Holly McCarthy, who writes on the subject of job search. She invites your feedback at hollymccarthy12 at gmail dot com. Please note that the views of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network.

During the winter months, working parents can face a variety of situations regarding their children’s health. The cold weather helps speed up the process from the sniffles to a full-blown, debilitating cold. What do you do when the school nurse calls and needs you to come pick up your children?

Many employers realize that children are an employee’s top priority. As a parent, taking care of your children will always be the first concern. However, what’s a parent to do in these tough economic times when taking time off for your children could adversely affect your standing with the company?  What happens if there are other emergencies outside of your immediate family that may require your attention? There are a few things that can be done:

  1. Speak with the Boss
    Let your boss know what is going on and what you are doing to remedy the situation.  Offer to work from home and stay in touch while your child gets better—there are many ways to rectify the situation. Being proactive in situations like this usually works out in your favor; if you are willing to tackle the difficult conversations head-on, your boss will often be willing to talk things through with you.

    2.  

  2. Take Turns with Your Spouse
    This is a good idea if you feel like you are the go-to parent for emergency pick ups. Employers might be understanding for a while, but eventually tire of you being the one who is always called to come to the rescue. Work things out with your spouse so that they take turns with you. Naturally, some days you may need to swap this duty if something particularly important is going on at work.

    3.  

  3. Have an Emergency Back-Up Plan
    While this isn’t going to always be an option, some of us know people who either don’t work or work from home, possibly with a flexible schedule. Perhaps on the days when it is most difficult for you to get away, you can rely on these people to pick up your sick child and take them home.  If you are able to do this, planning for the next couple of days will be far easier and your day will not be truncated.  Finish up your work for the day, inform your employer of your forthcoming absence, and prepare to work from home if necessary.

Many workers have to deal with these kinds of situations all of the time, so know that you’re not alone. Work with your employer and spouse to keep the lines of communication open.

What’s New

Karen Corday January 23rd, 2009

Work and Family News Headlines:

See our main site for more!

Work and Family News from Around the Globe:

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President Obama Highlights Working Families On First Day

Julie Schwartz Weber January 21st, 2009

Barack Obama is now our 44th president of the United States. His thoughtful, sobering, and inspiring acceptance speech very much impressed me. However, as someone who studies and writes on work-family policy, the following language had particular punch:

“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.”

In this three sentence paragraph, he underscored the importance of the government’s active role in helping working people to support and care for their dependents and themselves throughout their life cycle. President Obama then took the extraordinary step of declaring that government resources dedicated to these issues will be effective under his watch, even if it means dismantling already existing programs.

While Obama has previously made it clear that working families are a priority for his administration, it was powerful to hear support for these issues on the very day he assumed his role as President.

What about his speech struck you?

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The Four-Day Work Week and the Death of the Flexible Workplace Initiative

Featured Guest Blogger January 19th, 2009

Margaret M. DiBianca joined Young Conaway’s Employment Group after graduating magna cum laude from Villanova University School of Law. Molly is a monthly contributor to the Delaware Employment Law Letter and is the acting Editor of Young Conaway’s employment-law blog, DelawareEmploymentLawBlog.com. Please note that the views of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network.

The four-day work week has been hyped as the solution to the search for a flexible workplace. This is nothing more than hype. Truth be told, the four-day workweek is the antithesis of flexibility.

The demands for scheduling with employees change from employee to employee and, even with one individual, are subject to change depending on what else is happening in his or her life. The only thing that is static and unchanging in this definition of flexibility is the employee’s request to define their schedule for themselves and to change it as needed.

The four-day work week falls far short of this test for flexibility. Instead of being able to come and go on a schedule that is adaptable to their needs and the needs of their friends and families, employees are required to be in the workplace for at least 11 hours every day for the same four consecutive days each week. If your doctor’s office is closed on Friday, you’re plain out of luck. If you need to pick up your daughter after school, there’s not much hope that you could come into work early to make up the time—unless you want to arrive at 4 a.m. to ensure that you can leave by 3 that afternoon.

If the strict hours don’t bother you, consider the lack of flexibility during non-working time in a four-day work week. Employees who leave work by 5 p.m. five days a week are able to run an errand or two on the way to pick the kids up from day care. Once home, there is time to put something on the table for dinner and oversee homework time. Parents can leave work in time for the weeknight soccer game or recital—without having to take a half day of leave.

For the employee working four 10-hour days each week, these options become much more difficult to effectuate. In order to get the family up and out the door, drop the children off at school, commute to the office, and still make it to work on time, most people need between 90 and 180 minutes after waking. We’ll estimate it on the short side and say that an employee who is due to work by 7 a.m. has to get up no later than 5:30 a.m. Eleven hours later, at 6 p.m., the employee leaves work, picks up the children, and stops to put gasoline in the car. Assuming they make no other stops, they return home at 7 p.m. At the later hour, it’s exhausting to think about cooking, so a delivery order is called into the local pizza parlor.

Read the mail, change clothes, check the answering machine, and set the table and it’s already 8 p.m. Only two and a half hours before bedtime if you hope to get close to 8 hours’ sleep. By the time the pizza arrives, is gobbled down, and is cleaned up, the so-called “quality time” with the family is over and everyone heads to bed. There isn’t even time for “American Idol,” never mind a few moments to talk about the day’s events.

With this schedule, the four-day work week seems far from flexible. Instead, it seems to be all-consuming and, frankly, exhausting.

What’s New

Karen Corday January 16th, 2009

New from the Network:

Work and Family News Headlines:

Work and Family News from Around the Globe:

The Weather Outside is Frightful: Winter Storms and Work-Family

Judi Casey January 14th, 2009

Recently, we’ve had several winter storms in New England. Most of them are the usual snow dumps that close schools for the day and make driving difficult, if not treacherous. These situations can be challenging for working parents, as they are unexpected and there are few options for childcare if one must get to work. Parents often look for care from relatives or family members, neighbors or friends, babysitters, or, if possible, stay at home for the day. Most of the time, this is a one day affair, and with a little bit of luck and ingenuity, a solution is found–although low-wage earners or service employees may find it more problematic to locate alternatives.

On December 12, an ice storm in New Hampshire left 400,000 residents without power, and a state of emergency was declared. Three days later, 164,000 customers were without power, and twelve days later, 9,000 people still didn’t have power. Many had to go to local shelters to stay warm, get a meal or drink of water, or to take a shower. Schools were closed, driving was impossible, and meeting even basic needs was a challenge.

I heard a woman interviewed on the radio who was understandably frazzled and overwhelmed.  She was supposed to be at work, but her kids didn’t have any school. She had already asked family and friends to help her for the first week, but the good will was wearing thin. She was sleeping at a friend’s house, as she did not have power.  As a result, even getting ready for work was a challenge, if she could figure out a childcare option.  Finally, driving conditions seemed somewhat daunting to her with tree limbs in the road and on power lines.

Living in New England, I guess we expect short-term interruptions to our normal work-family schedules due to winter weather, but we may be unprepared for longer term situations. Back-up care can be helpful, but may not be available, and usually requires pre-registration.  Although a significant storm, this was not a dire situation like Hurricanes Rita or Katrina, as there was the assumption that everything would go back to normal in a short time period –however, there were kids who did not go to school on December 12 and first returned after school vacation on January 5, 2009!

What’s a working parent to do? What if your child has no school for a week or longer, but your employer is open and expects you to be at work? What if you work for a public safety or service organization that requires you to work more hours than scheduled to meet coverage needs in an emergency? What if you can’t even stay in your home to wash your uniform or take care of basic personal hygiene?

How do you manage dependent care in an unexpected weather situation? Let us know by answering the poll on our blog or home page.

Economy Down, Family Time Up?

Featured Guest Blogger January 12th, 2009

Lately, I have found myself reading endless bits of information on how the economy is going to affect working families. Today, I realized that there are two parallel stories happening right now in the conversation about what will happen to families in this time of economic recession (some are even saying ‘depression’).

  1. Working families are facing financial turbulence ahead.
    Parents may lose their jobs and dual-earner families may be reduced to a single income. Single parent families may lose any income. Parents who are laid off may no longer be able to afford child care. Employees may be forced to reduce their hours (and their pay) in order to save their employer money. And let’s not even get into the mortgage/subprime mortgage crisis and what that means for some working families and their housing.

  2. Working families are facing emotional turbulence ahead.
    With men more vulnerable to job loss than women, the potential for dads staying home with their children has increased. Studies have suggested that job loss and economic crisis lead to an increase in divorce rates. Family leave initiatives may lose traction now that the economy is struggling, further adding to the emotional strain of the work-family balance.

What can be done to mediate these concerns? That is too vast a conversation for this blog entry. But we’d love to hear your thoughts. I’ll start. I suggest that working parents talk about their concerns with one another and their expectations should circumstances change. Open communication never hurts.

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