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Judi Casey September 16th, 2009

We just finished our Year 2 (July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009) report for the Sloan Foundation.  It’s been a great year! Traffic to the Network website has tripled over the past year to over 300,000 unique visitors and over 550,000 page views (compared to 104,318 visits last year, when our visits doubled from the previous year). Through direct outreach and site traffic, we added 682 new affiliates.  Lastly, we received two Apex Awards for our high-quality monthly newsletter, the Network News.

According to Google Analytics, the top five downloaded documents were:

1. Flexible Work Schedules Fact Sheet, a compilation of stats in Q&A format by topic,  answers the following questions:
   • Are workers satisfied with their work-family balance?
   • How do families deal with the work-family time crunch?
   • Do workers have access to flexible work schedules?
   • Much more!
2. Effective Workplace Series: Flexible Work Schedule, a one-page summary of our Topic Page, considers:
   • Why are organizations implementing flexible work schedules?
   • What are the benefits of flexible work schedules?
   • Why are flexible work schedules an important workplace issue?
3. Women in the Workplace Fact Sheet focuses on
   • How many women are in the workforce?
   • Where are women working?
   • What is the impact of women in leadership positions?
4. Generation X/Generation Y Fact Sheet looks at
   • How have gender roles in the workforce and at home changed for Generation X and Generation Y?
   • How does Generation Y make employment decisions?
   • What does Generation Y expect from and value about their careers?
5. Changing Definition of Families Fact Sheet explores
   • How have families changed?
   • How have marriage trends changed?
   • What do we know about households today?

Check them out if you haven’t read them.

• Definition of Family , Flexible Schedules , Gen X/Gen Y , Publications
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Featured Guest Blogger June 29th, 2009

In 2008, Christina Barlowe founded LifeWork Alliance. The organization was formed to address the paradigm shift that is reshaping today’s workforce. The mission is to institute and promote open dialogue between organizations and working parents. Nearly two decades of professional corporate experience, coupled with an MBA and a Masters in Social Work, form the well-rounded skill set necessary to head the innovative organization that is LifeWork Alliance. Christina has a four-year-old son and a newly adopted little boy who have reshaped her life and been her source of inspiration. Please note that the views of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network.

I had this bright idea about how I would build a life with my partner and how things would become bigger and better as our careers grew and our family grew. Sure, I would work, but I would be able to scale back during those tender early years for my children, because of course my husband’s career would be blossoming. And then it happened– 2007, that is.  Most people didn’t speak the word “recession” until late 2008. For those of us in the New York area, however, the decline in stability and rise in fear happened about a year in advance. My husband lost his job, as many people did, and we saw it as the opportunity that would allow us to explore other options for him and for us. We quickly discovered a few problems with this plan: 1) We still needed to pay the mortgage as we were “exploring,” and 2) Things become increasingly harder at home because our usual roles had changed greatly. As much as we like to think that we are not gender role-specific in this day and age, it is a simple fact of conditioning that we still are bound to these roles, however loosely. We have slowly adapted to me being the primary breadwinner and he being the primary caregiver. Sure, there is jealously and resentment and even envy at times from both sides.

What has been more challenging than either one of these roles, though, have been the roles within the marriage. Who are we now? It is clearly different that what we were when we married and what we imagined we would become. Do we like these new people? Do we have a choice? I have found that communication, as clichéd as it sounds, is the key to mental and emotional survival in these circumstances. My husband is a wonderful father, and men in general are more involved with their children today than they were in the past, which is a blessing for all involved. Even if there are new rules that have been bestowed upon us in this new economy, the rules will always shift. It is an individual’s ability to adapt to those new roles; that is the necessary skill for survival.

• Child Care , Definition of Family , Mothers and Fathers
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Featured Guest Blogger April 29th, 2008

We have all heard of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993. It was President Clinton’s first signed law, and it has had a huge impact on businesses since. During one 18-month period, nearly 24 million workers took a leave for an FMLA-covered reason, or about 1 of every 7 employees.

The FMLA has recently undergone a variety of changes. The new legislation attempts to clarify definitions of terms in the past version of the Act, as well as allows for provisions for military families. The changes were noted in the Federal Register on February 11th.

Some of the more noteworthy changes (in my humble opinion) include:

1. Employees who have a spouse, parent, or child who is on or has been called to active duty in the Armed Forces may take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave yearly when they experience a “qualifying exigency.”

2. Employees who are the spouse, parent, child, or next of kin of a service member who incurred a serious injury or illness on active duty in the Armed Forces may take up to 26 weeks of leave to care for the injured service member in a 12-month period.

3. Employers may communicate directly with health care providers to authenticate medical certifications.

4. Common ailments may be “serious health conditions.”

5. Male employees may be protected when attending prenatal appointments with spouses.

The much anticipated Final Rules are said to be announced as soon as Summer, 2008. In the meantime, employers and employees alike should keep themselves “in the know” for compliance purposes. Additionally, covered businesses should ensure that their posters are up to date.

We would love to hear your thoughts on the changes…are there any employers or employees who love FMLA? Any who find it cumbersome?

• Definition of Family , Leave , Military , Mothers and Fathers , Organizations , Policy
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