Archive for the 'Dependent Care' Category

Sick in the City

Julie Schwartz Weber November 11th, 2009

The Community Service Society of New York (CSS) and A Better Balance (ABB) just released a report entitled “Sick in the City: What Lack of Paid Leave Means for Working New Yorkers.”  This report concerns the importance of paid leave, particularly in light of the recent H1N1 outbreak.  In this report, authors Jeremy Reiss (CSS) and Nancy Rankin (ABB) analyze 8 years of data extracted from annual surveys concerning lack of paid sick leave for working New Yorkers, outline economic and public health arguments in support of paid sick leave legislation, and conclude with a call to pass paid sick leave legislation.  Highlights from their report include the following:

  1. Nearly half (48%) of working New Yorkers do not receive paid sick days, while 44% receive no paid vacation.  A full 39%–or 1.3 million workers in New York City–receive no paid leave (sick or vacation).
    • 66% of low-income workers in New York City lack paid sick leave, with Latinos faring the worst; more than 7 out of 10 Latinos lack paid sick leave.
    • 60% of low-income working moms in New York City lack paid sick leave for themselves and for their children.
  2. Availability of paid sick leave is declining across income spectrums.
    • Where 56% of the near-poor had paid sick leave in 2007, only 33% have it in 2009.
    • Where 82% of moderate to high-income workers had it in 2004, only 63% have it in 2009.
  3. Workers in unions are more likely to receive paid sick leave; 64% of those in union jobs have paid sick days versus 48% of those in non-union jobs.

  4. Workers in small businesses in New York City are the least likely to receive paid sick leave; nearly two-thirds of those in businesses with 10 or fewer employees lack paid sick leave.  The authors underscore that these small businesses hire over 26% of all New Yorkers.

  5. Workers in the service sectors, construction and manufacturing are the least likely to receive paid sick leave, with a full 68% of working New Yorkers lacking paid sick leave in the leisure, hospitality, retail and wholesale areas.

  6. When no paid sick leave is provided, low-income workers who take time off to care for themselves or a sick child are more likely to be threatened with retaliation in the form of docked pay, job loss, or suspension.

  7. The lack of paid sick leave results in public health consequences, including the spread of contagious illnesses, like H1N1, and higher health care costs. Low-income workers without paid sick leave are more likely to go to work sick, and more likely to rely on emergency room visits to tend to routine medical issues. Even when these workers have health insurance coverage, the ER provides care outside of work hours and does not jeopardize job security.

  8. Most New Yorkers, across income and political party lines, support the passage of a paid sick law.

For more information on paid sick days, generally, visit our mini-brief and topic page on the matter.

Adding a New Ball to the Juggling Act: Balancing Work, Family and Education

Featured Guest Blogger August 10th, 2009

Charlene DeCesare is a freelance Life Balance Strategist and the Senior Director of Tuition Programs at College Coach, a division of Bright Horizons Family Solutions.

Studies have shown that a large majority of working adults do not complete degrees within six years, while many don’t finish at all. At first blush, this may seem unbelievable, but given the challenges of juggling work, family and education, it really shouldn’t be surprising.

Many years ago, I decided to pursue my MBA using my employer’s tuition assistance program.  At first it seemed that navigating the process around this “benefit” might actually require an MBA!  However, I figured it all out eventually.  Accepted by my school of choice and approved by my manager, I started classes.

As luck would have it, my second semester gave way to my first trimester…of pregnancy. The challenge of balancing work and life (literally) grew exponentially. Childcare was an issue both day and night, depending on my husband’s schedule as well as my own. Business travel sometimes meant missing classes in addition to missing my family. Lactation arrangements were now needed at work, on the road, and at school. As each semester came and went, I made difficult choices in order to feel successful as a mom, an employee, and when I could fit it in, a student. Nine years, a new job and two more children later, I finally completed my degree.

Today, working adult learners face similar challenges of managing work, family, and school. Furthermore, each area’s demands are compounded and mirrored against the next. As if the process wasn’t convoluted enough for me when I attended graduate school, the educational landscape is even more complex today. Whereas aspiring students once had to compete for acceptance into college, many schools are now competing for students –- especially the working adult demographic. Because of this, the availability and diversity of distance learning options is growing at a rapid rate. Yet, aggressive marketing is no longer limited to online for-profit institutions. More and more “traditional” schools are launching programs specifically targeted to employees. All of this makes the decision making process much more complicated and potentially very time consuming. As we know, time is the most precious commodity for those of us trying to “do it all.”

In addition, employees must have awkward conversations with managers who are conflicted between meeting budget goals and helping employees meet their personal and education goals. To compound the problem, many employers still have policies and processes that are overly difficult to navigate for the employee and equally difficult for the organization to administer.  This can actually create a perceived disincentive to participate.

In the United States, 85% of companies offer some sort of tuition assistance program. There is no question that the benefit is offered with good intentions. However, the goal for the more forward-thinking employer is to build that bridge between what they intend and what employees actually experience. This includes creating a culture that encourages education and work/life balance while also providing support at the individual level.
Support is not only about funding. It’s about providing resources during the decision-making process and throughout the educational journey as the inevitable issues arise. This kind of support not only increases the likelihood that our working adult learners will complete degrees, but that they will stay with the employer who funded that educational journey.  That’s a true benefit for all involved.

Corporate Efforts to Make Child Care More Affordable

Featured Guest Blogger July 13th, 2009

Judith Presser  is a Senior Consultant at WFD. She has extensive corporate consulting experience, mostly focused on community needs assessments, dependent care feasibility studies, development of new child care centers, and dependent care strategy development. During her tenure at WFD, Judi has worked with numerous clients in the development and implementation of strategies to meet their employees’ dependent care needs and has managed the activities of the American Business Collaboration in five U.S. cities. Please note that the views of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network.

The average monthly child care fees for an infant in a child care center can be higher than the amount a family spends on food each month, and if a family has more than one child in care, monthly child care fees can be as high, or even higher than, the average monthly mortgage payment, according to 2008 data from the National Association for Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. Family-friendly companies recognize that helping working parents afford quality care for their children allows parents to be focused and productive at work, enhances employers’ ability to recruit and retain talent, and provides environments where children are protected and nurtured, and at the same time, gain valuable knowledge and skills.

The American Business Collaboration (ABC), WFD Consulting (WFD), and Corporate Voices for Working Families (CVWF) have been working together for more than 18 months to develop a legislative proposal to increase the amount families can set aside for child care through their company-sponsored Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (DCFSA) from $5,000 to $7,500 a year. The current figure of $5,000 was established more than 20 years ago and has not been increased since. The DCFSA is generally the only support available from employers to help employees pay for child care.

Through the efforts of the ABC, WFD, and CVWF, H.R. 2298, the “Expanding Dependent and Child Care Act of 2009,” was introduced in early May to increase the cap on DCFSAs. The new legislation would increase the limit to $7,500 and index it to inflation. Similar DCFSA language has also been introduced in two Senate bills (S.988 and S.997). In S.997, unused DCFSA funds are able to be rolled over to the next tax year.

With the increase in the cap to $7,500, employees could realize an additional savings of $1,000 or more a year, bringing their total savings to more than $3,000 annually on their child care expenses because they do not have to pay federal income taxes or Social Security and Medicare taxes on the funds they’ve set aside. For lower-wage employees, participation in DCFSA may help them qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or may increase their EITC’s because participation lowers the taxable income used to calculate eligibility for the EITC and to calculate the amount of the EITC. Additional savings may be realized on an employee’s state income tax, as well.

Companies and organizations will also benefit. Since an organization does not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on funds that their employees set aside in DCFSA’s, they save 7.65% of total employee contributions. This means that for employees who increase their DCFSA set-aside to $7,500, a company will save almost an additional $200 per employee. For a company with average participation in this program and a workforce of 20,000, the savings would be approximately $230,000 annually.

We would welcome support of the bill; it’s always helpful when local representatives are asked for their support by their constituents. The ABC, WFD, and CVWF believe that the DCFSA program is an excellent example of how companies and organizations—large or small—can support their employees and their families. To download a guide to promote the use of DCFSAs, visit http://www.abcdependentcare.com/docs/pubs.shtml.

For more information on dependent care tax assistance, please see the Network’s Topic Page on this subject.

New Roles Bring New Rules

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.

Who’ll Care for Aging Adults? Big Question, Few Answers

Featured Guest Blogger June 11th, 2009

Cali Williams Yost is the founder and CEO of Work+Life Fit Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in developing innovative business-based work-life flexibility strategies for organizations and individuals. She is the author of Work+Life: Finding the Fit That’s Right for You (Riverhead/Penguin Group 2005). Yost writes the Work+Life Fit Blog and is an expert blogger for Fast Company magazine. She can be reached at cali@worklifefit.com. Please note that the views of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network.

For the past few months, a friend cared for her mother through the final stages of ovarian cancer under a best case elder care scenario: 1) she is a stay-at-home mom who lived close by and had the flexibility to provide care, and 2) her mother had adequate financial resources to pay for the care she needed.  Yet, the reality of elder care was, according to my friend, “a nightmare.”  As I found two years earlier when I cared for my mother before she died of lung cancer, she was blindsided by the lack of support.  Or, let me restate, the lack of elder care beyond family caregivers.

This brings us back to the original questions:  who will provide the majority of care for the rapidly aging baby boom generation, and who will pay for it?  The answer for the most part is no one beyond family members,  and that already tenuous support is fraying with the recession.

I believe we have two choices: 1) either fundamentally overhaul the way the country provides and pays for the care of aging adults or 2) level with current and future caregivers, as well as the organizations that employ them, so they understand the hard facts and begin to plan accordingly.  Otherwise, they, too, will be blindsided.

The good news is that innovations related to elder care are emerging; however, they must take into account the realities that my friend, countless other caregivers, and I learned the hard way if they are going to have a meaningful impact:

“There are going to be more people to take care of than there are people” to provide care says Bob Caffrey, CEO of Seacoast Hospice in New Hampshire.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, by 2050, there will be 88.5 million people who are 65-and-over, which is “more than doubling the current 65-and-over population.  Meanwhile, the number of working-age people between 18 and 64 is projected to decline from 63% to 57% in 2050.”  This doesn’t even include the number of adult children or other family members under 65 who need care. Simply put, the care requirements of aging adults will put greater demands on a dwindling supply of family care providers.

Current and future caregivers may not see themselves as the primary providers of care for their aging family and friends, but the system does.  We need to get on the same page.  As noted in the recent Evercare Survey of the Economic Downturn and its Impact on Family Caregiving, “Family caregivers are the backbone of our health care system by providing long-term care to those with chronic illness or disabilities.” I have to say that this was news to me and my sisters before we started to care for our mother, and I’m an “expert” who thought I understood elder care.  The Executive Director of a New Hampshire community-based nurse and hospice organization stated an important fact in a recent article when she said, “Family members and friends need to play an active role in the care of a loved one at home…No home care agency can do it all.  Families really are the primary caregivers.”  The system that provides care will support you.  It doesn’t expect to cover all of the care—family caregivers need to know that.  I would imagine most don’t.

Because of the recession, a majority of those caregivers are much less likely to take a break from the workforce to provide care.  In other words, even though they are expected to be the primary care providers, family members who might have quit in the past, won’t.  When it’s needed the most, there will be less family caregiver time available because the recession has made them feel they need to keep working:

Assuming outside support is available, no one seems to have the money to pay for it—not Medicare, not the aging adults and not the adult children providing the care.

  • Medicare:  Over the past two years as I’ve pondered the question of who will pay for elder care, I’ve asked experts in the subject what they thought and most say the same thing: Medicare. My usual response is, “Really?” One expert stated, “The public will demand it.”  Okay, we can demand all we want, but what if there’s simply no money?  A recent government report shows Medicare is projecting trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities in the not too distant future.  I’m not sure Medicare is going to be the answer.
  • Aging Parents: According to a recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), households headed by people between the ages of 55 and 64 reported the median value of all retirement accounts of approximately $100,000.  Assuming aging adults need to use their funds for care over a limited period, it may be adequate.  However, the problem is that many will need care for years, and then $100,000 will not be enough.  There’s long-term care insurance, but that can be very expensive.
  • Family Caregivers:  According to the Evercare study, six out of ten caregivers who reported increasing their care giving spending also reported having difficulty paying their own basic necessities.  And 63% were saving less for retirement.  Considering that the NBER research reported that 53% of households with at least one retirement account had a median balance of “a mere $45,000,” this is not good news.  Also, many of the caregivers who are spending more on care giving expenses, are using up their savings (47%) or are borrowing money and using credit cards (43%).  Double trouble.

Aging adult care is perhaps the greatest, yet the least discussed, work+life fit challenge we face governmentally, organizationally, and individually, especially when coupled with child care.  Finding solutions begins with asking the right questions.  And those questions need to be based on fact-based assumptions.

As I’ve shown above, the system seems to expect families (or friends) to function as the primary caregivers, even if they don’t realize it. Those families are not going to be able to provide 100%, full-time care, because they must continue working.  They must help pay for the care of the aging adults in their lives because the government may not be able to step in.  And do this while saving for their personal retirement and future elder care needs.  It goes without saying that these caregivers will need a great deal of flexibility in how, when, and where they work if they are to fulfill their responsibilities on the job and at home.

Who will care for the rapidly aging baby boom generation, and who will pay for it?  The answer: Employers, communities, families and individuals creatively working together on all levels.  It’s the only way.  It’s not happening right now, and it needs to start…soon.

Swine Flu and Work-Family

Julie Schwartz Weber May 13th, 2009

Of late, our country and the rest of the world are confronting the realities of living with the possible global pandemic of swine flu. In America alone, as of May 4th, more than 1000 confirmed or probable cases of swine flu have been reported from 44 states. While the public health and medical considerations are rightfully getting a lot of air time, there are a host of work-family issues that emerge from this situation, including:

  • Paid sick days:  The CDC, as well as state and local officials are asking workers and sick children suspected of contracting swine flu to stay home from work and school to prevent the possible spread of infection. However, with more than half of the country’s workers lacking a single paid sick day, and even more without time off to care for family members, including children, this request presents a potentially dire situation. Working families are forced to choose between adhering to a government public health mandate and staying home to care for their sick loved one or themselves or losing a paycheck — or even their job — by opting to stay home.Even if a particular employer or state has a paid sick days policy, or you happen to live in California or New Jersey, where paid family leave policies are being implemented, there are serious questions about whether these policies would provide coverage for healthy children whose school is closed due to a public health issue. Additionally, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act would likely not allow for even unpaid time off for most parents to care for children, as it mandates time off to care for a “seriously ill” child; here, most of the children staying home from school are well.
  • Child care:   Under the direction of the President and public health officials, some schools have been closed due to children or staff within the school having swine flu.  While most recently the CDC recommends not closing schools “unless there is a magnitude of faculty or student absenteeism that interferes with the school’s ability to function”, the fact that a possible pandemic did — and can again — lead to the closing of schools, triggers questions about child care. With most caregivers in the workplace, and few employers providing paid sick days and/or paid leave, how can parents take time off from work to tend to their children in the event of no school?

The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights

Featured Guest Blogger March 4th, 2009

Yolanda Wu is Co-President and Co-Founder of A Better Balance: The Work & Family Legal Center, a legal advocacy organization based in New York City. A Better Balance engages the government, the private sector, and individuals to create family-friendly law and policy. Please note that the views of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network.

During these hard economic times, household workers report that abuses are increasing as their employers face strain in their own lives. Nannies are facing lay-offs without severance or other protections. Housecleaners are suffering unjust firings or wage cuts. Many household workers have been given additional responsibilities for the same pay.

Fortunately, a dedicated group of domestic workers and their allies are organizing to make things better. Last month, over 250 people went to Albany to urge legislators to pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (A1470/S2311). Nannies, housecleaners, eldercare providers, and their supporters from employer groups, labor unions, religious organizations, and schools held more than 60 meetings with legislators.

The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights would provide comprehensive workplace rights and standards such as paid vacation and sick time, an annual cost of living adjustment, one day of rest per week, notice of termination and severance, and health insurance coverage. It recently passed the New York State Assembly Labor Committee by a vote of 25 to 1, and has been introduced in the Senate. Another lobby day is planned for April to keep up the pressure.

The financial crisis highlights the urgent need for action on the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. Nannies and other household workers, who number 200,000 in New York City alone, play a huge role in supporting families and our economy. These vulnerable workers deserve basic labor standards and protection.

It’s heartening that many employers of domestic workers, including the over 70 members of the Employers for Justice Network who traveled to Albany, support the passage of the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. These employers support this bill because they want guidance and standards. What would it take to persuade more employers of domestic workers to join the effort?

To learn more:

  • Domestic Workers United & Datacenter. (2006). Home is where the work is: Inside New York’s domestic work industry. Retrieved from http://www.domesticworkersunited.org/media/files/6/homeiswheretheworkis.pdf
  • National Employment Law Project. (2008). Testimony of Annette Bernhardt. Hearing before the New York State Assembly Committee on Labor. The conditions surrounding domestic employment in New York State. Retrieved from http://nelp.3cdn.net/2382ec8c4a6bd5fc89_tym6b547y.pdf

Recent Sloan Network Poll Shows How Working Families Handle Dependent Care Issues and Unexpected Weather

Julie Schwartz Weber February 23rd, 2009

This winter has been a rough one here in the Northeast, with unrelenting snow, downed electrical wires, icy roads, and of course, inevitably, snow days. Such weather can wreak havoc with one’s work-family juggle, and led us to poll you, our readers, as to how do you (or those you know) manage dependent care in an unexpected weather situation?

The results are now in:

  • 43% of you indicated that you stay home when unexpected weather hits;
  • 27% of you ask family members to help out with the dependent care so that you can go to work;
  • Another 20% of you revealed that you swap with your spouse, or take turns going to work or staying home to care for dependents;
  • 5% of you state that your babysitter helps out;
  • Another 3% ask a neighbor or a friend to watch over your dependents (again, so you can go to work); and, finally,
  • 2% of you indicated that you have back-up care.

For many jobs, telecommuting may be a good option on days when the weather keeps you home. It’s also clear that having a local support system makes coping that much easier, as is the case for any work-family balance issue.

Please take a moment and answer our new poll: Have you ever used the Family and Medical Leave Act?

The Granite State Introduces a Trifecta of Work-Family Bills

Julie Schwartz Weber February 4th, 2009

Yesterday, three new work-family bills, part of the New Hampshire Women’s Lobby’s (NHWL) Work and Family Economic Sustainability Initiative (“Initiative”), were heard by the House Labor and Commerce Committees in New Hampshire.  The Initiative, developed by the NHWL, several New Hampshire legislators, including Representatives Mary Stuart Gile and Carla Skinder, and other allies, is comprised of the following bills:

  1. HB661, a family leave insurance program bill, which creates a family leave insurance program to allow parents to take time off to care for a newborn, newly adopted child, or to allow persons to care for a family member with a serious medical condition, including a wounded service member.  This bill only applies to employers with 50 or more employees, and establishes the benefit at up to 6 weeks of $250 per week.
  2. HB662, a paid sick days and safe leave bill, which requires employers of full-time and part-time employees to provide up to five days of sick or safe leave for their employees, and is intended to enable workers to seek medical care, psychological counseling for themselves and family, due to sickness or injury, domestic violence, or preventive medical care.  The bill may exempt small businesses with fewer than 10 employees.
  3. HB663, a right to request a flexible schedule law, which creates a process for employees to request flexibility in work schedules, including the number of hours required to work, the times when the employee is required to work, or the location where the employee is required to work.  This process is contingent on meeting specific conditions described in the application and further specifies employer’s criteria for granting or denying such requests.  The proposal only applies to employers with more than 15 employees.

The Initiative evolved from discussions that occurred among and between business, policy and academic folks at the First Annual New Hampshire Summit on Work and Family, held in October 2008.  It will be interesting to see if deliberate efforts to collaborate with business, researchers, and other advocates on these work-family matters, prior to filing the bills, will have an effect on whether these bills move.

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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.

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