Recognizing the “Best of Congress”

Corporate Voices for Working Families and Working Mother Media will present U.S. Senators and members of the U.S. House of Representatives with the Best of Congress award, recognizing their leadership in improving the quality of life for working families by partnering with business to create long-term solutions to work-life issues. Winners will be profiled in the August/September 2010 issue of Working Mother Magazine.

Members of Congress are invited to apply and will be judged on their voting record, sponsored/co-sponsored legislation, and efforts to promote legislation that supports working families. In addition, applicants will be asked to submit policies and practices within their own offices that support their employees and flexible workplace options. January 15, 2010, is the deadline for submissions.

Members of Congress can access the questionnaire for the Best of Congress award at http://wmmsurveys.com/BOCReg.html.

The inaugural Best of Congress award, presented to 24 members of Congress in 2008, attracted widespread news media coverage and highlighted the accomplishments of the recipients with constituents and with business, government and community leaders.

Applications will be reviewed by a bipartisan steering committee co-chaired by Ted Childs, Founder and Principal of Ted Childs, LLC and Jane Swift, Founder and Principal of WNP Consulting, LLC and former Governor of Massachusetts. Other steering committee members are Pat Schroeder, former President and CEO of the Association of American Publishers and former Congresswoman from Colorado, and Deborah Pryce, attorney at Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice and former Congresswoman from Ohio.

The Best of Congress award will be presented to winning members of Congress at an awards breakfast in September 2010 in Washington, D.C.

More information about the Best of Congress award is available on our Corporate Voices Web site.

Gen X and the Recession

Without question, the Great Recession has touched lives throughout this country through job losses — and the Obama administration is planning to renew the focus on employment and jobs creation at a jobs summit now scheduled for Dec. 3. At the same time, employees and employers have been addressing issues about careers and work/life balance.

Put members of Gen X — referred to as those 32- to 44-year-olds who are in between the baby boomers and younger workers (Gen Y) — as those having some serious reservations about their careers today and in the years ahead.

Here’s from an Associated Press article — based on a study by Corporate Voices partner company Deloitte — by Martha Irvine that provides some interesting perspective on an important workplace and workforce readiness issue, “Recession intensifies Gen X discontent at work“:

Now, in this latest recession, nearly two-thirds of baby boomer workers, ages 50 to 61, say they might have to push back their retirement, according to a recent survey from Pew Research.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the age spectrum are Gen Yers, who are often cheaper to hire and heralded for their coveted high-tech knowledge, even though many Gen Xers consider themselves just as technologically savvy.

And more:

They’re antsy and edgy, tired of waiting for promotion opportunities at work as their elders put off retirement. A good number of them are just waiting for the economy to pick up so they can hop to the next job, find something more fulfilling and get what they think they deserve. Oh, and they want work-life balance, too.

Publications, research studies and toolkits on a host of other workforce readiness, flexibility, family economic stability, and work and family balance issues are also available on the Corporate Voices Web site.

Jobs Summit and a Recovery for Some

President Obama is planning to hold a jobs summit at the White House in December that, according to an article in The New York Times, will bring together “business leaders, small business owners, labor union leaders and others.”

“Millions of Americans, our friends, our neighbors, our family members are desperately searching for jobs,” Mr. Obama said. “This is one of the great challenges that remains in our economy, a challenge that my administration is absolutely determined to meet.”

The  jobs forum comes at time when the overall unemployment rate stands at 10.2 percent — with younger workers among the hardest hit during the recession. (See NYT – “Job Losses Mount, Enduring and Deep.”)

And NYT columnist Bob Herbert provides some perspective in his op-ed article, “A Recovery for Some.” Here’s Herbert’s take:

President Obama’s strongest supporters during the presidential campaign were the young, the black and the poor — and they are among those who are being hammered unmercifully in this long and cruel economic downturn that the financial elites are telling us is over.

If the elites are correct, if the Great Recession really is over, then these core supporters of the president are being left far, far behind — as are blue-collar workers of every ethnic and political persuasion. Nobody wants to talk seriously about class in America, but the elites are smiling and perusing their stock portfolios while the checklist of Americans locked in depressionlike circumstances just grows and grows: construction and manufacturing workers, young men without college degrees (especially young black and Hispanic men), teenagers, and those who were already poor when the recession began.

The economic environment for all of these groups is an absolute and utter disaster.

And more:

We’ve been hearing that there are six unemployed workers for every job opening in the U.S., but even that terrible figure is deceptive. There are 25 unemployed construction workers for every job opening in their field, and more than a dozen for every opening in the durable goods industries, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

This was not a normal recession, and we are not on the cusp of anything like a normal recovery. The unemployment rate for black Americans is 15.7 percent. The underemployment rate for blacks in September (the latest month for which figures are available) was a gut-wrenching 23.8 percent and for Hispanics an even worse 25.1 percent. The poverty rate for black children is almost 35 percent.

Clearly there will be plenty of important issues on the table when business leaders and others convene at the White House next month to talk about jobs. And one of the issues has to involve jobs for young adults — beginning with how we help them make the transition into the work place and then continue on a successful career path.

Helping young adults succeed is a key and growing area of Corporate Voices’ workforce readiness work. Publications, research studies and toolkits on a host of other workforce readiness, flexibility, family economic stability, and work and family balance issues are also available on the Corporate Voices Web site.

The 21st Century Workforce

As we continue to look at various work and life issues, here’s an interesting perspective from Pat Earley, research assistant with the Twiga Foundation. Pat’s article on The Huffington Post is titled “21st Century Workforce: The Times They Are a Changing.”

Here’s an excerpt:

According to a recent report released by Maria Shriver entitled, “The Shriver Report: A Women’s Nation Changes Everything,” there has been a dramatic shift in our nation’s workforce and women make up a greater part of our current workforce and economy than ever before. Today, women account for approximately 50% of our nation’s workforce compared to only 1/3 of the workforce in 1967 (a generation ago). Women are graduating from college today at a higher rate than men. At the same time, 60% of these women have children under the age of 3 and four-in-five families with children still at home do not fit the traditional male as breadwinner, female as homemaker description.

The Shriver Report presents a framework for discussion on ways our society can better support working families and how policymakers, political leaders and employers can begin to address the impact and implications of these workforce changes. By taking a look at their assumptions and out-dated work practices, institutional leaders can begin to evaluate and create new work policies and arrangements that better address the needs of 21st Century families. According to this report, in today’s families 23% of our children live with a single mother; in today’s families 39% of all births are to unmarried mothers; in today’s families 60% of women with children under the age of 3 are in the labor force; and, between 1977 and 2007, the number of employed men age 65 and older rose to over 75% while the employment of women age 65 and older climbed to almost double that figure — 147%. Obviously, dramatic changes have occurred.

Publications, research studies and toolkits on a host of other workforce readiness, flexibility, family economic stability, and work and family balance issues are also available on the Corporate Voices Web site.

Paid Sick Leave and Medical Emergencies

It’s estimated that more than 57 Americans do not get paid sick leave — sometimes even unpaid leave — to remain at home when sick or to care for sick family members. And with the potential for widespread illness relating to the H1N1 flu, members of Congress and others are taking a close look at this important issue.

Here’s from an article from Workforce Management online:

Two leading members of Congress on the issue of employee leave will team up to write a bill that would provide paid time off for workers who contract the H1N1 flu.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut and chair of the Senate health subcommittee on children and families, announced at a hearing Tuesday, November 10, that he and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, intend to formally introduce the legislation in coming weeks.

He and DeLauro portrayed paid sick leave as the best way for workers to follow government directives to stay home if they fall ill.

“This isn’t just a workers’ rights issue—it’s a public health emergency,” said Dodd, who was the author of the Family and Medical Leave Act. “Families shouldn’t have to choose between staying healthy and making ends meet.”

And here’s from a post by Jeffrey Levi on The Huffington Post, “Even a Mild Outbreak is a Major Problem for Workers Without Paid Sick Days“:

Three out of four “low-wage” workers in the United States have no sick leave. And 94 million workers cannot use sick leave to care for sick family members.

The fact that tens of millions of Americans do not have any paid sick days is a sad state of affairs in normal times. In a pandemic so ubiquitous it’s worthy of being named a national emergency by the President of the United States, it’s foolhardy.

And additional perspective is contained in the article in the Los Angeles Times:

In addition to championing the Healthy Families Act, which had been pushed unsuccessfully in Congress, Dodd announced that he soon would introduce emergency sick-leave legislation focused more specifically on the H1N1 outbreak. A similar bill was put forward last week in the House by Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez).

Dodd’s legislation would provide up to seven paid sick days for workers who contract H1N1 flu.

There currently is no requirement for businesses of any size to provide paid sick leave. The Healthy Families Act would create a broad definition of sick leave and force businesses to pay for an hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked.

More information — and resources — about the issue of paid sick leave is available on this Web site created by the National Partnership for Women & Families.

Recession and Work and Family Policies

Even though National Work & Family month ended last week, the conversation about workplace issues that affect families continues.  In a recent Huffington Post article titled “Some States Respond to Recession with Work-Family Policies,” Julie Schwartz Weber discusses the consequences of the economic downturn on family income and wellbeing. Julie is a Policy Specialist for the Alfred P. Sloan Work and Family Research Network (Sloan Network) at Boston College.

Throughout her post, she draws attention to the legislation proposed in individual states that would help many families recover from the losses of the past year.

Here’s an excerpt:

In light of the current economic downturn, the challenges of work and family balance are ever more exacerbated. With 70% of American households with children relying on two incomes or one single parent income to make ends meet, the loss of earnings has devastating effects on the economic and physical well-being of families. In fact, most families today are experiencing one or more of the following challenges:

1) Unemployment;

2) Increased financial strain;

3) Increased physical and mental stress;

4) More involuntary part-time work; and

5) Decreased time for caregiving.

Publications, research studies and toolkits on a host of other workforce readiness, flexibility, family economic stability, and work and family balance issues are also available on the Corporate Voices Web site.

By Allison Porton

People with Disabilities: Improving Work Life Balance

Discussion about policies affecting working families continues beyond October’s National Work & Family Month. Continuing our series focusing on important issues, Robin Shaffert, Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility of the American Association of People with Disabilities, wrote an article for The Huffington Post.

The post, titled “Workplace Flexibility and People with Disabilities,” details the benefits of work flexibility programs for people with disabilities or who care for people with disabilities.  Shaffert presents information suggesting these flexible arrangements are beneficial for both the workers and the employers.

Here’s an excerpt:

There are many ways in which flexibility can be important. A part-time schedule may be essential for an employee who does not have the endurance to work forty hours a week and for a parent who needs to participate in a child’s therapies, take a child to medical appointments, or just to spend more time with a child. Working non-standard hours may be important to help employees who cannot drive align their work schedules with public transportation schedules or to allow employees to take additional breaks to meet medical needs. The ability to vary the place where they work is important to employees with disabilities that make it difficult for them to leave their homes, and it can increase family members’ ability to be involved in care and treatment. Some employees seek flexible work arrangements all of the time; others ask for flexibility only intermittently to meet specific needs like attending meetings at a child’s school or taking a parent to doctor’s appointments.

And another:

There is an ever-expanding body of evidence that flexible work arrangements benefit employees and employers. Studies have been cited in blog posts suggesting that flexible work policies reduce stress and improve health, and that they increase job satisfaction, productivity, and retention. All of these benefits can contribute to improving employment outcomes for people with disabilities. Almost twenty years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we are still looking for solutions to end the pervasive unemployment and underemployment of people with disabilities. It is unlikely that we will find a single solution, but increasing workplace flexibility is a step in the right direction.

Publications, research studies and toolkits on a host of other workforce readiness, flexibility, family economic stability, and work and family balance issues are also available on the Corporate Voices Web site.

By Allison Porton

 

 

 

 

Flexibility: A Happier, Healthier Workplace

As we continue the series focusing on various work-life issues that we began during National Work & Family Month in October, here’s an article by Annie Toro posted on The Huffington Post, “A Flexible Workplace is a Happier, Healthier Workplace.” Annie is associate executive director for Public Interest Government Relations at the American Psychological Association.

Here’s an excerpt from her post:

One of the most striking changes in U.S. families in the past 30 years is the increasing number of working women and the rate of mothers who work, especially mothers of infants and young children. Recently, California first lady Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress released a provocative report entitled “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything” on the status of women in the United States and the drastic changes that have taken place in our country as a result of women’s entrance into the work force. The study is aimed at inciting what it calls “a national conversation about what women’s economic power means for our way of life.”

Research tells us there is a positive connection between workplace flexibility and an individual’s work-life balance. For instance, employees who work in environments that provide flexible work hours also tend to experience fewer conflicts within their work, family and personal lives. However, when a workplace does not provide adequate flexibility, women are more likely than men to experience work-family conflicts and health-related distress, some studies show.

Another key factor is employee perception of workplace culture. Many employees do not use such policies, even when they are available, because they are concerned that taking advantage of parental leave or flexible work schedules, for example, may be perceived as a lack of job commitment and could negatively affect their career advancement. Thus, it is imperative that employers not only support the employees by promoting their company’s flexible schedule options, but also create and maintain a culture that encourages use of these policies.

Research shows that employers benefit from offering greater workplace flexibility. When employees receive the flexibility they need, there is less absenteeism and greater job satisfaction. Employees are more motivated to adopt healthier behaviors, sleep better and be involved in employer-promoted health education programs. Additionally, employers have lower health care utilization costs.

Publications, research studies and toolkits on a host of other workforce readiness, flexibility, family economic stability, and work and family balance issues are also available on the Corporate Voices Web site.