The New York Times has an important — and timely — editorial today, “Americans Without Work.” Here’s one part of the editorial:
The real challenge — for President Obama and for Congressional Democrats — is to not get bogged down in that debate but rather to make job creation the undisputed priority for 2010.
Right now, finding people work is a more urgent task than reducing the deficit. Indeed, deficits cannot be tamed without more jobs to generate more tax revenue. A government boost to job growth is also necessary to help replace the millions of jobs that have been lost in the recession.
And importantly, the editorial focuses on the unemployment crisis facing America’s young people:
The problem is especially alarming in low-income, minority communities where the jobless rate for high school students is hovering near 90 percent.
The part-time jobs that were once a rite of passage began to disappear rapidly at the start of this decade. According to an analysis released this week by Andrew Sum, director of Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies, employment rates among teenagers have dropped nearly four times faster than the rate among adults since 2000.
As a consequence, he says, men 65 and older — people old enough to be their grandfathers — are now more likely to find work than 16- to 19-year-olds.
According to the analysis, the joblessness rate for teenagers generally is the highest ever since the country began keeping statistics just after World War II. Things are especially bleak for low-income black students: only 4 in 100 found work this fall.
This is worrisome on several counts. First, young people who do not find work tend to become discouraged early on and stop trying. They fail to develop the work force skills that make them attractive to employers, which means that they are likely to remain unemployed or underemployed well into their adult years.
People who do not find work in their early years also have higher dropout rates and are more likely to commit crimes — meaning they are at higher risk of becoming permanent burdens to society.
Corporate Voices is very much engaged in looking at public and corporate policy issues involving workforce readiness and low-income and at-risk young people.
Publications, research studies and toolkits on a host of workforce readiness, flexibility, family economic stability, and work and family balance issues are available on the Corporate Voices Web site at www.cvworkingfamilies.org
Add employee wellness to the list of benefits that employers can gain from supporting flexible work options: enhanced recruitment, retention, engagement, cost control, productivity and financial performance.
That’s the view of Ellen Galinsky, President of the Families and Work Institute and a member of the Corporate Voices Board of Trustees. Here’s from a post — “Healthier Employees and Cost Savings: Expanding our Definition of Wellness at Work” — on the Sloan Work and Family Research Network blog.
In her own recent blog, Donna Klein of Corporate Voices notes that “progressive personnel policies and a work culture supportive of occasional flexibility” offers companies “enhanced recruitment, retention, engagement, cost control, productivity and financial performance.”
Here’s another reason to support an effective and flexible work culture for all employees: It could actually help your employees stay healthy.
And Ellen’s post continues:
If we really want to make a difference in working families’ lives, our definition of wellness needs to expand. Employers are less aware that creating what we at Families and Work Institute call an “effective” workplace,” (based on six measurable criteria that include a climate of respect and trust, economic security, autonomy, job challenge, a supervisor who supports your work, and work-life fit) should be considered an integral part of promoting wellness.
Families and Work Institute (FWI) just released The State of Health in the American Workforce study revealing that American employees are getting less healthy each year. Beyond their potentially terrible impact of employees, we know that health problems are very costly for employers and society at large. Our study finds that 38% of employees in workplaces ranked in the “high overall effectiveness” category report “excellent overall health.” By contrast, only 19% of employees in workplaces in the “low overall effectiveness” category report “excellent overall health.”
Change can be tough and sometimes, providing a gym membership can seem easier than improving the way people treat each other at work. But employer actions to improve the effectiveness and flexibility of their workplaces not only can improve employees physical and mental health, stress levels, sleep quality but employees’ engagement, turnover intent and job satisfaction as well. Examples include giving employees some say about how to do their jobs and providing flexible scheduling options, and helping supervisors support employees to succeed in their jobs. Providing economic security is more challenging, especially during period of business downturn. But ensuring that there is open and regular communication about the financial state of the organization can help employees weather economic storms. In bad economic times, organizations should think creatively about ways to ensure access to benefits and career development opportunities.
Research studies, toolkits and other information about workplace flexibility are available on the Corporate Voices Web site.
Here’s an interesting video interview between Jay Mathews of The Washington Post and Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City public schools. Klein talks about education reform and the important role of leadership.
And a hat tip to America’s Promise Alliance for sharing this interview in its weekly news update.
Publications, research studies and toolkits on a host of workforce readiness, flexibility, family economic stability, and work and family balance issues are available on the Corporate Voices Web site at www.cvworkingfamilies.org
