Kathie Lingle’s Work-Life Blog and Best of Congress

Check out Kathie Lingle’s Work-Life Blog. She has an excellent post on the Corporate Voices’ Best of Congress award. But as Kathie points out, it is not only about the award and the recognition of members of Congress from both political parties. It’s about calling attention to work-life issues.

Here is her take on the “long-awaited Best of Congress.”

But here’s the shocker, which is really the best part of this award — to become a finalist, these legislators have to jump through not one, but two hoops. It goes without saying that they must have supported families by drafting, sponsoring and voting for appropriate legislation. But they also have to demonstrate that they actually practice what they preach in the family-friendly practices and policies they implement with their own staff. Even though this is the federal government, it is news to me that every individual member of Congress apparently establishes their own people policies, including pay, leaves, time off and flexibility practices. Now, you and I have watched enough action-packed episodes of West Wing to appreciate that workplace flexibility and generous leave policies are hardly the top priority on busy legislators’ agendas.

by Rob Jewell

Meet the “Best of Congress”

Corporate Voices for Working Families and Working Mother Media
Honor Congressional Members Making a Difference for Working Families

Honoring leaders on Capitol Hill for improving the American quality of life through family-friendly work policies, Corporate Voices for Working Families and Working Mother Media announced today the 24 recipients of the inaugural Best of Congress award. The award spotlights congressional excellence in supporting working families through legislation and by practicing what they preach – employing family-friendly policies in their own offices. Equally important, the award honors individual members of Congress from both sides of the aisle and throughout the country for their leadership in improving the quality of life for working families.

Recipients of the Best of Congress award are featured in the August/September 2008 issue of Working Mother magazine.

“Not only did we judge the esteemed members on their voting records for supporting working families, we also examined the benefits that their own employees receive like paid leave and flextime,” Carol Evans, CEO, Working Mother Media, said. “There are no rules about flextime or paid leave for Congressional staff. They are stepping up voluntarily because they believe in progressive policies and act on their beliefs in the real world managing their staff.”

“The recipients of the Best of Congress award serve as models for what can be accomplished through legislation and a personal commitment to policies that benefit working families,” Donna Klein, president and founder of Corporate Voices for Working Families, said. “As our nation wrestles with a host of economic and other issues involving working families, these members of Congress deserve to be congratulated and recognized nationally for their leadership and support.”

Recipients of the Best of Congress award are:

U.S. Senate
•    Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-Delaware)
•    Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
•    Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-Pennsylvania)
•    Christopher J. Dodd (D-Connecticut)
•    Elizabeth Dole (R-North Carolina)
•    Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas)
•    Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia)
•    Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota)
•    Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin)
•    Gordon H. Smith (R-Oregon)

U.S. House of Representatives
•    Tom Allen (D-Maine)
•    Russ Carnahan (D-Missouri)
•    Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Connecticut)
•    Chaka Fattah (D-Pennsylvania)
•    Carolyn B. Maloney (D-New York)
•    Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio)
•    Dave Reichert (R-Washington)
•    C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D-Maryland)
•    Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida)
•    Allyson Y. Schwartz (D-Pennsylvania)
•    Christopher Shays (R-Connecticut)
•    Ellen O. Tauscher (D-California)
•    Lynn Woolsey (D-California)
•    John Yarmuth (D-Kentucky)

Fifty members of Congress submitted applications for this inaugural award. Applicants were judged on their voting record, sponsored/co-sponsored legislation, and efforts to promote legislation that supports working families.  In addition, applicants were asked to submit policies and practices within their own offices that support working families and flexible workplace options.

Applications were 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.  Also on the steering committee reviewing applications were Patricia Kempthorne, Founder and Executive Director of the Twiga Foundation and Pat Schroeder, President and CEO of the Association of American Publishers and former congresswoman from Colorado.

The Best of Congress award will be presented to members of Congress at a recognition breakfast in Washington on Sept. 10, at Sewell House.  Recipients of the Best of Congress award will attend, and Antonio M. Perez, CEO of Kodak, will talk about the award and issues involving working families.

by Rob Jewell

Sloan Network News Interviews Maggie Jackson

Just read the June Network News, an electronic newsletter edited by Karen Corday and the Sloan Work and Family Research Network at Boston College. The newsletter provides an informative and thought-provoking interview with Maggie Jackson about her new book, Distracted: The Erosion of Attention.

Here’s information about Maggie Jackson from the interview:

Maggie Jackson is an award-winning author and journalist known for her penetrating coverage of U.S. social issues. She writes the popular “Balancing Acts” column in the Sunday Boston Globe, and her work has also appeared in The New York Times, Gastronomica and on National Public Radio. Her latest book, Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age, details the steep costs of our current epidemic deficits of attention, while revealing the astonishing scientific discoveries that can help us rekindle our powers of focus in a world of speed and overload. Her acclaimed first book, What’s Happening to Home? Balancing Work, Life and Refuge in the Information Age, examined the loss of home as a refuge.

Also featured in the newsletter is an article by Jessica Glenn of Workplace Flexibility 2010. She writes about that organization’s new community policy forums.

by Rob Jewell

Families and Work Institute: National Study of Employers

The Families and Work Institute released yesterday the results of the 2008 National Study of Employers. A key finding: employers with more women and more minorities in top positions, and nonprofit organizations, are more likely to offer flexible workplaces.

“There has been surprising stability in many of the practices, policies and programs of U.S. employers over the past 10 years,” said Ellen Galinsky, president and founder of Families and Work Institute and lead author of the study. “The NSE confirms that in the face of economic volatility companies have generally held steady or reduced benefits that carry hard costs. Yet in certain areas — including domestic partner benefits and access to information on support services — we are seeing an expansion of benefits. We find it particularly interesting that having an employee base composed of a greater percentage of women, or the presence of women and minorities in senior positions, is correlated with a more flexible workplace.”

First conducted in 1998, the 2008 National Study of Employers is described as “the most comprehensive and far-reaching study of initiatives provided by U.S. employers to address the changing needs of today’s workforce.”

An article in this morning’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Study: Fewer monetary benefits, more flexibility at work,” says:

While employers are slashing benefits to save money, they are using other tactics to try to retain workers, according to a study that will be released today in Philadelphia.

In its “2008 National Study of Employers” the Families and Work Institute found that employees are more likely to stay with on the job if employers provide flexibility in the workplace.

The study also found that while employers are dealing with the faltering economy by cutting benefits, such as health care and pensions, that directly take away from the bottom line, programs that cost money but improve the quality of life at the workplace, such as on-site child care, are not being reduced.

The study will be presented today at the World at Work Conference in Philadelphia.

by Rob Jewell

Re-entering the workforce: still difficult for mothers

I’ll admit that I first saw a reference to this in the online version of The Wall Street Journal. But figured I would go to the source — a press release distributed by Korn/Ferry International. As we approach Mother’s Day this Sunday here’s the message. It’s still difficult for mothers to re-enter the workforce.

Here are some highlights from a recent survey conducted by Korn/Ferry:

• Despite great strides made in the global workplace, more than three-quarters of executives (76 percent) indicate it is difficult for mothers re-entering the workforce today.
• Almost half (49 percent) believe it is as difficult, if not more, for female executives intending to return to work than five years ago.

Why?

“A likely explanation for the perceived difficulty may be that nearly half of executives surveyed (49 percent) work for companies where flextime is not offered for new mothers. Almost three out of four executives (69 percent) rank ‘flexible work schedules’ as the most valuable benefit their employers could offer working parents.”

Corporate Voices for Working Families commissioned Harris Interactive last fall to conduct a survey to assess executive perceptions of flexibility. Survey questions were added to the Fall 2007 Executive Omnibus survey, a national telephone survey administered to a random sample of 150 senior-level executives at large corporations. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation sponsored the survey.

An executive summary of that survey is available on the Corporate Voices for Working Families Web site.

by Rob Jewell

Millennials and the changing workplace

If being an effective manager isn’t tough enough now, here comes another challenge: the millennials.

A story written by Robert Rodriguez in the Fresno Bee (and distributed by Post-Gazette Now) provides some interesting insights. Here’s the overview from “Millennials have potential to reshape the workplace”:

Ranging in age from 21 to 29, they [millennials] have the potential to create lasting change in the workplace because of the way they live, communicate and view their jobs.

The article points out that a recent study by JWT, a New York-based advertising agency, found that “millennials, compared with other generations, place a higher value on work-life balance, expect their employers to adapt to them and are more likely to rank fun and stimulation as one of their top five ideal job requirement.”

And that raises another challenge — although it is not addressed specifically in this article. How do you integrate into the workplace two generations that for the most part have very different values and approaches to work: millennials and baby boomers?

And equally important — how to you retain the experience and expertise of the baby boomers in the midst of a major demographic shift?

In October of 2006 WorldatWork, Corporate Voices for Working Families, and Buck Consultants conducted an
Internet-based survey to evaluate the impact of an aging workforce on the American marketplace. A copy of that survey — The Real Talent Debate: Will Aging Boomers Deplete the Workforce? – is available on our Corporate Voices Web site.

by Rob Jewell

Deloitte ethics and workplace survey

Deloitte, one of our partner companies, has released its 2008 Ethics & Workplace survey. And one key finding: transparency and openness by leadership lead to a more productive and engaging workplace.

Here’s part of the announcement about the survey results:

Transparency in the workplace, as described by an open and honest communication channel between employees and leadership regarding work-life issues, has a significant positive impact on workplace culture overall.

While continuing to make the transition to Corporate Voices, one of the courses I teach at Kent State University is Ethics and Issues in Mass Communication. We talk a lot about transparency and about communicating openly and honestly. That applies to the news media. It also applies to organizations. It’s interesting to me to see that Deloitte is looking at these issues from the standpoint of management — and how to create and maintain a work environment that meets the needs of both employees and the organization.

Here’s another part of the announcement:

“Today’s workforce demands a more ‘customized’ career path and a tremendous amount of flexibility,” said Sharon L. Allen, Chairman of the Board, Deloitte LLP. “One size fits all no longer attracts or retains the best talent. By promoting open and honest communications across organizations and setting the tone at the top, our survey tells us that the workforce of today can be motivated in different ways. This is increasingly critical to retaining talent and preserving the health of today’s organization.”

Honest and open communications. Those really are keys to engaging employees — and to the success of an organization.

by Rob Jewell

America’s Promise Alliance: Focusing on a national crisis

America’s Promise Alliance released a study yesterday that finds that only about half of all students served by the main school systems in the nation’s 50 largest states graduate from high school.

I had the opportunity to attend the event. And it was exciting – with the room jammed with television and print reporters and with leaders from the public and private sectors. 

Alma J. Powell and General Colin Powell made the announcement and discussed details of the study. Here’s one part:

“When more than one million students a year drop out of high school, it’s more than a problem, it’s a catastrophe. Our economic and national security are at risk when we fail to educate the leaders and the workforce of the future,” said General Powell “It’s time for a national ‘call to arms,’ because we cannot afford to let nearly one-third of our kids fail.”

Corporate Voices for Working Families is an alliance partner – and this overall issue of workforce readiness is one of our continuing top priorities.  We share the concerns of General Powell and many others who recognize that this is a compelling national problem, one that affects the ability of our business community to compete and one that has the potential to substantially reduce the quality of life for our children and theirs. 

But it is also a problem with solutions, if we can harness the skills, resources and vision of all the stakeholders – parents, business leaders, educators, community leaders, policy makers, and young people themselves.

And it is right and necessary to keep the national spotlight on this issue – and that should be applauded. Yet at the same time we need to work with the business community to create real opportunities and pathways to employment.

For instance, at the announcement yesterday, Ed Rust from State Farm challenged the business community to get involved and recognize that “awareness is not enough.” Corporate Voices looks forward to working with State Farm and others throughout the business community to move this discussion beyond awareness and into sustainable opportunity for this population of youth to succeed.

by Tiffany Westover-Kernan

 

Just released: guide for making work ‘work’

Ellen Galinsky just sent us a note and a copy of the 2008 Guide to Bold New Ideas for Making Work Work!

Here’s a brief description:

“Featuring the latest winners of the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility, the Guide details the latest and most innovative trends in workplace practices, based in large part on employees’ ratings.”

More detailed information is contained in a news release that was distributed this morning. And be sure to grab a copy of USA Today Wednesday morning. The newspaper will feature an advertisement congratulating all of the winners of the Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility.

by Rob Jewell

For working mothers: after a baby, full time or part?

Corporate Voices for Working Families and Donna Klein were featured in an article in The Washington Post Sunday morning that looked at several topics involving working mothers, including how to negotiate for benefits and pay.

That article accompanied a very comprehensive feature story by Amy Joyce, “After a Baby, Full Time or Part?”

Before the birth of her now 9-month-old son, Sam, Joyce wrote the Life at Work column in the business section of the Washington Post. Now after returning from maternity leave, she is an editor for the Weekend section.  She writes:

“The job allows me to work more predictable hours than I did as a daily reporter with a weekly column. That helped me easily make the decision (for now, at least) to work full time.”

Then Joyce adds:

“But the decision isn’t so easy for many women. For those who have a choice, family, finances and career success are all major considerations when settling on a work schedule.”

This is the second consecutive week that The Washington Post has printed a comprehensive article on work-life issues.

by Rob Jewell