Final Thoughts (for now) on Flexibility
Posted on 01. Apr, 2010 by Brian Reid in daddy wars, legislation, work-like balance, workplace
I was a bit harsh in my assessment of the White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility, but good night’s sleep hasn’t caused me to renounce my skepticism. Still, in the interest of fair balance, I should say that some people who stare at the issues of work-life balance harder than me have come to some different conclusions and yesterday’s event.
Ellen Galinsky of the Families and Work Institute was glowing about how the event suggested that three decade of work were paying off. And my friend and erstwhile college Katherine Lewis titled her post at about.com “My Workplace Flexibility Day to Remember.”
I think they offer important context. Please read what they had to say. But, at the end of the day, I’ll stick by Daddy Types take on the situation.
As for why I can still be cranky when work-life balance received the presidential treatment, I think my deep unease around the lack of governmental action comes back to something else I stumbled on today: Human Rights Watch — you know, the group that spends a lot of time advocating against systematic murder and torture - is apparently working on a report about parental leave in the United States. And while I don’t think anyone is comparing unpaid leave to torture, it is telling that on this particular issue, the United States looks pretty close to the bottom of the heap by international standards.