Workplace Flexibility Jumps to the Top of the Agenda (Kinda)
Posted on 30. Mar, 2010 by Brian Reid in legislation, paternity leave, work-like balance, workplace
Tomorrow, the White House will host a Forum on Workplace Flexibility in which the President and the First Lady will “will discuss the importance of creating workplace practices that allow America’s working men and women to meet the demands of their jobs without sacrificing the needs of their families.” It’s a great sentiment, and I’m sure it will be an event that is long remembered by many.
Ellen Galinsky, who runs the Family and Work Institute, sees the meeting as a culmination of a decades-long fight for flexibility. Dooce will be there. So will outsourcers and gurus from the results-only work environment world. (Actually, the Twitter-o-sphere is kind of split on whether having Heather Armstrong at the White House is really cool or really dumb. My invite was apparently misplaced.)
Regardless of who says what, I’m pretty sure that we’ll wake up Thursday morning to a world in which work-life choices are still tightly constrained. Most dads will hit the snooze button a couple of times, then truck off to their 8-hour-plus workweeks. A growing handful will prepare for a day at home with the kids. And there aren’t now — and won’t be on Thursday — many other options available. There is still no paid federal leave. Sick days aren’t guaranteed by law. And getting fired for putting family first is neither reason for surprise or, it seems, for sympathy.
In short, I don’t expect high-quality, state-run childcare to suddenly emerge. I don’t expect European-style paid parental leave policies to get floated. I don’t even expect Obama to make good on his campaign promises to expand FMLA. All I want is a serious effort to get paid sick leave instituted. That’s all. It would be one small — one tiny — step for flexibility. And it’s not going to happen. Not in this Washington, not in this economy.
You can host all of the flexibility summits you want, but words only get you so far.
(UPDATE: The whole thing will be streamed to the Internet from the White House site. I still haven’t seen a list of speakers. I’m not sure I’m up for watching it, but I’m happy to hear your thoughts.)
4 Responses to “Workplace Flexibility Jumps to the Top of the Agenda (Kinda)”
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31. Mar, 2010
[...] I’ve been looking at the flow of news out of today’s Forum on Workplace Flexibility at the White House, and I’m no closer to being satisfied than I was 48 hours ago. [...]
Chrysula Winegar
30. Mar, 2010
I understand your skepticism and to some degree share it in terms of immediate outcomes. But the fact that the President and First Lady are driving this conversation and mandating the exploration of new and creative ways is a huge step. The issue of work life has never had this level of attention, this kind of imprimatur for change. Nor have the links between the overall prosperity and well being of the nation been laid out this clearly to the general public. Something’s got to give. This is a great start.
Brian
30. Mar, 2010
Chrysula — That’s an excellent point, but I’m still cynical. What’s lacking is not an awareness of workplace flexibility as an issue. It’s not even an awareness of solutions. It’s the willingness of employers and the government to put those solutions into effect. Will this effort get us there? I don’t think it’s a slam dunk … hope to be proven wrong.
Shannon
03. Apr, 2010
Just so you know…Decent parental leaves are NOT just a European thing…Here in Canada women get 17 weeks maternity leave and then there is an additional 35 parental leave that can be taken by either parent in any order…So in reality if you want you can both be home for the first 17 weeks and then one or the other can go back to work and the other can stay home or the more common the mom is home for her 17 weeks and then the 35 parental weeks are used by which ever parent wants them so that 1 parent is home for the full first year…You are only paid 55% of your wages but its better than nothing…