Workplace Flexibility News for Week Ending July 4, 2009
July 6th, 2009 | by admin
In the News
To Retain Valued Women Employees, Companies Pitch Flextime as Mach0 (Wall Street Journal)
Here’s a novel approach to keeping women in the work force: Focus on men. Some employers are trying to overcome a perceived stigma on flexible work schedules — often viewed as a concession to women — by redefining the issue as a quality-of-life concern for everyone. The approach is gaining traction, especially in the male-dominated financial-services sector, where employers have long struggled to retain and promote women.
There’s No Whining in HR (Human Resource Executive)
Prior to Welch’s presentation, new SHRM Board Chair Robb E. Van Cleave ushered in his organization’s new leadership and delivered a call to arms to HR professionals to stay ahead of the “seismic shift” of their profession in these recessionary times. “This is HR’s time,” he said, because the burning issues facing HR professionals –healthcare, benefits, retirement, workplace flexibility, labor, etc. -”are the same issues facing CEOs, CIOs, even the president of the United States.
Teleconferencing, Telecommuting Increase Job Satisfaction (TMCNet)
significant work-life flexibility, productivity and overall satisfaction increases. Eighty percent of the survey respondents said telecommuting allowed them to have an improved quality of life while 91 percent said the ability to telecommute is somewhat or very important to their overall satisfaction.
Personnel leader sets deadlines for hiring reform (GovernmentExecutive)
Berry also reinforced the importance of the reports on work-life balance initiatives requested in the June 11 memo from Orszag. “Studies show that, on average, happy and healthy employees are more productive and engaged in their work,” Berry wrote. “There is evidence that an engaged workforce leads to improved performance results.”
Hammond Legal a model of flexibility (The Australian Business w/the Wall Street Journal)
The co-founder of the boutique law firm, John Hammond, says that the days of lawyers working long hours at the expense of a family and social life will soon be redundant, and Mr Dobson is part of that new breed. Hammond Legal aims to be a model of flexibility that provides a good service to clients while at the same time allowing lawyers to fit work around their personal life.
Major changes in employment law are afoot in the US (People Management Magazine – UK)
The biggest employment issues right now for the federal government relate to healthcare, workplace flexibility, leave and industrial relations.
Ways to restore your teetering work-life balance (Business Daily – Nairobi, Kenya)
The terms work/life balance and balanced-life are commonly used to describe various aspects of life satisfaction. If you feel that your work life balance is teetering on the edge, it is time to make changes before the problems overwhelm you. Here
are strategies that, taken together, can help to change course without abandoning the destination and help you restore your work life balance.
Kids join parents at work in DBS (AsiaOne – Singapore)
Madam Halimah, who is also the director of the WDS, said Little Ones @ Work would help managers and co-workers identify with the children and allow them to see employees as parents. ‘We forget that people have multiple roles. They do not cease being parents when they go to work. So helping people manage their family commitments and giving them peace of mind is an important strategy in enhancing efficiency and productivity.’
In the Blogs
WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY VERSUS UNPAID LEAVE (Netizen News Brief)
Expanding the FMLA will have many unintended consequences that will hurt, not help, working families. Businesses and their employees bear the cost of the FMLA. According to the Employment Policy Foundation, direct FMLA compliance costs totaled $21 billion in 2004. Rather than relying on costly mandates like the FMLA, the government should consider policies that increase workplace flexibility:
Managing Virtual Employees (HR Concepts for Small Business)
By creating a virtual workforce, companies have been able to create efficiency, reduce travel and overhead costs, and essentially service the end-customer 24/7. Virtual employees, on the other hand, benefit from having a better work-life balance due to flexibility in working hours and not having to dodge rush hour traffic to be at work at a specific time…The virtual team requires a shift in managerial and employee behavior. Here are some best practices which can effectively help you manage virtual employees…
Dear U.S. Senate Workplace Flexibility Study Group; Love Gen Y (work.life blog)
The letter was regarding the work of the bipartisan U.S. Senate Workplace Flexibility Study Group, which has been meeting since August 2008 to “explore different aspects of workplace flexibility and study relevant data, policy models, and
case studies in the public and private sectors.” Having looked over the “data” and the “models,” the committee is now interested in hearing from the people who will actually be affected by potential policy changes: employers, employees, working families, children, older workers, military families, and the disabled, etc. Call me crazy, but perhaps this should have been the first step.
Work Life Balance (Rustin Banks – Unplugged)
In a follow up post titled “Epitaph for an Entrepreneur”, Steve talks about his second marriage and the rules they instituted to
help find a work life balance. Here are a few of my favorites…
Press Releases
SHRM Reveals the 50 Best Small and Medium Employers to Work for in America
The annual rankings of the “50 Best Small and Medium Companies to Work for in America” are conducted by GPTWI, and are the most comprehensive and authoritative ratings of employee satisfaction and workplace culture. This is the sixth year SHRM and GPTWI have collaborated on the list. “Top companies know how critically important it is to have a culture that empowers and motivates employees, particularly in this tough economy,” said SHRM President and CEO Laurence O’Neil. “Knowing how to align and engage your employees is an essential part of keeping productivity high and your organization open for business…”
New Technology Boosts Productivity and Flexibility for American Employees
More than 70 percent of Americans surveyed say mobile communications technology such as smartphones and laptops have boosted personal productivity and, for many, have transformed their work-life balance, according to the latest findings from an international workplace survey.
Career Life Connection News and Events
Small Business Expo and Career Fair, May 21, Quincy, MA
Leanne Chase of Career Life Connection to speak on Social Networking: Linked In, Facebook and Twitter
Career Life Connection Founder featured on Workplace Flexibility teleseminar
Flexibility Isn’t All About Mommies: Why Flex is a Cross-Generational and Gender-Neutral Issue; summary of teleseminar discussion on Workplace Flex.
Advice Isn’t Always Good For You (MSNBC)
Leanne Chase, president of Career Life Connection, was excited about attending a SCORE meeting in Boston, but didn’t end up with much help. Despite that, she plans on attending again next week.
New Nanny Math (Forbes)
Leanne Chase, 40, mother of a 3-year-old and owner of a business, Career Life Connection,
Twitters Work-Life Balance Tips (BusinessWeek.com)
It takes many villages – 1 at home to help with family life, 1 at work to fill in as needed, 1 full of friends to keep you sane #worklife
Career Life Connection on You Tube
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[...] Original post: Workplace flexibility news for the week of June29-July 4th … [...]
[...] at the state level. … Human Resource Blog – http://www.humanresourceblog.com/ Workplace flexibility news for the week of June29-July 4th … By admin Expanding the FMLA will have many unintended consequences that will hurt, not help, [...]