The news in work/life for week of November 8, 2009

Greetings from the Social Recruiting Summit.  There is some great conversation happening here and some interesting work/life news that will be coming out in the future.  It seems more and more companies are doing flexible work trials, surveying employees before and after, looking at the costs of implementing the programs and the savings the programs allow.  I look forward to bringing you more when I have all the details.

In the News

Teaching teenage girls about work life balance (Ottawa Citizen)

Headmistress Jill Berry, president of the Girls’ School Association (GSA), a body representing heads of private fee-paying schools, said most women are unable to “keep all the plates spinning.”  Speaking ahead of the GSA’s annual conference next week, she said girls should “stop beating themselves up” if they cannot juggle a career with being a wife and mother.  “They will need to realize that there may be times when they might not want to work, or they might want to take a lesser job because their priorities have changed,” she told the weekly Times Educational Supplement.  “It is important that they leave school at 18 with their eyes open.”

White House Endorses Paid Sick Leave Bill (New York Times)

The H1N1 pandemic is raising concerns about people reporting to work sick and spreading the disease. The pandemic has given momentum to Congressional efforts to enact legislation that would guarantee paid sick days to tens of millions of workers — although it is far from clear that such legislation will be enacted. Those legislative efforts received added momentum on Tuesday when the Obama administration backed the Healthy Families Act, which would guarantee seven sick days a year to workers in companies with 15 or more employees…Mr. Harris said, “The vision for the Department of Labor is good jobs for everyone. And one of the key components of a good job is having workplace flexibility for family and personal caregiving. We believe that work-life balance includes policies such as paid leave, flexible work schedules and teleworking, employee assistance programs, child care, and elder care support.”

In Downturn’s Wake, Women Hold Half of U.S. Jobs (Wall Street Journal)

The composition of the nation’s work force is approaching an unprecedented benchmark. Due in part to deep layoffs of men, women are poised to become the majority of workers for the first time. As of September, women held 49.9% of the nation’s jobs, excluding farm workers and the self-employed, a rise of 1.2 percentage points from their 48.7% share when the recession began in December 2007. In 1970, women held 35% of jobs…”I think we are at a pivotal moment,” said Arlie Hochschild, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who has written several books on work-life balance. For many households, it used to be that “she worked because she wanted to,” said Ms. Hochschild. “Now, she’s working because she has to.”

Women beating men to council top jobs (Derby Telegraph)

Engineer Ms Durrant, responsible for highways and transportation, joined the authority in 1997 as principal traffic and transportation engineer, and was gradually given more responsibility, rising to head of transportation and then to assistant director level. With two young children, she knows the importance of the work-life balance, but said once she had set her mind to working full-time, she had no problems achieving it.  “It is a balance of being prepared to put yourself out when you need to, but also people appreciate that the most important thing in life is not work and that is a good culture to have.”

Job sharing helps parents find work-life balance (Calgary Herald)

Most job shares are employee-driven–two co-workers decide they want to work halftime and then pass the idea by their supervisor–says local HR professional David Knudson, who sits on the board for the Human Resources Institute of alberta.  But just because you want to job share doesn’t mean your manager will give you the green light.  “It’s putting that business case together,” he says.  Here are some of Knudson’s tips for making your job-share dream a reality.

Agencies promote telework as a powerful tool, not a panacea (Government Executive)

Alternative work schedules long have been touted as one solution to the federal government’s recruitment and retention challenges. Telework, in particular, has taken narrow but determined root in many federal agencies, and the Obama administration has made it a priority to translate those limited successes into governmentwide standards for telework policies. But the administration also recognizes that agencies and managers have to be more flexible and comfortable making case-by-case decisions. Officials also are trying to balance expectations by underscoring that while flexibility in the workplace is a powerful tool, it’s not a magic wand.

Ryan Recognized as One of the Top 100 Places to Work in Dallas-Fort Worth (SOA World Magazine)

In August 2008, Ryan launched myRyan, an innovative work environment that changed the measurement of work performance from hours worked to results achieved. The Firm rolled out myRyan to 800 employees across North America and Europe as a major culture shift designed to reach even higher levels of client service and employee satisfaction. Since its inception, myRyan has delivered tremendous dividends for the Firm, its clients, and its employees. Ryan has dramatically improved employee retention and satisfaction, while demonstrating solid year-over-year revenue growth. Most importantly, Ryan employees have achieved the highest client satisfaction ratings in the history of the Firm, while enjoying the freedom to meet the competing demands of work and life.

“We are honored to be recognized with yet another award for our innovative work environment, and especially proud that our employees were the driving force behind our selection as one of the Top 100 Places to Work in Dallas-Fort Worth,” said G. Brint Ryan, CEO and Managing Principal of Ryan. “Our employees are given incredible flexibility and freedom, and they have responded by producing superior results for our clients, as well as our Firm.”

Seeking a flexible workplace? Award says it’s the Madison YMCA (Madison Eagle)

Laurie said there are many advantages of working for the “family-friendly” organization, and employees are offered many choices to help balance work and family, such as free babysitting, free membership, and reduced-cost child care at the YMCA’s F.M. Kirby Children’s Center on East Street.  All Madison Area YMCA staff may participate in many of the programs and classes offered at the YMCA at a discount.

Laurie said both full-time and part-time positions at the YMCA entail flexibility that is helpful when life-changing events may arise and may temporarily make working full-time difficult. Job-sharing arrangements are also welcomed

Women can balance work, play, family, self (Durango Herald)

Work-life balance is a term being used in the work site wellness field these days.  We know instinctively that life goes more smoothly when we have adequate time to rest and recreate during our time away from the workplace. Finding the time to do so is a challenge.

Yes, it’s hard for working mums. But dads want to be with their children too (Guardian)

After Gaby Hinsliff explained that she was resigning as Observer political editor because her family life was suffering too much, Demos director Richard Reeves argues here that working fathers are finding it just as hard to maintain a healthy work-life balance

In the Blogs

Minister seeks more flexibility for working fathers (Expatica.com)

However the minister said: “The question is whether this meets the wishes of many fathers who want to see their children grow up and of many mothers who want to develop professionally.”  According to the minister, the freedom to work less is often limited by men’s perception they would have reduced chances of promotion if they work part- time. “A modern labour market means that families should be able to decide for themselves how they want to combine their professional and private lives,” said the minister.

Forget Work-Life Balance And Build A Lifestyle (Employee Evolution)

In a recent talk, Tony Hsieh, the CEO and founder of Zappos was asked about how the company manages work-life balance.  Hsieh replied, “For most companies (work-life balance) implies that work must suck so much you need a life on the outside. At Zappos we’re more focused on creating a lifestyle. We don’t think of it as one or the other. Most Zappos employees leave work and hang out with other Zappos employees.” He’s right. While it’s usually done with good intentions, focusing on work-life balance is killing your corporate culture. Like Hsieh says, the mere term implies that work must be so terrible that you need to stop thinking about it the second you walk out the door.

Brits Waste 4.6 Million Hours A Day Commuting (Turk.Internet.com)

The survey of 2,000 adults* finds 62% of commuters want to reduce the time they spend travelling to and from work, with the biggest frustrations being stuck in traffic (42%), issues with public transport (38%), travelling in the dark (36%) and cost (30%).   The report, available to download from http://www.workshifting.com/downloads/, reveals how British workers believe they could significantly reduce the astonishing 26 million hours a day they spend travelling to and from work, by adopting a smarter approach to commuting. The most popular solutions include home working (34%), varying start and finish times (22%) and using technology to enable flexible and remote working (32%).

Recession intensifies GenX discontent at work (AZ Family)

They’re antsy and edgy, tired of waiting for promotion opportunities at work as their elders put off retirement. A good number of them are just waiting for the economy to pick up so they can hop to the next job, find something more fulfilling and get what they think they deserve. Oh, and they want work-life balance, too…Sounds like Gen Y, the so-called “entitlement generation,” right?  Not necessarily, say people who track the generations. In these hard times, they’re also hearing strong rumblings of discontent from Generation X.

Obama Administration Endorses Paid Sick Leave (Yglesias)

It’s not quite the high-profile issue that health care or climate change is, but there’s been some interesting developments recently on the quest to get paid sick leave for all of America’s workers. The fact that many American workers get no sick leave whatsoever is rarely discussed in elite circles, most likely because, as Steven Greenhouse has highlighted with this chart, the phenomenon is quite class bound…

Get Creative:  It Is Possible! (Work. Life. Balance)

But my friend has come up with a rather ingenious and ground breaking work-life balance solution.  And because he’s single and not a parent (and a “he”), it might be considered even more unusual…He works his guts out for nine months of the year.  And then every summer he works in a completely different environment where he’s able to give a little back to the world and certainly restore himself.  It’s a beautiful solution. His company gets his absolute best from September to May.  He then renews and restores his passions from June to August.

Working the Work Life Balance (From the desk (and Blackberry) of Keith Parnell)

Nicole, Sydni and I went for a walk this afternoon around our neighborhood, Colonial Place, in Norfolk. It felt good to get outside on such a beautiful, sunny Fall day and enjoy being out of the office and out of the working mindset.  What do you do to get away? What do you do to reboot your brain?

She had everything — but a life (beliefnet)

Alex e-mailed to me the remarkable story of Gaby Hinsliff, the political editor of The Observer newspaper in England — or rather, the former political editor, inasmuch as she resigned because she concluded she couldn’t have both a high-powered career and a satisfying family life…I don’t mean to give the impression that Hinsliff believes she’s stepped out of a stressful life into a garden of domestic bliss. She’s struggling with a lot of anxiety over whether or not she’s done the right thing, and getting used to life at home all day instead of being at the office.

Press Releases

SHRM Testifies before Senate on H1N1 and Need for Flexible Paid Leave Policies

In arguing against the need for new employer mandates to require paid sick leave, O’Brien testified:  “The current flu pandemic illustrates the need for a 21st century workplace flexibility policy that adapts to emergency situations, reflects the nature of today’s workforce, and meets the needs of both employees and employers. It should enable employees to balance their work and personal needs while providing predictability and stability to employers. Most importantly, such an approach must encourage employers to offer greater flexibility, creativity and innovation to meet the needs of their employees and their families.”

Deputy secretary of labor testifies before Senate subcommittee on paid sick leave for workers and families

“It’s common sense and good business sense – workers should be able to stay home if they are ill,” said Harris. “The Healthy Families Act offers a great opportunity to level the playing field for workers and gives them the ability to stay home if they are sick without fear of losing their jobs or being forced to work sick.”  Nearly 40 percent of private sector workers do not receive paid sick leave, according to a recent survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In his testimony, Harris noted that our current system forces many sick workers to go to work and many working parents to send sick children to school. He said such a system poses a threat to public health, the nation’s economic future and a social system that depends heavily on people caring for themselves and their family members.

Career Life Connection News and Events

Social Recruiting Summit – November 16 – NYC

Social media is rapidly becoming more than just another tool in a recruiter’s toolbox — it’s an important part of the future of the talent acquisition profession. The goal of #socialrecruiting summit is to have an industry conversation about these tools, talk about tactics and strategies that are already in the field and working, not pie-in-the-sky ideas.  Leanne Chase of Career Life Connection will be part of that conversation.  If you are attending the Social Media Summit or just in NYC and would like to talk about social media, workplace flexibility or work/life happiness with her contact her at chase at careerlifeconnection dot com.

Career Life Connection will be attending the OnRec/Kennedy Information Recruiting Conference in Chicago November 3 & 4th.  If you’d like to meet Leanne Chase and talk work/life with her contact her at chase at careerlifeconnection dot com.  You can also catch her and many HR professionals talking about how to fail spectacularly in business at this fun industry event.

Leanne Chase of Career Life Connection spoke about #work/life with Human Resources Professionals during the October 8th Episode of HR Happy Hour:  The WorkLife Show.

Career Life Connection will be exhibiting at the Massachusetts Conference for Women on December 10, 2009 at the Boston Convention and Exhibit Center:  Come on by and talk work/life balance/flexibility/fit at the annual conference where women can connect, be motivated, network, get inspired and build their skill base.  Last year the event brought together more than 5,000 women for the day.

ERE Interviews:  Career Life Connection (JobRadio.fm)

Last week we stalked some of the job search vendors at the ERE Fall Expo in Hollywood Florida. This is the first of several interesting interviews from the expo floor. Meet Leanne Chase from Career Life Connection, an online community all about finding flexible work.