Life Meets Work Blog

We know most of our major politicians juggle family and work responsibilities, but this year the nomination of Sarah Palin brought that issue to the forefront. 

To date, much discussion has focused on the candidates’ personal work/life situations—Palin bringing her baby to work, Obama keeping in touch with his girls via webcam, Biden raising two young sons as a single working dad.

But despite growing market focus on work/life concerns, the public debates and ad campaigns haven’t been focusing on the issues from a policy perspective.  That’s why the Families and Work Institute organized conference calls to get at the issue.  They spoke with top policy advisors from the Obama and McCain campaigns on September 16th and September 24th, respectively.

Conference transcripts are available.  Here’s an overview of the candidates’ plans regarding key work/life issues—as reflected during the calls:

Obama

• Flexible Work: Create a program to educate businesses on the advantages of flexible work.  Increase federal incentives for telecommuting.  Make the federal government a model employer by adopting flexible work schedules.  Obama is also a co-sponsor of the Working Families Flexibility Act, allowing employees to request flexible work schedules and receive fair consideration.
• Family and Medical Leave Act: Expand the act from businesses with 50 or more employees to 25 or more.  Also expand the act to include elder care needs, up to 24 hours for children’s academic activities, and domestic violence issues. Provide incentives for states to adopt paid leave system—such as California’s Paid Family Leave Insurance Program.
• Sick Leave: Require employers to provide workers seven days of paid sick leave per year that could be use for themselves or for the care of a close family member.

Obama’s representative also addressed issues such as health care coverage, early education, childcare tax credits, and fair pay. More from the Obama/Biden issues pages.

McCain

• Flexible Work: Create a Commission on Workplace Flexibility and Choice to make recommendations to him as President on how to modernize labor laws, retirement planning, and health care portability, and promoting telework.
• Family and Medical Leave: Does not support expanding the program or providing paid leave. Favors relying on market demand for such programs. 
• Sick Leave: Does not support mandating paid sick leave—again in favor of market demand.

McCain’s representatives also discussed issues such as trading overtime pay for compensation time, health care coverage and access, energy policy, early education, and elder care.  More from the McCain/Palin issues pages.

Posted by Jaime.

We just finished our first national study examining Americans’ attitudes on flexible work on the role of government in work/life issues. Here’s one key finding: Both employers (63%) and workers (78%) support the Working Families Flexibility Act.

The act (S. 2419 has been referred to the Senate Committee of Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) would give every worker the right to request job flexibility and would require employers to respond to the request.

This kind of legislation is already in place in Italy, Spain, Germany, and the U.K. Lessons learned: It didn’t create a new protected class of citizens and it didn’t open the floodgates with requests for flexible work. It simply encouraged more companies to develop win-win scenarios for themselves and their employees.

In this day and age, it often doesn’t matter when or where we work. It’s productivity and results that matter. Best Buy is reaping rewards with its results-only workplaces, and companies like Deloitte are saving millions in turnover costs.

Read the bill for yourself and tell us what you think.

We’ll review more findings and discuss the implications at our free webinar at 1:00 CST on Tuesday, October 28.

Posted by Jaime.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin could be the third city in the nation to require its businesses to provide paid sick leave. San Francisco led the way in February ‘07, followed by the Washington D.C. in March ‘08. Milwaukee residents will vote on the issue November 4.

According to the referendum’s leading advocate, more than 77,000 workers would get paid sick leave as a new benefit.

If passed, the new ordinance would purportedly allow employees to use their sick days for themselves or a close family member and would cover illness as well as preventive care.

Debate wages on both sides, of course. Opponents say it would put undue burden on small businesses, force large businesses to increase benefits in branches outside Milwaukee, and discourage new business growth.

Advocates say it would level the playing field for businesses that already offer the benefit and that paid sick leave boosts the bottom line by fostering healthier workers.

Opponents argue demand should be driven by the marketplace and that such legislation belongs in the hands of state and national leadership, not local municipalities.

Should Government Get Involved?

Find out what Americans think of government involvement in work/life benefits like these by attending the Life Meets Work free webinar on October 28. We’ll reveal the results of a nationwide survey examining employer and employee attitudes toward flexible work and the role of government in work/life benefits.

Posted by Jaime.

Life Meets Work and Ask Liz Ryan have launched a survey to gauge opinions about the work/life issues affecting the everyday lives of American families.

Launched during National Work and Family Month (October), the survey is designed to capture the opinions of both American workers and employers regarding work/life challenges, flexible work programs, and the role of government in work/life policies.

The results of the survey will be revealed in a free webinar on October 28, 2008.

Posted by Jaime

A follow up to yesterday’s post. Seems the Chicago Tribune was reporting manufacturing labor shortages a month ago.

From the article:

LaVezzi’s workforce totals 75, up from 50 five years ago, and it is recruiting for five machinists, Kremer said.

Ideally, the company looks for workers with a minimum of five years experience, but increasingly it has been supplementing less experience with training, Kremer said. It also has an employee-referral program, offering workers $1,000 if they bring in a qualified employee for a highly skilled job.

Wages are competitive, with machinists’ jobs typically paying $70,000 to $100,000, Kremer said. Yet the candidate pool is slim because of a misperception that manufacturing is dead.

“We want to expand our customer base but we are pretty much at maximum capacity,” he said. “We can’t grow without good help.”

No, no you can’t.

Posted by Jaime

In our ninth straight month of job cuts, employers slashed more jobs this September—159,000—than they have since 2003.

But while job cuts may be on the short-term agenda, many are still looking forward with concern to the post-boomer years and making plans to shore up their workforce now.

Such is the case in northeast Wisconsin, where layoffs are affecting area manufacturing families. In this region, manufacturing accounts for 24% of the work force and 30% of the income. So when area paper mills and machine shops shut down, people begin to feel concerned for the health of the region’s economy overall.

And plenty of area manufacturing leaders are concerned—but not about closing their doors. Despite layoffs at some companies, others are looking five to 10 years forward and hoping they’ll have enough skilled people to keep the machines going and stay competitive.

Paul Rauscher, owns EMT International, a small 80-person equipment manufacturer for the paper and printing industry. Rauscher believes a shortage of qualified workers poses the greatest future threat to his business—more than even foreign competition.

“We manufacturers have to get people, and especially young people, to realize that careers in manufacturing are good for their future and that many of the manufacturing jobs of today are high-tech and high pay,” he said in a Q&A with the local Green Bay Press Gazette.

Here’s what Rauscher observed about industry needs compared to output at the area’s regional technical college:

· CNC technicians – 40 openings – seven graduates

· Mechanical design – 85 openings – nine graduates

· Electro-mechanical technology – 75 openings – four graduates

Rauscher operates in an industry dominated by boomers, so it’s not just the lack of technical graduates that has him worried. It’s the not-so-distant day his workforce retires.

“I know of at least one mid-size manufacturing firm that expects to see about 50 percent of its work force retire in the next five to 10 years. A young person today can expect to see significant opportunities as companies begin to replace retired workers.”

Rauscher is starting his battle plan now. Step 1 - Get young people to enter his industry by promoting career potential.

We expect the following is also on his to-list: Step 2 - Keep boomers on the payroll longer through part-time and seasonal scheduling.

What are you doing now, to build your future workforce?

Posted by Jaime

In Bulletproof Your Job, author Viscusi suggests arriving at work early and leaving late. Not too early or too late, mind you—just five or ten minutes before and after your boss. After all, he writes, “much of what you need to do is create a perception that makes you more visible.”

Is he channeling George Costanza? (Seinfeld, season 7, episode 12)

Without increased productivity, such subterfuge will become apparent. Managers don’t want to be manipulated. Cut out the smoke and mirrors and focus on the work.

Ethics count.

Posted by Jaime