Life Meets Work Blog

The federal government is expected to expand teleworking opportunities for federal employees.

John Berry at the Office of Personnel Management has announced plans for an expanded federal telework policy. Reportedly, he has support from President Obama.

The plan would create an advisory group, require agencies to submit telework polices for review, encourage agencies to appoint a ‘telework managing officer,’ and provide training to reduce management resistance.

“I was raised in the D.C. metropolitan area, so I know a little something about the traffic congestion that frustrates commuters and saps them of energy even before they get to the office,” Berry said in a press release.

The new policy is based on provisions in two telework bills introduced in 2009: the Telework Improvements Act (H.R. 1722), introduced by Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., and the Telework Enhancement Act (S. 707), introduced by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii.

Timing is right to push the new initiative as many in both business and government look to telecommuting as a way to maintain essential operations during a flu outbreak.

The initiative is also designed to make the federal government a more attractive employer and to support President Obama’s work-life objectives.

Posted by Jaime

A recent feature in the Chicago Tribune suggested the Obama administration was making efforts to establish a family-friendly workplace. While White House staffers clearly have some of the most demanding jobs in the country, top brass are making it clear that family must not be ignored.

Among the family-friendly initiatives was the provision of official laptops for many White House staffers—delivered first to those with families, with instructions to work from home when reasonable.

Among the other activities mentioned in the article was a family movie night for staffers and their kids and an invitation to use the newly installed swing set. The latter don’t do anything to reduce the workload, but they do send something of a signal to staffers that children are welcome in the White House work space.

Posted by Jaime

On March 11, President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls.

The council will be led by Valerie Jarrett, assistant to the president and senior advisor, and Tina Tchen, deputy assistant to the president and director of the office of public liaison at the White House.

Council goals include the following:

• Ensure each federal agency is working to improve the economic status of women
• Help the administration develop policies that ‘establish balance between work and family’
• Find new ways to prevent violence against women
• Build healthy families and improve women’s health care

While applauded by many, including the American Association of University Women, other critics claim the council isn’t nearly enough. Not a cabinet-level office or a presidential commission, the Council on Women and Girls is an inter-agency office.

The council has no full-time staff and, at least for now, no set meeting schedule. One leader for the National Council of Women’s Organizations suggested that Jarrett and Tchen will be stretched too far by other duties to give the council the attention it deserves.

The council is similar to entities created during the Clinton administration, including the White House Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach and the President’s InterAgency Council on Women, that were later disbanded by President George W. Bush.

In a speech before signing the order, President Obama suggested that council activities will benefit everyone—men and boys alike:

“And I want to be very clear: These issues are not just women’s issues. When women make less than men for the same work, it hurts families who find themselves with less income, and have to work harder just to get by. When a job doesn’t offer family leave, that also hurts men who want to help care for a new baby or an ailing parent. When there’s no affordable child care, that hurts children who wind up in second-rate care, or spending afternoons alone in front of the television set. And when any of our citizens cannot fulfill their potential because of factors that have nothing to do with their talent, their character, their work ethic, that says something about the state of our democracy.”

Posted by Jaime