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I would tell the First Lady that companies are in business to make money. There should not be legislation that requires them to provide special programs for any employee. Why do people think that it is the government’s responsibility to fix their lives? Work for a company that has an environment that works for you and your family’s life. What does it matter to Michelle Obama what the workplace is doing for citizens of the US? Can she really do anything about it? Should she be able to do anything about it?
People from all over the world come here to find citizenship and build lives/businesses that are successful and prosperous. They work hard and don’t expect anything. Why do we US citizens feel as though we are entitled to something? Go make your life great!

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Great article, great idea. (I’m guessing the meeting was MAY 7, not June 7, though.)

Michelle Obama should know as well as anyone that playing fields aren’t always level. If our working environment is set up to work best for one working parent and one stay-at-home parent (leaving aside how well it is or isn’t set up for workers in general), then it will be hard for families that don’t fit that model to make it work for them. We are well and definitively past that point in our cultural and economic history. But the price of entry into many jobs for women, especially professional ones, is to be forced to act as if there is a stay-at-home parent covering the home front, when usually there isn’t.

We can make it easier for families with children to balance work and family by instituting a Scandinavian-style payment to parents. (See recent Atlantic Monthly article about the Netherlands.)

We can reform the health care system, which in its current form risks bankrupting all of us. (Michelle Obama knows that’s being worked on.)

We can insist on longer parental leaves and subsidize them by the federal government if we have to. We can make prenatal care and well-baby care available everywhere, for a low cost. (Everywhere meaning not merely close to medical centers, but also in the kind of small, poor town where my family lives.)

To the numbers guy, and to our First Lady as well, I would say that if we want to get a better handle on the numbers, we need to rethink how we compile them. The unpaid labor of mothers (and fathers, and many people who care for other people) undergirds our entire economic system. We cannot count only those jobs for which someone is paid by an employer. What would happen if we had a National Domestic Product that added up the hours and investment in raising children? What if we tried to put a figure on the value to a family and to the nation of a good parent?

After a particularly hard day of parenting, my husband and I make dark jokes about billing our children for their upbringing: $100,000 for the hours we spent getting them to practice the violin and pick up after themselves; $500,000 for teaching them to read, making sure they did their homework, and all the cultural enrichment they get because we care about them and their futures. The list goes on. The numbers are purely speculative, of course, but the basic idea is not. This country needs — depends on — involved, committed, *good* parents. We need a break.

Thanks for being there. I hadn’t heard about you before Mother’s Day, but I’ll be back.

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Ilove Mother,s Day. I had 4 most beautiful daughters,hoever one is now gone..pray for her everyday; the other 3 girls are living good lives and we communicate quite frequently…ove them and their children and my great grandchildren dearly as well.
So happy to have them all….Mom

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I am happy to say that my youngest of three is graduating from high school in two weeks! So that part of my job as a mom is over ! For 21 years my husband made it possible for me to work as a stay at home mom and substitute teacher. We have lived a good life though not extravagant, I have no regrets. because I now am afforded the opportunity to do what opted not to do with young children. I will earn my degree as a certified teacher and do all I can to effect change in the lives of other children and their parents. While trying to be present in my children’s life I have found my own voice and it involves helping from a handson position.

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IFEEL THAT WOME N WITH A FAMILY MUST PUT HER FAMILY FIRST. WHEN THE BA\BY IS SICK ALL NIGHT SHE SHOULD BE ABLE TO C ALL HER JOB AND SAY SHE CAN,T COME IN WITHOUT FEAR OF LOOSING HER JOB WE ARE BACK TO THE DAYS BEFORE UNIONS . FEAR FEAR FEAR. IT IS JUST NOT FAIR IT MUST BE CHANGED. THE RETIRED LADY NEXT DOOR TO ME WORKS AT HOME DOING THE SAME JOB SHE DID BEFORE RETIREMENT I SEE HER AT HER COMPUTER ALL DAY LONG SHE IS A LOYAL WORKER. I CAN SEE HER FROM MY WINDOW AMD SHE IS IN HER CHAIR ALL DAY.

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I hope that someone has some numbers for the finance guy, or if they don’t, that we find a way to get some. Here are my thoughts:

1. Employees with flexibility are intensely loyal. They know that they are in a situation that works for them and their family, that covers their financial needs and lets them meet their various responsibilities. Those people aren’t sitting in their cubes browsing Monster.com for a better offer, nor are they all that receptive when someone calls them up and offers them a new job with a raise.

This saves a lot of money on turnover and the resulting training, and it also means that your employees are more likely to have a personal, vested interest in the long term success and the stability of the company. It’s not just any job.

2. Flexibility is worth money. I know a lot of talented professionals who are willing to work for a lot less than they might command in exchange for a schedule that lets them be with their kids or pursue an interest or sport.

This isn’t just about parenting, and it’s not only about women: imagine a dedicated amateur athlete who wants to exercise in the mornings, or someone who wants to volunteer for a community cause, or someone with elderly parents that need care. Pet owners value this flexibility too.

3. Flexibility can go both ways. Employees on flexible work value that flexibility, and enough to recognize that sometimes the company has special needs too. A company that gives its people time when they need it may find that those people are more willing to work longer and pitch in when there’s a big crunch.

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The fact of the matter is that companies are in business to make money and they are concerned about productivity and have every right to be. That said, as a person who has been successfully self-employed and then accepted an offer by an employer due to the unpredictable ever-rising costs of health care, I am more often than not able to be more productive by working at home. The office is sometimes useful to be present in, but it is mainly full of noise and distractions. At home, I can concentrate and I can work to my deadlines at work, while still keeping appointments and saving time in communuting and dressing for the office. The person in finance has a duty to his/her job to look at the numbers. These kinds of numbers are difficult to calculate. It’s touch to quantify the difference in some fields though I suppose there may be some methods for doing so. I believe though that an employee who is dishonest about productivity and working at home will be no more productive in the office. And I also think that most people prefer to be productive.

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First of all honored to be selected as Mother of the year…it is a job you are not paid, other than the rewards seeing that child, productive adult adding to the community…at times can be hard work…I find I will cry with happiness…also a sub-teacher.

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I previously worked as an independent contractor for a child welfare agency. I worked from home and visited the office as needed. I actually journaled more hours and was more productive because I didn’t have the workplace distractions. I was available for my family and I was less stressed. I had to secure a 9 – 5 to qualify for insurance once my husband had a stroke (he was 41), but I lost my job in January. I will not go back to that again. I will only take contractual jobs. My husband needs me and I will not sacrifice family over an employer again. My employer would not return my calls after I spent entire night at the hospital at my husband’s side. I had to leave the hospital and open my store. Before my store was closed, my Dist. Mgr implied that I was not dedicated because I opted to take 2 months off under the FMLA. They did not offer me a transfer. I do not regret my decision!!

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I would like for you to tell the first lady that everything is not about money. People and their needs are more important and money being the bottom line for the finance person shows what this country’s priorities are. As a working mother she should understand the need for affordable and quality daycare, the ability to job share or work part-time and it not be held against you when you do try to re-enter the work force and work in a environment that is truly family friendly and its not just a slogan for the company’s PR department.

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