Open, Flexible Work is the term we use in the MOTHERS agenda to refer to workplace practices that accommodate both work and family needs. *Click here to skip to tips & tools you can use in your workplace.
Flexible work arrangements give parents the ability to work more flexibly, regardless of the person's level in the organization. Factory workers, middle managers, and executive level employees all need to be able to structure their work lives in a way that allows them to meet both business and family needs. The fact is that flexible work is good for all workers--parents and non-parents. Good work/life fit is of value to everyone and as a consequence it is good for business.
Offering flexible work options helps the corporate bottom line by increasing employee satisfaction, productivity and retention. It also can foster significant customer good will and certain kinds of flexibility reduce physical overhead. All this ends up benefiting business. It's a win-win--for both families and businesses.
MomsRising is working to help make America more family-friendly--and parents less crazy busy--by encouraging employers of all types to adopt flexible work arrangements, including:
We work long hours. We work multiple jobs. We can barely afford healthcare, or we’re doing without. We’re stitching together childcare, or we’re sending our kids to school with H1N1.
We exert ourselves to be good spouses, sons and daughters, parents, members of our community, friends – in snatched moments from being good but insecure employees.
And [...]
You can make a difference in 2010 to open up opportunities for our children – and ourselves – to move as far as our talents and passions take us. Often, unnecessary obstacles seem to stand in the way, like old-fashioned and outdated styles in the workplace, make our lives more about juggling than balancing. [...]
The climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark is over. What happens, of course, will affect all of our families. But it will have profound effects for the poorest people around the globe, two-thirds of them are women and children. There is a world of difference in how environmental damage affects these women and their families, [...]
Together we can build a nation where children, parents, and businesses thrive; and end discrimination against mothers. MomsRising listens to members and focuses advocacy where we can most quickly improve family economic security.
