Open Flexible Work

October 1, 2009

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog The US Senate decreed in 2003 that October be designated Work and Family Month . This year's observance started off with a BANG this morning with the Washington Post announcing on its front page that the "opt out revolution", i.e. working women leaving the board...

Valerie Young

Open Flexible Work

August 14, 2009

Smart employers are using flexible work options to manage through the recession—and help their employees manage. The organization I head, the Families and Work Institute , highlights 260 award-winning employers across the US using innovative approaches and practices including: • Giving employees...

Ellen Galinsky

Open Flexible Work

July 14, 2009

Former General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jack Welch gave a bummer of a speech to the Society for Human Resource Management's annual conference on June 28. In it, he had some harsh words for women, ahem, mothers: "'There's no such thing as work-life balance,' Mr. Welch [said]. 'There are work-...

Elisa Batista

Paid Family Leave Open Flexible Work

May 12, 2009

Cross-posted at MotherTalkers . Glad to see we have a first lady focused on the plight of working families. In a recent speech before corporate executives, Michelle Obama addressed the internal conflict faced by many working parents trying to have it all -- or simply make ends meet -- and why...

Elisa Batista

Childcare & Early Education Open Flexible Work

April 28, 2009

Ruth Schubert, Children's Alliance The stress of a newborn baby can be difficult for any family. Poverty, youth, depression or isolation can make that stress overwhelming.

Ruth Schubert

Open Flexible Work

March 22, 2009

Yesterday the Washington Post inappropriately fed the insecurities of American workers with the headline, "As Cuts Loom, Will Working From Home Lead to a Layoff?" My response "Only if we are committed to a work model inspired by the 1950s and ‘working stupid’ by rigidly adhering to old work models...

Joan Blades

Childcare & Early Education Open Flexible Work

March 4, 2009

Lisa Pagan, a former active duty member of the Army and mother of two toddlers, was called up from the "ready reserves" to report for duty this week for possible deployment to Iraq. She told the Army that she had no one to care for her small children if she was sent overseas because of her husband's travel work schedule.

Joanne Bamberger

Open Flexible Work

February 3, 2009

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (named after the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. employee who sued too late for equal pay) was signed into law on January 29, 2009. It allows employees to challenge pay discrimination by filing a claim within 180 days of discriminatory conduct (payment of discriminatory wages, with each paycheck treated as