Work and family

Sue Shellenbarger, work/family columnist for the Wall Street Journal spoke on Midmorning today about flexibility in the work place. I’ve been a fan of her work for years. In the1990’s, Shellenbarger convinced the Wall Street journal that work and family issues was an important topic to cover.

When Shellenbarger began her column, she says she saw a rigid separation between work and family. Workers were scared to admit that their children were sick or that they needed to attend a parent meeting. Now she feels like she’s witnessed a revolution in the work place.

Many corporations are offering flexible hours and many offer their employees the option to telecommute.

Many of today’s callers were enthusiastic to share their stories of working flexible hours or working from home.

An employer called in to talk about how he must learn to trust his employees who work from home, and often gives them a three month trial period to establish whether they can be productive. He goes so far as to rent (home) office space from his employees so that they will understand that he expects them to get to the desk at 8 and stay til 4, with childcare in place, and no dogs barking in the background when they’re talking on the phone with clients.

Much of the conversation today centered on the culture of people who are telecommuting.
How is their productivity managed?

How do they clarify the boundaries of when they are working and when they are with their family?

As I listened, I couldn’t help think of what I had heard at a conference on families, work and money recently. Sarah Standiford of Maine Women’s Lobby said “the work force has changed and the work place hasn’t.”

Standiford was speaking about workers in lower wage jobs in the health care, service and education industries. In these workplaces she said that employers are still acting as though a worker has a “wife” at home.

Recently, a nationwide poll of 1,200 likely voters by Lake Research Partners found 89% of all voters favor paid sick days, and 76% support paid family medical leave. Support was among all political parties. But many workers don’t have those benefits.

According to Moms Rising, an activist group “working to build a more family friendly America,” Only one of our fifty states, California, offers paid family leave. The federal government doesn’t offer a paid family leave program.

Anyone who works in a job where she has a “shift” does not have options for flex time.

One caller this morning made clear that you really can’t telecommute as a nurse.

Do you have “family friendly” policies at your work place?

How does your family manage work hours and family hours?