Last week the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) released the report Statutory Routes to Workplace Flexibility in Cross-National Perspective, which examines workplace flexibility rights in 21 high-income countries, including the United States. The study reviews laws that allow employees to change their hours and work arrangements to balance work and family commitments and facilitate lifelong learning and gradual retirement.
While the laws vary by country, the majority of the nations studied have statutes that allow parents to adjust their working hours, and nearly half have laws that allow flexibility for training and education.
What about the United States? How many laws do we have in place guaranteeing these rights?
0. Zero. Zip. Nada.
In 2007, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced the U.S. Working Families Flexibility Act (H.R. 4301), which would give all workers (women and men) the right to request alternative work schedules. Congress has yet to act on the measure.
Lack of workplace flexibility is a key reason that some women drop out of the workforce or accept low-paying, part-time positions. Women of the “sandwich generation” are often simultaneously raising children and acting as caregivers for their parents. The report argues that increased access to alternative work arrangements will not only benefit individual women (and men, too!) but also allow the U.S. labor force to meet the demands of a changing economic landscape.
And speaking of the changing economic landscape—with fuel, food, and other consumer prices skyrocketing, telecommuting even one day a week can make a significant difference in your wallet and help the environment. Here’s an example of how people are dealing with this issue in several regions around the U.S.
You can view AAUW’s position statement on workplace flexibility on our website.
For several years I have been working on workplace fexibility issues with the Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor,
the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Work and Families Institute, the U.S. Chamber od Commerce, and the TWIGA Foundation. We were trying to bring attention to workplace flexibility issues by offering and promoting the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility via about 30 chambers of commerce around the country. Hundreds of companies have been recognized through the Sloan Awards and in the process of offering the awards, many other companies have heard about the benefits of having a flexible workplace.
With the cost of transportation today, so much money for the consumer could be saved and the impact of automobiles on environment could be diminished if workers could work from home, even one day a week. In order for companies to offer this benefit an environment of trust has to be established between employer and employee. The employer will be rewarded with a more committed and loyal workforce, less absenteeism and less turnover.