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Workplace Flexibility: Ensuring
Success for the 21st Century
Accenture and Knowledge Universe
become "Business Champions" in National Campaign
 Corporate
Voices would like to congratulate Accentureand Knowledge Universe for joining
our workplace flexibility campaign and committing their support for Corporate
Voices' 2010 Statement of Support for Expanding Workplace Flexibility.
They join AOL, Baxter International Inc., Bright Horizons
Family Solutions, Workplace Options, Sodexo, KPMG LLP, Childrens'
Creative Learning Centers, McGladreySM, and a growing
number of businesses that recognize the value of workplace flexibility.
Workplace flexibility practices enable businesses to modernize the workplace to
meet the needs of the 21st century workforce so that working
families and businesses can be more productive, more competitive, healthier,
and happier.
Corporate
Voices is also thrilled to have Boston
College's Center for Work and Family join the
Partner Coalition of this campaign, and to have Life Meets Work and WFC
Resources join as Outreach Partners.
Corporate Voices
launched
this campaign on June 28, after the White House announced at a first-ever
Forum on Workplace Flexibility in March that it would lead a campaign to engage
the business community and create a broader awareness of the positive business
and employee benefits of workplace flexibility. We are now inviting all of
our corporate partners to sign our Statement of Support for Expanding Workplace
Flexibility and lead the business community in this effort.
When your company signs the Statement, it will become a "Business
Champion" for workplace flexibility, and will gain national recognition, media
exposure, and will be invited to regional flexibility events around the
country. It will also receive a workplace flexibility logo and Business
Champion seal to place on your company's website acknowledging this status.
For more
information about the campaign and how to join, please visit: www.corporatevoices.org/our-work/flexcampaign.
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South
Korea Looks to
U.S.
and Corporate Voices for
Best-Practice Family Friendly Policies
Low birth rate threatens future vitality
of Asian Tiger's workforce
South Korea,
one of the Asian Tigers noted for its exceptionally high growth rate and rapid
industrialization throughout the second half of the 20th century,
has discovered that its fertility rate is among the lowest among developed
countries. South Korea's
fertility rate is 1.19, compared to the U.S.' rate of 2.1. This low rate
not only has social impacts, but also has serious implications for the future
health and vitality of South
Korea's workforce.
Recognizing this problem, the South Korean government has started sending
researchers, officials, and students abroad to learn and research what other
cultures are doing to address low birth rates through family-friendly business
policies. Besides setting government policy to encourage larger families, they
want to see what role businesses can play as well.
As such, students from Chung-Ang University in Seoul
this week visited Corporate Voices to
learn about its partner companies' best-practice family-friendly workplace
policies. They heard from Donna Klein,
who told them about the history of the work-life movement in the U.S., the history of Corporate Voices, and the
emerging consensus in America
that there is a business imperative for policies that help working families.
The students will stay in America
for a week interviewing other U.S.
companies and researching the work/life field, and will return to South Korea
to publish their findings in the hopes of encouraging South Korean companies to
adopt management systems that benefit working families.
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Corporate Voices Prepares for 2010 Best of Congress
 Corporate Voices and Working
Mother Media are preparing to recognize this year's Best of
Congress winners for their leadership in improving the quality of life
for working families across the country. Through legislation and their
own office practices, the 2010 Best of Congress Award
winners have supported working families by shining the spotlight on
family-friendly policies.
There will be 30 winners this year from both sides of the aisle and
throughout the country. The winners will be announced with the
publication of the August/September 2010 issue of Working Mother
Magazine. Best of Congress winners will receive their awards at a
recognition breakfast to be held in Washington, D.C. on September 22,
2010. |
Federal
Workplace Lactation Requirement:
Department of Labor Issues "Fact Sheet"
 With the passage of the health care reform bill in March, a provision requiring
employers with more than 50 employees to provide break time and space for
nursing mothers was passed into law.
The Department of Labor has now published a "fact sheet" outlining the
requirements of this workplace lactation provision, which businesses can access
here: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs73.htm
Section 4207 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act amends the
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to include the guarantee of "a reasonable
break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1
year after the child's birth each time such employee has need to express the
milk," for nonexempt hourly workers, and also the stipulation that this be done
in "a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from
intrusion from co-workers and the public."
Many of Corporate Voices' partner companies already have model workplace
lactation rooms for employees, which are not only good for working families,
but are also good for businesses. Lactation programs help new mothers integrate
back into the workplace, increase employee engagement and productivity, and
help reduce illnesses and sick days taken.
As not all businesses will know about the federal lactation requirement,
Corporate Voices is working to educate the business community about it, and
will meet with the Wage & Hour Division of the Department of Labor next
month to see how it can help with outreach to the business community and
implementation of the new law. Corporate Voices will continue to explain the
benefits of workplace lactation through its workplace lactation toolkit,
which will also be updated and re-released at the end of the year.
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Children as a
National Investment
Earlier this week, the 2010 Children's Budget was released
by our friends at First Focus, a bipartisan advocacy group with whom we work on
the Ready by 21® initiative. Published annually, the Children's Budget aims to
inform policymakers, advocates, and the general public about the importance our
government places on programs to improve the lives of America's children. http://www.childrensbudget.org/
There's great news this year, but the overall picture is
decidedly mixed. In the face of historic
federal deficits, the Obama Administration has committed to a three-year freeze
on federal discretionary spending. Even so, the administration has proposed
significant and most welcome increases
in spending on education, health, and other social programs directly benefiting
kids in 2011-an investment of more than $30
billion over current levels, representing a 10 percent increase over recent
years.
That said, long-term trends suggest that children remain an
afterthought in the federal budget rather than a top priority for our nation's
leaders. Even with the proposed increases, spending on youth programs
represents less than 2 percent of the nation's GDP. And unless Congress acts soon
to reauthorize key programs like the Elementary and Secondary Education Act,
child nutrition, and early learning grants, the investments recommended in the
President's budget for kids will be lost.
Corporate Voices is tracking these and other legislative
actions from Washington.
Please contact us [or check our website] if you would like to learn more.
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How to Profit by Investing in Your Frontline Employees
 In her new book, Jody Heymann explores how business leaders can effectively improve their bottom line by changing the way they think about their frontline employees.
She highlights the fact that employees determine ninety-percent of a company's profitability, yet many firms assume that only their highest-skilled, best-educated workers are worth investing in-and that cutting wages and benefits for the workers at the bottom of the corporate ladder is a fast and effective way to improve the bottom line.
"Heymann's comprehensive look at the provocative issues surrounding the status and stability of lower-wage workers is certain to add to the national debate. Documenting how supporting those workers improves business' bottom line, this book is a remarkable breakthrough," said Donna Klein, executive chair and founder of Corporate Voices.
Based on more than a dozen years of research into the working conditions of thousands of employees on six continents, Heymann highlights how companies from around the globe have excelled financially by offering their least-skilled employees higher wages, flexible scheduling, better health-care benefits, and more.
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What We're ReadingGovernors Push College Completion, Inside Higher Ed, July 12, 2010. New Database Shows Costs and Expenditures at 2,300 U.S. Colleges, Youth Today, July 9, 2010. For Working Mothers in Academia, Tenure Track is Often a Tough Balancing Act, The Washington Post, July 11, 2010. The EBRI Retirement Readiness Rating:™ Retirement Income Preparation and Future Prospects, Employee Benefit Research Institute, July 2010. |
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