Washington Work and Family Coalition

Millennials want a work-life balance. Their bosses just don’t get why.

Photo: Matt Reinbold/Flickr Creative Commons

Workers around the globe have been finding it harder to juggle the demands of work and the rest of life in the past five years, a new report shows, with many working longer hours, deciding to delay or forgo having children, discontinuing education, or struggling to pay tuition for their children.

Why?

A big reason is the economy: Professional workers in companies that shed employees in the Great Recession are still doing the work of two or more people and working longer hours. Salaries have stagnated, and costs continue to rise, according to a new survey of nearly 10,000 workers in eight countries by Ernst & Young’s Global Generations Research.

But another big reason? The boss just doesn’t get it.

Close to 80 percent of millennials surveyed are part of dual-income couples in which both work full time. Of Generation X workers, people in their 30s and 40s now, 73 percent are. But of baby boomers, the generation born just after World War II that now occupies most top management positions, just 47 percent have a full-time working spouse. More than a quarter of baby-boomer workers have a spouse at home, or one who works part time or with flexible hours and is responsible for taking care of all home-front duties.

“I really see that there’s an empathy gap in the workplace,” said Karyn Twaronite, EY global-diversity and inclusiveness officer. “When there’s frustration about work-life balance in the workplace, and you think your boss doesn’t get it, that very likely could be true. ”

Full story: Washington Post »

If We Want to Help Working Mothers, We Could Start With Paid Paternity Leave

A utopia in which working parents can balance careers and kids can’t be achieved here on Earth, or at least not without some tradeoffs. That’s the conclusion some reached after the New York Times rounded up studies showing that policies such as longer paid maternity leaves and affordable child care can help working mothers but also hold them back in the workplace. Among all developed countries, the Times found, better maternity leaves and flexible work protections have led to more women entering the workforce but fewer women in leadership roles. Here in the U.S., even our paltry guarantee of unpaid maternity leave has made women less likely to get promotions.

But these studies, aren’t indictments of workplace policies such as paid leave and subsidized child care. They are indictments of crafting these policies under the false assumption that women are the only ones who need them.

For example, a law in Chile requiring employers to provide child care for children under the age of 2 only applies to those companies with a certain share of female employees. In Spain, there’s a law giving workers with young children the right to ask for fewer hours, but it’s almost entirely women who ask. American women are a third more likely to take unpaid leave than men. Many families can’t afford to have both parents out on unpaid leave or working fewer hours to be home with children at one time, and it’s the mother who is still nearly always the one who scales back.

Well-crafted policy can change all of that. One policy in particular could do an inordinate amount to shift culture and how we see working fathers: paid paternity leave, with a use-it-or-lose-it clause.

Full Story: Slate.com »

Every Washington legislator has a mom — so why don’t more of them care about “moms”?

Photo: Sean Dreilinger/Flickr Creative Commons

Moms just can’t get a break these days. Data released by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, show that having children is one of the worst career moves a woman could make. According to their research, mothers in Washington are 44% less likely to be hired than non-mothers for the same job, and are paid less than non-mothers, averaging 78 cents to a man’s dollar.

Women of color and single mothers are more likely to experience this motherhood penalty. A PEW report found that 40% of all households with children under the age of 18 included mothers who were either the sole or primary source of income for the family. The majority (63%) of these women were single mothers and were more likely to be black or Hispanic and less likely to have a college degree.

Pay inequities, coupled with a lack of “parent-friendly” benefits, including paid family leave and paid sick leave; contribute to significant barriers to mothers remaining in the workforce. Some mothers may feel forced to reduce their hours or opt out of the labor force altogether to take care of a new child, but not all women have that choice.

Seattle claimed a huge victory when Mayor Murray announced that Seattle city employees will receive four weeks of paid parental leave under a new plan. The King County Council recently established a new policy that working parents employed by King County will receive up to 12 weeks in paid parental leave after a birth, adoption, or new placement of a foster child.

Four cities (Seattle, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Chicago, and Austin, TX) provide paid parental leave – and for good reasons. Research shows “parent-friendly” laws actually increase women’s labor market attachment, promote economic growth and reduce spending on public programs, such as food stamps. However, access to these benefits depends on your occupation and geographic location.

Women don’t grow up dreaming of all the struggles they will face should they decide to become mothers. And no one can prepare for having to choose between career and family. Jobs are the core of the American economy and should allow workers to meet their individual and family needs. To reverse these disparities we need to enact new family-friendly policies and strengthen existing ones.

While some cities and states have stepped up to make advances in leveling the playing field, a majority of women are still facing impossible decisions. In Washington, efforts to ensure statewide paid sick and safe leave and provide paid parental leave have been stalled by our state legislators, despite the progress in our cities. Let’s hope our elected leaders step up to do the right thing for women, mothers and families instead of settling for “good enough.”

By Janna Higgins, Graduate Policy Intern