Preliminary messaging research on work/life indicates several compelling frameworks for making the case for family-friendly work policies. Is there one message that really strikes a cord for you? And which message do you think would hit home for the majority of Americans? Does one fact really disgust you or just make you sad to think that this is how society is in the second decade of the 21st Century?
Comment here, or work it up into a piece for the Wake Up! blog carnival!
Fairness/Earning: People who work hard deserve a decent wage and a minimum level of benefits for the hours they work. Working people have earned a decent wage and a minimum number of paid sick days. That’s only fair. For part-time workers, paid sick days and other minimum benefits should be proportional to the hours they work. It’s not fair to work hard, pay taxes, play by the rules, and then be afraid to lose your job or the pay you have earned because you are honestly out sick for a day. It’s time for a new agreement between business and employees.
Families First/Smart Business: We can re-build American businesses through policies that protect families. A number of studies have found that businesses that provide flexible leave policies for workers benefit from higher morale, reduced absenteeism, lower turnover and training costs, and more employee loyalty. Deloitte & Touche estimates savings of $41.5 million annually as a result of their leave program. It’s just good for the bottom line for businesses to treat their workers with basic dignity and fairness. Putting families first and strengthening the family with modern work standards is smart business and smart family policy.
Family Havoc: Dramatic changes in the work environment have created havoc in American families. Parents are stretched to the breaking point by the demands of a 24/7 work environment and shrinking paychecks. Basic needs such as health care and child care are unavailable to most employees and all too often, families have to choose between a living wage and being able to take care of children, aging parents, and their own basic needs. It’s time for new work standards that protect families. Only by providing basic protections, such as paid sick days, can we ensure a strong America.
Today’s Demands: Today’s economy demands that both parents work in order for most families to make ends meet. It’s not the way it used to be in 1946 – when Grandpa came home from the war, got a job working for GE or Ford, got married, bought a house, and Grandma stayed home with the kids. Back then, you could live a middle class life on one income. Today, if you want a basic, no frills middle class lifestyle both parents have to work. We need to give modern families the tools they need – flexible work policies, paid time to care for family and themselves – so they can do their job and take care of their children.
Outdated: In 1960, only 10% of mothers worked, and only 10% were unmarried so it made sense for employers to shape jobs around the ideal of a breadwinner who was available for work anytime and anywhere. And it made sense to design governmental benefits, from Social Security to unemployment, around the same breadwinner-homemaker model. Today 70% of mothers work and 40% of mothers are unmarried, but employers still enshrine the ideal of the breadwinner who takes care of business, while his wife takes care of family. For most Americans, that’s not real life. It’s time for a new deal between employers and their employees.
Future Workplace: America should be a leader in the world, defining the best and most family friendly workplaces, but America is losing its place in the world. We should make the US a better place to live, work, and raise a family. We need to modernize our workplaces. Work is now 24-7, and most families have at least two jobs to keep up. In that context, we need new work rules so that families can match 21st century global jobs and modern benefits. We need to make the economy work for all hardworking people and families again.
Populist: We need an overhaul of how corporations and big business do business in this country. Their bad decisions created the global economic recession, yet banks and Wall Street got bailouts, bankers continue to receive huge bonuses, and CEOs get paychecks of more than $10 million. However, their outdated work standards are destabilizing the American family and these companies are increasingly engaging in policies that hurt working families – demanding workers work shifts 24/7 that constantly change, increasing health care costs, and not offering paid sick days. Somewhere, America’s big businesses lost their way and we need to change the rules so that they are responsible players again.
I’m really not fond of any of these. They all say families, families. As if that’s all that defines women. Where is the message that women these days can choose not to create more people?