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CCH® HR MANAGEMENT - 05/26/09

Report on flexible work arrangements sets the stage for national conversation, calls on federal government to lead by example

On the heels of First Lady Michelle Obama's challenge to find ways to encourage employers to provide more flexibility to employees, Workplace Flexibility 2010, a Georgetown Law-based think tank, released a new report outlining the most comprehensive set of policy solutions to expand Americans' access to flexible work arrangements (FWAs) such as compressed workweeks, predictable schedules, and telework.

"Flexible Work Arrangements can help ease a myriad of pressures facing working Americans today—while also helping employers manage their workforce more efficiently and improving productivity overall," said Professor Chai R. Feldblum, co-director of Workplace Flexibility 2010. "Our policy platform is a culmination of years of in-depth conversations with employers, employees, managers, labor, researchers and advocates here in Washington and across the country. We believe it represents an important first step in identifying and implementing commonsense policy solutions that can work for all of us."

In order to make FWAs the "new normal" in the American workplace, the report recommends five complementary prongs:

1. Spur a national campaign to make FWAs compelling to both employers and employees;

2. Provide employers and employees with the tools and training they need to make FWAs a standard way of working;

3. Support innovations in FWAs, learn from those efforts, and disseminate lessons learned;

4. Lead by example, making the federal government a model employer; and

5. Build an infrastructure of federal, state and community players to implement the first four prongs of the effort.

The report goes on to provide a detailed blueprint for the White House, Congress and other policymakers to build on innovative workplace flexibility strategies—and highlights numerous examples of effective business practices.

"We are delighted that the efforts of Workplace Flexibility 2010 have resulted in a dynamic policy platform that will facilitate a national conversation on how flexibility can support a more resilient economy and healthier families," said Georgetown Law Dean T. Alexander Aleinikoff. "The economic instability this country is enduring has underlined the critical importance of building a strong, sustainable, adaptable 21st century workforce, and expanding access to workplace flexibility will be a key component of that process."

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