Helping Children by Providing Parents More Flexibility at Work

Any working parent with young children knows the importance of workplace flexibility – whether it is being able to shift  hours to meet with a child’s teacher or working from home when your child is sick. But workplace flexibility is not so easy to come by — especially for employees in low-wage, hourly jobs. Workplace policies have not caught up to modern life in which either both parents work outside the home or parents are single and must find someone else to care for their children when they are on the job.

Last month, the New America Foundation  hosted an event, The Future of Work-Life Balance and Workplace Flexibility, led by David Gray, director of the Workforce and Family Program. The event came on the heels of a White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility where both President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama talked about their own struggles with work-life balance. (This is a topic that Early Ed Watch has touched as well, in discussions of how hourly, low-wage workers struggle with making childcare arrangements and in highlighting a recent NPR series on the issue of work-life balance.) We asked David to give us an update on these recent conversations and how policies should be adapted to help families fulfill responsibilities in both their professional and family life.

Early Ed Watch podcast — June 1, 2010

Helping Children By Providing Parents More Flexibility at Work

With our guest David Gray, Director, Workforce and Family Program, New America Foundation