California Workplace Flexibility Anniversary

Five years ago this month, California became the first state in the
nation to provide wage replacement to workers who take time for family
and caregiving responsibilities.  This important anniversary deserves
attention and we hope that light can be shined on the importance of
creative public policy to help workers balance their lives.

Work life balance is a significant issue for most Americans.  Polls show
that more than 80% of Americans experience conflicts between their work
and family lives.  The impact on families is significant.  Today's
parents multitask to the point that children sight "uninterrupted time
with parents" as their primary need.  Older workers want and, in this
economy, need to keep working but want to do so in a different way than
in the past.  Women have traditionally faced work/life balance
challenges, as with men losing three-quarters of the jobs in this
recession, women are now driving the economy.  America can't afford to
lose any more workers (women or men) due to caregiving conflicts.
However, far from being just a "woman's issue," more men (59%) than
women (45%) in dual-income households report serious conflicts.

In 2004, California sought to meet these needs by using its disability
insurance program to help fund wage replacement for workers who take
time off to have a baby or care for a relative.  Five years later, there
are still many questions about the effectiveness of the California
program. We don't know if more workers took leave as a result of paid
family leave.  There are real questions of how other states or the
federal government can afford wage replacement for time off in a great
recession.  We do know that very few workers took advantage of the
program and that low-income workers were least likely to know about the
program.

Yet what is undeniable is that work family conflicts are real and
growing. There is a mismatch between the needs of families and the
structure of work.  Furthermore, there is a growing consensus in
Washington that workplace flexibility of some kind is needed and that
creative public policy is part of the solution.  Flexible work
arrangements, telework, job sharing and other policies that the private
and public sectors are already employing matter.  Yet more action is
needed and needed now.

As California marks the important anniversary of its policy, may all
those who care about improving work life balance in America take this
opportunity to reflect creatively on policies that can enhance the
flexibility of workplaces for the benefit of all.