White House Summit on Working Families_Life Meets Work Commentary

White House Summit on WorkingFamilies

June 23, 2014

On June 23, 2014, Kyra Cavanaugh attended anational summit in Washington D.C.

(These are a few of her tweets and notes.)

Why do employers have to be "understanding"?Wrong approach! It's about how working familypolicies can help biz succeed! #Familiessucceed

We’re a little sensitiveabout calling flexible workan employee“accommodation.”

Instead of framing family-friendly policies as aspecial favor, organizationsneed work practices thatmatch the realities oftoday’s workforce.

Veep is for reason-neutral#workflex "employees shouldn'thave to give me a reason—justgo!" #Familiessucceed@whitehouse

If you've worked with us, you'veprobably heard us to talk abouta reason-neutral approach.

Here’s the skinny: Evaluatingemployee requests forflexibility based on a personalreasons is old school andexposes the company to legalconcerns and morale issues.Review flexible work requestsbased solely on businessimplications.

Employers want reliable workers. They arereliable when they have a reliable way of

managing the rest of their lives.#Familiessucceed

Work-life experts use theterm "effective workplaces."It refers to realistic workpatterns that meet the needsof both employers andemployees.

If you have high turnover orabsenteeism issues,consider whether ineffectivework policies could be thereal issue.

EY CEO: We measure improvement in#workflex – no improvement?

Consequences. We reward high perf.teams for enabling flex.

This is a piece of advice weoften share with clients.Policies alone aren'teffective. You need to holdmanagers accountable formeeting work-life goals. Useyour employee engagementsurvey as a measurementtool or track flexibility as a part of exit surveys.

RT @crisagu @GloriaSteinem: Let's catch upto 40% EU mandate for women on boards.US lags at 16% #FamiliesSucceed

Bob Moritz U.S. Chairman and Senior Partner of PWC: "Some companies get it. Others don’t see trends and think there’s anabundance of talent."

"Difference between Yers and Boomers re: #workflex...Y’s will walkout the door."

Maria Shriver:

"I don’t know why we don’thave working familypolicies. What is Congressdoing?"

Things Kyra would have tweetedduring President Obama'ssession...

If she hadn't run out of juice.

If Congress won’t do it, then Mayors, Govs, Unions &CEOs have to

Pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act .Many women can’t get pd day off

to give birth...that’s a pretty low bar

US-only country that doesn’t offer

paid maternity leave to all

JetBlue offered 5 mos pd leave, reduced turnover of women by 50%

13 states taking steps to raise minimum wage on their own

Word on the street-this was a very upliftingday, but movements take time. Celebratevictories & push forward. @FLOTUS#FamiliesSucceed

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