Today’s workplace is perfectly suited to the workforce…of the 1950s.  Too often, workplaces today still enshrine the outdated ideal of an employee who has a spouse at home taking care of the children’s and household needs—despite the fact that all adults work outside the home in 70% of all U.S. households.  The result is a mismatch between the workplace and the workforce. Policy solutions for improving workplace/workforce mismatch include public policies that support:

• Quality, non-stigmatized reduced hours and part-time work

• Flexible hours

• Telecommuting, and

• Rethinking where and how work is done.
   

Several European countries have “right to request” laws, which allow any worker to request reduced or flexible working hours.  For more on the European experience, read WLL’s Issue Brief Employers and European Flexible Working Rights: When the Floodgates Were Opened.

WLL’s Project for Attorney Retention (PAR) has done significant research and work on how to create and implement flexible career paths that do not stigmatize those who take them. 

On issues related to federal public policies on workplace flexibility, WorkLife Law works closely with Workplace Flexibility 2010.

For additional resources, see our Links page.