A Peaceful Revolution: It's Time to Value Families at Work

What do you do when school says you must show up to register your kids, and work says you must stay overtime for an extra shift?

If you're like Vickie Underwood, in DeKalb County, Georgia, you choose your kids.

Underwood told her boss she was sorry but, unlike all the other times she did stay overtime, she couldn't that day. She figured two decades with an unblemished work record would show her commitment to the job.

Her boss disagreed. Underwood was fired for violating the mandatory overtime policy.

We hear a lot of talk about freedoms in the U.S. Apparently the freedom to refuse mandatory overtime isn't one of them.

Neither is the freedom to care for a sick family member. Just ask Monique Evans. When she called her supervisor at a Wendy's in Portland, Maine, to explain that her two-year-old had the flu, the supervisor told her to come in anyway. When Evans refused, the supervisor cut her hours from 40 per week to 15 and demoted her to mopping floors and cleaning toilets.

This is the time of year when schools require children to be vaccinated. Keeping kids free of preventable diseases boosts learning and general child well-being.

But many parents - most of them low wage workers who can't afford to risk their jobs -- can't take the day off to get the children immunized.

The truth is, for millions of workers in this country, being a good family member can mean risking job, paycheck, or peace of mind. And being a responsible employee can put your family or relationship at risk.

Vickie Underwood and Monique Evans are among the many whose stories are told in a new report entitled, "Family Values at Work: It's About Time! Why We Need Minimum Standards to Ensure a Family-Friendly Workplace." The report was published by a network of state coalitions known as the MultiState Working Families Consortium.

With photos and stories, this report puts faces to the statistics, detailing what it means when family values end at the workplace door. It also summarizes mounds of research that tell us that policies like paid sick days and family leave insurance aren't just the moral thing to do, aren't just good for workers and their families - they're good for business and taxpayers as well.

Consider this factoid, for instance: Replacing a salaried worker costs on average one and a half times more than the fired worker was earning annually. What about someone making $8 an hour? Even these low-wage workers cost an employer an average of $5,506 apiece to replace.

Political candidates, pay attention. "Family Values at Work" describes the growing movement to win time to care, and announces new polling data showing that voters want such policies. Nearly nine in ten voters support paid sick days - and that's across demographics and party lines. Similarly, more than three in four support family leave insurance plans.

Most important, this document makes the case for government action as the only way to protect workers like Vickie and Monique. The right-wing keeps trying to tell us that our problem is big government. But "Family Values at Work" reminds us that a proper role of government is creating minimum standards for how we will conduct ourselves as a nation.

Every so often, we say, enough -- something we put up with for a long time, like slavery or child labor or discrimination against racial groups or women, suddenly seems barbaric.

It's about time we said that about forcing people like Vickie Underwood and Monique Evans to risk their loved ones or their livelihoods.

You can read "Family Values at Work" on 9to5's website, www.9to5.org.

"A Peaceful Revolution" is a weekly blog about work/life satisfaction done in collaboration with MomsRising.org. Read a blog by a leading thinker in the field every Tuesday.

Comments

[lindseyh]

You're right -- providing an environment that makes it possible for workers to attend to family matters IS good for business. It makes little sense that companies are so afraid of hiring women who might -- gasp -- have family obligations. Don't they realize that only 7% of households in America are structured according to the single-provider model? Despite this glaring reality, the workplace is still holding on to the Cleaver family ideal, along with the belief that there's got to be someone else taking care of those kids.

[EmmaSteinfeld]

Let's call it what it is, okay? It's not "family friendly" policies that momsrising and its proponents want, it's mother/child friendly policies.

The original post keeps referencing "family friendly," yet the examples given have to do with mothers and their children.

Momsrising doesn't care about Jim taking care of his ailing life partner or Sue taking care of her elderly aunt. They care about mothers. Period.

Momsrising has managed to turn the "mommy wars" into the mothers v. everyone else wars...because when you look for special treatment for one group, it usually means another group is going to get screwed.

[QueenCeleste]

You're absolutely right! And single or childfree workers often are left to pick up the slack for those female employees off with their sick children. Or to work holidays or weekends or undesirable shifts. Unfair!

[dadw5boys]

FREEDOM?
Freedom is of no use to anyone who does not excerise it often!
James Wilson (1952- )

[Pandu]

Being a mother is a full time job, far more important than any paid employment.

Some employers may tolerate being a second priority, but one shouldn't expect it. It is very good that society is not yet blind to the real differences between men and women. We should not accommodate such learned ignorance.

It's not that either women or men are better, but they're both the best when they cooperate and perform their prescribed duties without envy of each other.

This seems like a typical case of one finger pointing at the employer with three pointing back at the mother.

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

Industry will care about 'the family' the minute anybody shows being 'family friendly' the minute it affects quarterly stock dividends and not one minute sooner. I have seen a lot of 'revolving door' companies and frankly have yet to see any evidence that American business cares at all about turnover.

[Ben Dixon]

Your are spot on. A work place is a place to do work that earns a company a profit. A good work place is a place that allows you the flexibility to take care of family business as long as you are taking care of business. A person is free to work for any company that meets thier needs, what every those needs may be. The last thing we need is the liberal solution to legislate this sort of stuff.

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

On the contrary that is the ONLY thing we need. I don't believe in the concept of the 'good work place' any more. I think they are all basically alike and only show concern about the needs of workers when forced to by labor shortages or legislation. And since our trade and economic policies create permament labor surpluses the only chance for bettering the situation overall is regulation. Saying 'so find another job' simply ignore reality and is just spitting in people's faces.

[blowoutfan]

They should pass a law requiring men to do half the caretaking and this problem would evaporate.

[Kansas Evans]

LOL! You know it!

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

Actually I agree. Our society will never make any progress on this issue until 'family' stop simply meaning 'females doing child care'. Unfortunately this will require a major change in the nature of the debate, a change I don't thing most want to make.

[blowoutfan]

While it's crass, whoever said that if men got pregnant, abortions would be available at the 7-11 had it right. The entire framing of the issue has to change from the workplace tolerating women who have to take care of children and ageing parents to a society that thinks that PEOPLE have a responsibilty to care for the families whether they are men or women.

Unfortunately, society seems to be moving away from one that cares about family at all. Sad.

[PadrePio]

What you and these women fail to see is the correlation between how many republicans their state has in Washington DC and their rights at work. Voting has consequences and sending free trade pro industry Republicans to Washington has consequences as well. It's time people wake up to the fact the while the Democrats are not perfect they are better on issues like family leave then any Republican will ever be.

[Kansas Evans]

I totally agree with you.

I just watched Ann Coulter and Star Jones' new show. Apparently, rank and file conservatives are so upset over abortion that they can hardly think straight! They can't even grasp the fact that pro-choice policy leads to less abortions whereas pro-life policy leads to more.

Yes, the Dems are far from perfect. But, they are much, much better on issues like family leave as in, they care! I seriously doubt Republicans do.