Katie Corrigan
Director, Workplace Flexibility 2010

Kathleen Christensen Ph.D.
Program Director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Demographic and economic changes are transforming work-family concerns from private, individual matters to major societal issues. These changes – stagnating incomes, job loss or insecurity, the number of women in the labor force, the high percentage of children living in households in which all adults work, the aging of the baby boomer population, and the increased responsibilities for eldercare – are exerting new demands and increasing pressures on workers and their families. At the same time, most U.S. workers are employed in rigidly structured work environments in which they must choose between the demands of work and the needs of their families. This one-size-fits-all workplace – with its full-time, full-year, year-in and year-out jobs – as well as its rigid, linear career paths, remains the norm of American workplaces.

This panel will explore demographic changes across generations and throughout one’s lifetime. And it will address such trends as the increase of job demands and the emergence of new pressures on dual-earner families, single parents, and older workers alike.

There is a profound structural mismatch between how, when and where people work and the needs of a changing work force. This panel will discuss the consequences of the structural mismatch for families and children as well as the impact on health and well-being of people working in specific occupations for whom these problems are particularly acute.

Betsey Stevenson, Ph.D.
Chief Economist, U.S. Department of Labor

Introduction:

David Gray
Director, Workforce and Family Program, New America Foundation

Business productivity and workplace flexibility are intertwined. Research shows that workplace flexibility has substantial benefits to individuals and to businesses of all sizes. A number of U.S. firms have led the way in implementing promising flexibility practices, including opportunities for flexible work arrangements, time off, and opportunities for career exit, maintenance and re-entry. But just as flexibility is not a one-size-fits-all solution for employees, nor is it for employers. In this interactive discussion, representatives from diverse employers – at different points along the flexibility spectrum – will discuss why flexibility is critical to their business, and what they have done and are currently doing to create, grow and redefine flexibility within their organizations. This panel will also discuss the clear barriers and challenges that remain.

A growing consensus finds that the mismatch between the needs of the U.S. workforce and the structure of the workplace is no longer sustainable –serious consequences exist for families, for business, and for the overall economy. But, despite a rich body of academic research and evidence of a business case, workplace flexibility is still far from the norm in American society, particularly for low-wage workers. In addition, the day-to-day burdens of work-life conflict continue to fall on the shoulders of individual families as opposed to being seen as a shared problem with common solutions.

The closing panel will bring together a diverse group of leaders to answer two critical questions:  What’s at stake? Where do we go from here?

Christina M. Tchen
Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement
Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls

Introduction:

Donna Klein
President and Founder, Corporate Voices for Working Families