This week the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution 768, expressing support for the designation of the month of October as “National Work and Family Month.”  It is a simple resolution that does a few good things:

• Recognizes the importance of balancing work and family to job productivity and healthy families;
• Recognizes that an important job characteristic is a work schedule that allows employees to spend time with families;
• Supports the goals and ideals of `National Work and Family Month’, and urges public officials, employers, employees, and the general public to work together to achieve more balance between work and family; and
• Requests that the President issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe `National Work and Family Month’ with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

Nearly everyone understands that our work force is dramatically different than it was decades ago.  The findings included in the House Resolution also make the point that “85 percent of United States wage and salaried workers have immediate, day-to-day family responsibilities outside their jobs and job flexibility allows parents to be more involved in their children’s lives.”

Unfortunately House Resolutions have little teeth – they are good talking points and certainly help to bring attention to important issues.  But Congress needs to take this resolution one step further and actually support and pass policies that back up these ideas, without imposing new mandates on our businesses.

For one, we need more flexible work arrangements – as the Resolution suggests.  Many families struggle to balance work and family, making sure they have enough time off to care for a sick child or attend a soccer game.  We need to give private sector hourly employees the option to take time off in lieu of overtime wages, a benefit that our federal government employees have enjoyed for three decades. 

Working families, men and women, will continue to re-shape and re-define our workforce.  We need to make sure that our laws can keep up with the changes.  What do you think?

Ok-get this-YOUR government payroll rose by 9,000 jobs in the month of September.  (your tax dollars at work).  The  American economy lost 159,000 jobs in September, the worst in five years (according to NY Times article).   What is wrong with this picture?

Lehman Brothers paid off executives with millions of dollars as it pleaded for federal  bailout.  This information comes as Congress began investigating what went so wrong on Wall Street to prompt a $700 billion government bailout?!

An ex-scientist, former Goldman Sachs executive is leading the bailout program at Treasury.  Before drafting the legislation, he worked with Rockets! 

Can someone explain all this to me?

This month continues to be hectic and heavy traveling.  I went from Washington, D.C.'s congressional briefing to Orange County, California. While In California, I met with the Orange County News, did a radio show on the Frank Peters Small Business Show and spent almost three hours talking with Entrepreneur Magazine and Women Entrepreneur.Com.  All these interviews covered the family friendly policies agenda and the current state of the economy for small business.

Tomorrow, I will head to Dallas for the Atlas Economic Research Foundation International Conference and NCPA's 25^th Anniversary Celebration.  Luckily on this trip, I am able to take my husband,  Earl.  We recently celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary at the Grand Canyon.  It will be exciting to celebrate the NCPA's great work over the last 25 years.  Their free market, economic freedom agenda has provided years of progress for this country.

Good, bad, or indifferent?  I had the opportunity to talk about Congressman Hoyer’s (D) Four Day Work Week proposal last week while I was in Washington, D.C.  I sure don’t want to throw cold water on federal government workers having a three day week-end; however, can they supply the services to American citizens in a 10 hour day, four day week?  Will it withstand the time economically and what kind of hardships will it bear for 10 hour days at child care facilities?  Check out the link to view the ABC News 8 broadcast Sept. 8, 2008:

http://cfc.news8.net/videoondemand.cfm?id=22363

I returned home from Washington, D.C. Thursday afternoon.  Exhausted but exhilarated about the work we are doing for the Family Policy Center!  Follow-up begins immediately! 

While I was in DC, I did three or four radio interviews (brain can't remember at this point) and a TV interview.  All of the interviews were focused on what the Family Policy Center is doing on family friendly policies and helping small businesses with less government intervention.  On Wednesday morning just prior to the congressional briefing, I did an interview on the National Small Biz Advocate Show with Jim Blasingame.   Jim is a long time friend of mine and great supporter of my work with the NCPA.  I was able to share about the NCPA Family Center initiative, as well as discuss small business as it relates to the Presidential candidates.   
 

Some other highlights from my DC trip:  We had a wonderful dinner at Filomena in Georgetown.  It was a terrific "get acquainted" dinner with about 10 women from California to Florida to New York and Texas!  The following morning we had breakfast and walked to the Capitol for the congressional briefing.  The briefing room was packed with congressional staffers and women from around the country and in fact the world.  Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers spoke about her Family Friendly legislation; Bonnie Erbé host of To the Contrary, spoke about her efforts over the past 30 years working on family friendly workplaces. There were lots of questions, some suggestions, and much follow up work to do.   

After the briefing, Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers hosted a lunch the Members Dining Hall for the NCPA supporters and several international women business leaders.  After lunch, I left for an interview with a Fox producer and the rest of our delegation attended meetings with Congresswoman Kay Granger, Rep. Pete Sessions. &  Rep. Sam Graves.  There was a tour of the Capitol later that afternoon that some of the NCPA supporters experienced. 

Lou Anne Jensen and Marti Carlin and I had dinner at Union Station Wednesday evening and started discussing the memories of 9/11.  Thursday morning found us leaving EARLY for the airport as dozens of roads and highways were closing for the Pentagon Memorial 9/11 dedication. 

Whew, all that in just a little over 24 hour period of time.  I would love to hear about your thoughts on the DC briefing and events surrounding, so, post a comment on the blog-let's hear it from you! 

by Terry Neese

Our founding fathers believed in the American Dream, where all were given the opportunity to succeed through hard work.  Benjamin Franklin said that "energy and persistence conquer all things" Unfortunately, for many, our laws, that were originally crafted to protect the family and the work ethic, now prevent that principle being true today. 

Today, despite the evident and abundant blessings of liberty, America's labor laws aren't working well — for men or women. They simply don't reflect the needs of today's workers.

Beth Shulman, in her 2005 book, The Betrayal of Work, had some harsh words about today's reality: "For generations, Americans shared a tacit understanding that if you worked hard, a livable income and basic securities were to be yours. That promise has been broken and as a nation, we are living a lie."

Has the American dream become a lie?  That's harsh, but working hard is no longer enough to provide for you and your family.  Even those who work hard are having a hard time gaining basic security while they labor in the fields of the modern economy. If enough policymakers remember the principles behind our great country, and more important, the people composing it, proposals pending in Congress might, just might, be able to restore Benjamin Franklin's American dream.

For Americans, the value of work is unchanging. The satisfaction that comes from working hard and seeing a tangible result is at the center of our identities as humans.  Dignity, achievement, mutual benefit from a fair exchange in a free economy — these  needs of the American people never change. Our ability to meet those needs in the face of an ever diverse workforce unfortunately has changed dramatically since most of our labor laws were written in the 1930s.  Between 1950 and 2000, the labor force participation rate of women between 25 and 55 years of age more than doubled.  Today, more than 75 percent of these women are in the labor market.  Fewer than 12 percent of mothers with children under six were in the labor force in 1950.  Today, more than 60 percent are working. 

Today, those rigid labor laws function in ways that can deny the opportunity to attend a child's soccer game or take a parent to the doctor one week and make up the hours the following week. Women and men need the ability to bend schedules in order to care for aging parents or, increasingly, even an aging spouse.

The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) has worked on such reforms for many years.  In "Leaving Women Behind," John Goodman, with Kimberley Strassel and  Celeste Colgan, acknowledged the needs of our changing workforce and began a push to reform labor laws. I continue to work with political leaders to promote the sensible reforms offered in the book. 

Our major economic institutions – including tax law, labor law, and employee benefits law, as well as Social Security, and retirement policies – reward families with a full-time worker and a stay-at-home spouse and punish every other arrangement. Today's employers and employees find it difficult to make any other arrangement, even though circumstances have changed.

In the Twenty-first Century economy, women and men need adaptable and flexible work schedules to allow the time and energy required to give adequate care to our children, and to support the quality of life our retired parents and loved ones need and deserve in the land of the free.  Our laws need to go back to when they allowed hard work to accomplish responsibilities both at work and at home.

One answer to the dilemma is compensatory time, better known to federal workers as "comp time." In 1995, a poll from the Employment Policy Foundation and Penn/Schoen Associates found that if they had the choice, three out of every four American workers would choose comp time instead of overtime wages. It's not surprising that support for the idea reaches 81 percent among working women, many of whom bear the primary responsibility for caregiving.

Many lawmakers have opposed making such changes in the private sector. But in 1978, Congress took an important and needed first step to change the rules to allow this flexibility for federal government workers. A recently proposed bill, H.R. 6025, would allow such flexibility and alternatives to the 40-hour work week for parents with children and caregivers for the elderly. It could shift the private sector toward greater use of compensatory time for employees who choose to take advantage of it.

There have been some recent rule changes to the overtime laws that applied to supervisory personnel. While welcome, these changes still exclude the private sector workers who most need the benefits comp time arrangements give to busy and stressed workers and their families.

America needs policies that work for people who work. American women – and all American workers — need flexibility, portability, and security in labor law and the provision of benefits.

Such reforms would be worth celebrating, in the grand tradition of our foremothers and forefathers. For a more perfect union, it's past time for comp time. 

The rigid 40 hour work week, originally set forth by the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, was designed to protect employees…Yet it is now hurting both employees and employers.  Primary caregivers, of children or elderly family, often are unable to work the required 40 hours during the 8-5 slot allowed each week.  If unable to work full-time (according to these standards), one is often required to purchase his/her own benefits with after-tax dollars.  If attempting a full-time schedule, productivity and personal satisfaction (both at work and at home) go out the window along w/ their sanity as they attempt to balance work and family responsibilities.

But not only do we need these changes to take place, they have proven profitable for the businesses that have undertaken them on their own!

A recent study by the Families and Work Institute (see http://www.familiesandwork.org/site/sloanbizresults.html) shows that giving employees more flexibility in their workplace increases employee satisfaction, translating into high retention, lower turn over, higher levels of engagement while at the office, and even fewer days skipping out of the office!  Moreover, it boosts productivity, reduces business costs, and even increases profits.  Want the numbers?

According to the study, the Houston accounting firm PFK Texas gives employees choice in work hours, workspace, and even future work plans.  The result?  Their turnover has decreased to a startling low 12%!  The firm has doubled in the meantime and experienced a revenue growth of 8% per year since making the changes. 

The Washington D.C. office of Capital One takes advantage of home offices, wireless laptops, Blackberrys…etc.  Their employees often choose flexible arrangements that work for their own personal situation.  The company spends less money on office costs while simultaneously getting more productivity out of their employees! 

The bottom line simply is this: giving employees flexibility in the workplace means better results for all involved. 

Why can't we?  You tell me…

McMorris Rodgers to Host Women's Conference in Spokane

(Spokane, WA)  On Wednesday, May 28^th, Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers will host the 5^th District Women's Conference, open to the public, to discuss the issues facing women and families in the workforce and our communities. 

"As I new mom, I struggle to find that balance every day," McMorris Rodgers said. "Families need flexibility more than anything.  My Women's Conference will address some of the challenges for families-and offer some solutions."

Today's workforce isn't what it used to be-especially when it comes to working families.  Between 1950 and 2000, the number of working women between 25 and 55 years of age more than doubled in the United States.  In 1950, less than 12 percent of mothers with children under age 6 were in the labor force.  Today, more than 60 percent of them work outside the home. 

"It's long past time for laws and institutions formed more than 50 years ago to become more family friendly," said National Center for Policy Analysis Distinguished Fellow Terry Neese, who heads the NCPA Family Policy Center.  "Families need 21^st century public policies that provide flexibility, portability, and security.  Today's economy demands it." 

Earlier this month, McMorris Rodgers and other members of Congress rolled out a plan called "The American Families Agenda:  Assuring the American Dream."  The National Center for Policy Analysis helped develop the five part plan.  It includes:

• Assuring more time and money for America's families.
• Assuring health care and retirement security for America's families
• Protecting America's kids
• Assuring quality education for America's children
• Supporting America's military families and securing the homeland

EVENT:

Cathy McMorris Rodgers' 5^th District Women's Conference

Wednesday, May 28^th at 8:00 a.m.

Gonzaga University's Jepson Center

502 East Boone Avenue, Spokane, WA

Printed in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram Friday, May 23, 2008

Neese: It's time for U.S. labor law to enter the 21st century

By TERRY NEESE
Special to the Star-Telegram

Work is good. The satisfaction that comes after a good day's work — and seeing a tangible result — is at the center of our identities.

But for women who work outside the home — an unusual circumstance in the 1930s, when most labor laws were written — that satisfaction can be complicated.

Rigid labor laws function in ways that can deny working women the opportunity to attend a child's soccer game or take a parent to the doctor one week and make up the hours the following week. Women need the ability to bend schedules in order to care for aging parents or, increasingly, an aging spouse. Our old-fashioned labor laws will not allow women to have this reasonable flexibility.

There's no reason to leave laws or policies in place when they impede our economic choices. Many changes are needed to bring aging institutions into sync with 21st-century life. We need to get started in making those sensible and overdue changes.

Rep. Kay Granger and other Republican members of Congress recently unveiled the American Families Agenda, which includes ideas that can help ease the regulatory burdens facing America's working people. They're not a moment too soon.

I've been blessed by the dynamism and vibrancy of the American dream. But these days, that dream is fading for some women.

In Leaving Women Behind – written by John Goodman and Celeste Colgan of the National Center for Policy Analysis and Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal – the authors confirm that current policies don't fit the common practices and practical needs of millions of American women. Our nation's employee benefit system needs to be reformed to meet the needs of women in the 21st century.

The Goodman book put an exclamation point on this. Women today, as he wrote, "sit behind more desks, drive more cranes and build more computer chips. They do these jobs for longer hours. Yet women also continue to be the primary caregivers for their families. Working mothers are 83 percent more likely to take time off to care for a child than working fathers. And home life, with its soccer practices, doctors' visits, gymnastics lessons and home repair and maintenance, is more hectic than at any time in the past."

We already know how to work hard. The question is now: How can we work smarter and still meet the needs of our families?

The answer is compensatory time, better known to federal workers as "comp time."

In 1995, a poll from the Employment Policy Foundation and Penn, Schoen & Berland and Associates found that, if given the choice, three out of every four American workers would choose compensatory time instead of overtime wages. It's not surprising that support for comp time reaches 81 percent among working women.

Many lawmakers have opposed making such changes in the private sector. However, in 1978, they changed the rules to allow this flexibility for federal workers. Such policies are common in state governments, including in my home state of Oklahoma (at least for supervisors).

Part of the American Families Agenda includes the Family-Friendly Workplace Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. She wanted to make it easier for parents with young children, and/or those who are caregivers for elderly parents, to accrue "flexible credit hours" — allowing workers to bank any hours in excess of 40 in one week to use toward paid leave.

Federal workers already enjoy this benefit, just as they have their own retirement system and more healthcare options than typical private-sector workers.

Another idea in the American Families Agenda would change income tax law to permit each married partner to file income tax returns separately, without causing the lower earner to be taxed in the higher-earning partner's bracket.

I'm also enthusiastic about two other ideas that are incorporated in the agenda, as they have long been advocated by my colleagues at NCPA. One would remove current time limits on access to continuing health insurance coverage. The second would create incentives for small businesses to join forces to buy good health insurance for employees.

The thoughts featured in the American Families Agenda provide a brand-new opportunity to create a national impetus for serious reform of our current crippling laws. Even in a presidential election year, I hope that at least some of these will be a source of unity in support of working women, and all working Americans.

Terry Neese is a businesswoman in Oklahoma City and a Distinguished Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, based in Dallas.

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                          Contact:  Phil Roth

 972-308-6481

 phillip.roth@ncpa.org

NEW INITIATIVES PROVIDE FLEXIBILITY, FAIRNESS FOR FAMILIES

Proposals Reflect Ideas Championed by NCPA's Family Policy Center

WASHINGTON (May 14, 2008) – Congress today embarked in a new direction aimed at helping working Americans when leading members of the U.S. House of Representatives announced a slate of legislation aimed at simplifying and updating arcane U.S. health, labor and tax laws.  The legislation, titled the American Families Agenda, contains policy reforms that have long been championed by the National Center for Policy Analysis's (NCPA) Family Policy Center. 

 "It's long past time for laws and institutions formed more than 50 years ago to become more family friendly," said NCPA Distinguished Fellow Terry Neese, who heads the Family Policy Center.  "Families need 21^st century public policies that provide flexibility, portability, and security.  Today's economy demands it."

NCPA Family Policy Center reforms include:

• Assuring More Time and Money for America's Families: A policy that allows flexibility and alternatives to the 40-hour work week for parents with young children and caregivers for elderly parents. Comp time and paid time instead of wages for overtime are also proposed.

• Growth for Small Businesses: Reducing the burden on small family-owned businesses to let them compete in the global economy by increasing the expensing allowance.

• A Fairer Tax System for Working Families: Changing a policy so that married couples could file separately without the lower earner being taxed in the higher earner's bracket.  This would make for a fairer tax system for two-earner couples.

• Portable Health and Retirement Benefits: Americans change jobs numerous times during their lives. For this reason, benefits from healthcare to retirement need to be made more portable. Workers should not be penalized when they switch jobs.

"Outdated and outmoded 20^th century policies clearly are no longer helpful, and even harmful, to 21^st century working Americans," Neese said. "Congress must keep pace and today's initiative is an excellent first step."

The American Families Agenda introduced today has been championed by U.S. Representatives Kay Granger (R-Texas) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Washington).

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The NCPA is an internationally known nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute with offices in Dallas and Washington, D. C. that advocates private solutions to public policy problems.  The NCPA accepts no government grants and depends on the contributions of individuals, corporations and foundations that share its mission.