by Kate Evert | May 20, 2020 | Competencies, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Economy, Human Capital, Productivity
As the world begins to reopen and summer approaches, parents are still left juggling work and children. A (welcomed) end may be in sight for remote learning, but most daycares, summer camps, and kids’ programs are closed, leaving children perpetually home for the summer. How can America be open for business when so many parents need to remain home to care for children?
The federal government has tried to help parents during this time, implementing the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), but the measures put in place really only benefit some parents. A recent Time article addresses this same concern. “Businesses with more than 500 employees are excluded from the mandate, and firms with fewer than 50 can ask for an exemption. That’s left more than 59 million Americans… uncovered by those government leave provisions.” Without the option to work from home, some parents are forced to resign in order to care for children.
Like the other structural flaws that Covid-19 has exposed, it’s abundantly clear that there’s a bigger problem with our current childcare system. Elliot Haspel, author of Crawling Behind: America’s Child Care Crisis and How to Fix It, says, “I think that the crisis calls for a complete re-envisioning of the American childcare system.” Hopefully, we will take what we’ve learned during these times to create solutions that work for all families. Until we do, this will limit the labor supply of those 20 to 45, which are typically key earning years. Read More Here
by Kate Evert | May 13, 2020 | Competencies, Human Capital, Productivity, Work Place
By Lisa Aggarwal
Photo Credit: ©Angelina Zinovieva
Looking for a new job? Many people have gotten one they didn’t ask for. Parents fortunate enough to remain employed have the additional unpaid role of providing full-time childcare, entertainment, and assisted education to their children. Schools are closed. Daycares are shuttered and an estimated 50% will not return to operation in the future. Try working while a two-year-old tugs on your sleeve for 8 hours…it’s great!
Many professionals are tending to their children’s countless needs during waking hours and then working all through the night. If you work outside the home, you may have no choice but to entrust your children’s care to someone else. If you are among the growing number of unemployed workers, finding childcare for when job hunting activities or once re-employed poses another real challenge. Not every household has a reliable caregiver available to remain home. Affordable and available childcare isn’t a hallmark of American culture.
There are some options for working parents, however. A recent Time Magazine article outlining worker rights during the pandemic highlights that in companies who employ 50 or more people, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) could provide a solution. “The FFCRA was intended to prop up the U.S. economy during the pandemic, and includes some new or expanded worker protections that last through Dec 31, 2020. The FFCRA also extends up to 12 weeks of paid ‘expanded family and medical leave’ at two thirds’ pay to employees unable to work (or telework) because they are caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed because of coronavirus. It’s subject to caps and requires that employees have been at their company for 30 days before taking leave.”
Once areas emerge from the pandemic, will parents even feel comfortable sending their children to school and those daycare facilities that economically survive? New reports are surfacing of COVID-19 symptoms affecting children, and aggregate group settings are undoubtedly of higher risk. Childcare solutions are critical to having a population able to return to work. According to the Pro-Market, the blog of the Stigler Center at U of C’s Booth School, “While there is scope for a large rebound in employment even if schools and daycares remain closed, the economy will remain 17 million workers short of normal employment in this scenario. Furthermore, many of those working when schools are closed will only be able to do so if a spouse or partner or who would typically be working instead remains home.” It’s a tightrope we will all walk in finding a safe, yet economically viable way to proceed, and parents will likely continue to have a two-year-old tugging at their sleeve while we walk it. Read More Here
by Kate Evert | May 13, 2020 | Competencies, Human Capital, Productivity, Work Place
By Lisa Aggarwal
Photo Credit: ©Angelina Zinovieva
Looking for a new job? Many people have gotten one they didn’t ask for. Parents fortunate enough to remain employed have the additional unpaid role of providing full-time childcare, entertainment, and assisted education to their children. Schools are closed. Daycares are shuttered and an estimated 50% will not return to operation in the future. Try working while a two-year-old tugs on your sleeve for 8 hours…it’s great!
Many professionals are tending to their children’s countless needs during waking hours and then working all through the night. If you work outside the home, you may have no choice but to entrust your children’s care to someone else. If you are among the growing number of unemployed workers, finding childcare for when job hunting activities or once re-employed poses another real challenge. Not every household has a reliable caregiver available to remain home. Affordable and available childcare isn’t a hallmark of American culture.
There are some options for working parents, however. A recent Time Magazine article outlining worker rights during the pandemic highlights that in companies who employ 50 or more people, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) could provide a solution. “The FFCRA was intended to prop up the U.S. economy during the pandemic, and includes some new or expanded worker protections that last through Dec 31, 2020. The FFCRA also extends up to 12 weeks of paid ‘expanded family and medical leave’ at two thirds’ pay to employees unable to work (or telework) because they are caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed because of coronavirus. It’s subject to caps and requires that employees have been at their company for 30 days before taking leave.”
Once areas emerge from the pandemic, will parents even feel comfortable sending their children to school and those daycare facilities that economically survive? New reports are surfacing of COVID-19 symptoms affecting children, and aggregate group settings are undoubtedly of higher risk. Childcare solutions are critical to having a population able to return to work. According to the Pro-Market, the blog of the Stigler Center at U of C’s Booth School, “While there is scope for a large rebound in employment even if schools and daycares remain closed, the economy will remain 17 million workers short of normal employment in this scenario. Furthermore, many of those working when schools are closed will only be able to do so if a spouse or partner or who would typically be working instead remains home.” It’s a tightrope we will all walk in finding a safe, yet economically viable way to proceed, and parents will likely continue to have a two-year-old tugging at their sleeve while we walk it. Read More Here
by Kate Evert | Apr 29, 2020 | Competencies, Human Capital, Productivity, Skilled Labor
The Covid-19 pandemic has had many learning curves, and no doubt there are many still to come. Those amongst us who never much liked science or statistics have now become quite comfortable with the concepts of R0 and R1, exponential curve rates and trajectories of respiratory droplets.
Hidden behind the vast statistics of those who have died are the lives lived by each of this virus’ victims. Americans have gained a new-found appreciation of the vital role that “essential workers” play in our everyday life. Not just the essential workers that are first responders and medical workers, but those in so many businesses that do the invisible work. In the case of Cesar Quirumbay, truly invisible work.
One of those lives prompted Matthew Miller to write to the New York Times to laud the talents and mourn the man from the back room who could sew invisible stitches and smooth wrinkles away. He instructs us that “every obituary is both a remembrance of a life ended and an instruction to those of us still living.” In HR terms, the author and the late Mr. Quirumbay’s boss describe competencies that any employer dreams of: modesty, diligence, collaboration, teamwork, attention to detail, and sophisticated communication skills. For a labor economist, Mr. Quirumbay’s death highlights another cost of this pandemic—the cost of losing human capital while still on the upwards arc of the productivity curve. As for valuing that work, that invisible work, it is skilled labor that took over 20 years to develop and hone. It cannot be replaced easily. Read More Here
by Kate Evert | Apr 8, 2020 | Productivity, Work Place
You may have recently seen this funny take on that BBC interview a couple of years ago, or this recent piece in the New York Times. In any event, I think that women who have been working from— and at—home for years, if not decades, are finally having our moment to shine.
My husband would often bluster, “I just can’t work from home; I need to be at the office.” With our current enforced stay at home orders, my husband has been coping by commandeering the desk in our daughter’s now abandoned bedroom. The other day, he found me curled up in the bedroom window seat, hyper focused, engrossed in a project. He very excitedly announced that he had just done his first Zoom call with video. I peered over my glasses and said, “You’re joking?” He replied, “No, why would I have done one before? You know I prefer face-to-face.”
Well, because sometimes…face-to-face isn’t possible.
I have done calls (at kids’ practices) in the rain
And in the dark. And on a plane and a train.
And in a car. And (at other practices) under a tree.
See, it’s really all the same for me.
So I will do them in an old call box.
And I will do them in comfy sox.
I have done them at my parent’s house.
I can control Zoom without a mouse.
And I can host them here and there.
Say! I can do them anywhere!
by Kate Evert | Mar 18, 2020 | Productivity, Work Place
COVID-19 has forced many companies to adopt new and expanded work from home policies. But remember—commuting is a 200-year-old fad—previously most everyone worked where they lived. Long before the Industrial Revolution, farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths, teachers, and shopkeepers typically made their livelihoods where they lived. About two decades ago, corporate America got the memo on flexibility. Those companies that have become adept at remote working will have the most ease at adapting to our new set of circumstances and keep a large chunk of the business world operating through the current crisis.
Online tools such as Slack, Zoom, or Skype allow for companies to stay connected while physically distant. CHRC has relied heavily on Zoom, a video conferencing tool, as a communication platform for years. We not only use it for meetings with clients, but also amongst ourselves when collaborating on spreadsheets or reports. Stella Garber, product marketing lead at Trello also uses Zoom to manage a team spread across the country. A recent Chicago Tribune article shares how Garber “spends much of her day in meetings on Zoom…whose stock is up about 60% since the start of the year, which can be configured to show everyone’s face like a ‘Brady Bunch’ grid so colleagues can see each other’s reactions.”
Kate Lister, president of Global Workplace Analytics, believes that this global pandemic will allow companies to see that working remotely “can be done successfully” and also “demonstrate the benefits beyond disaster preparedness.” In order to make working from home successful, Philippe Weiss, president of Seyfarth Shaw at Work, suggests that “managers must set clearer expectations, offer more frequent praise and have more purposeful check-ins on progress when their workers are remote. They should overcommunicate, but not too much.”
We predict that the true test will be of management skills and disciplined and purposeful communication. Investing in training for these capabilities right now will result in a much healthier organization long after we’ve been vaccinated against Covid-19. Read More Here
