Flexible working arrangements as the “new normal” in the workplace

“Everyone should have a chief of staff and a set of personal assistants,” said First Lady Michele Obama at a meeting last week of Corporate Voices for Working Families. It couldn’t be better timing for public policy group Workplace Flexibility 2010.

The think-tank based at Georgetown University Law Center issued a report yesterday outlining a policy blueprint to “expand Americans’ access to  flexible working arrangements such as compressed workweeks, predictable schedules and telework.” Essentially, the goal of the non-partisan group is to make the implementation of Flexible Work Arrangements the “new normal” –  instead of the stepchild of the traditional workplace.

The report is the culmination of five years of research and discussions across a wide spectrum of demographics including employers, employees and consumer advocates. During a press conference at the National Press Club, Professor Chai Feldblum, Co-director of Workplace Flexibility 2010, took the conversation up a notch by calling on the federal government to lead by example in work life policy.

“We need to hit the reset button on FWAs in the federal government,” Feldblum said adding that in this moment in time,  faced with restructuring the economy in what is now often referred to as the “new economy,” there needs to be a comprehensive approach to workplace flexibility.

The report indicates that the government was an “early leader” in adopting  such policies, which are still in place. But Prof. Feldblum says there needs to be commitment from all levels of government for those policies to spread more consistently throughout the public and private sectors.

Within the report are numerous examples of such workplace flexibility arrangements already being implemented in corporate America. At the press conference, Ann Weisberg,  Director, Talent at Deloitte U-S, mentioned a program called Mass Career Customization which allows an employee to adjust their hours, responsibilities and travel over the course of their careers.

Ultimately, Prof. Feldblum said it’s not that the workforce doesn’t want to work hard, they just want to work differently within a “new economy”: “The economy is changing at an accelerating rate. Companies have to be increasingly nible to respond to market conditions… it’s time to start a national conversation on the issue.”

For more information on other recent studies on Workplace Flexibility check out the following:

2009 Work+Life Fit Reality Check Survey:  Flexibility in the Recession