“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.
Yesterday, Mr. Obama met with some company chiefs to delve into the topic. From that, the White House released a fact sheet on Innovative Workplace Practices which outlined some of the president’s discussions with corporate heads from Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson and Pitney Bowes, among others.
It’s that time of the week when we wind down and reflect on the stories impacting our working and living experience. Here’s some of the biggies that galvanized us, and some of the more obscure stories that got me thinking.
Rumblings of work life balance were heard around the world early on in the 2008 presidential race. Right out of the gate, Michelle Obama made it very clear that her family, and in fact the lives of Malia and Sasha would be a top priority entering the White House.
President Barack Obama took the oath of office on the steps of a building built by slaves. With this inauguration he ushers in great cultural change as the first African American president. A hopeful departure from the discrimination of the past as people of all races and cultures came together to celebrate this day.
Out comes the crystal ball in the form of the news headlines tracking the journey on the elusive quest for work life balance. Gazing into my new Mac Book Pro, there is a flurry of activity on all the social network sites harping on the global economic meltdown, job losses, and the need for better balance contrasted with guidance from the positive to the practical pundits who grace the web.
Here’s what I see coming down the pike:
When CNN’s Ed Henry was appointed to the Washington bureau and assigned to cover President-elect Barack Obama, his knowledge of things – work life – emerged. I think it was an organic thing. A kind of extra perk of his intuitive journalistic prowess.
In our 24/7 high-tech global marketplace, our work life scenario changes exponentially. 2008 is chuck full of illustrations mirroring that fact, the least of which was the election of our first African American president. President-elect Barack Obama ran on a platform of change and a promise to create or save, an estimated 3 million jobs – and he used social media tools to nail the top spot.
Sunday, the Obama transition team announced the new “White House Task Force on Working Families” through a press release which defined this new entity as a major initiative toward, “raising the living standards of the middle-class, working families in America.” President-elect Obama has tapped Vice President-elect Joe Biden to chair the task force.
Security issues and presidential record-keeping guidelines might soon have President-Elect Barack Obama singing the BlackBerry Blues. The Presidential Records Act requires his correspondence be officially on-the-record. According to the National Archives website, the act, “Establishes a process for restriction and public access to these records.” So e-mails can eventually be open to public view and scrutiny.
