Imagine this scenario: you're working a retail job and you get a call from your daughter's school, letting you know she has a fever; you tell your boss you need to pick her up, and he says, "Ok sure, but if you leave, we're going to have to let you go."
That's an extreme example of a "toxic work world" that Anne-Marie Slaughter describes and decries in her recent New York Times op-ed.
Slaughter, who came to the public's attention with her take on "why women still can't have it all," says that the American workplace has failed to evolve since the 1950s, when men earned their household's entire income and women cared for their children and aging parents.
A work culture rewarding competitiveness at all costs and punishing requests for flexibility is exhausting employees of both genders and denying their families the care networks they need, she says.
That appears to be the case in New York City, where 45 percent of 1,100 respondents to a recent survey by Comptroller Scott Stringer's office said their jobs didn't offer flexible work arrangements.
Among workers at businesses where such arrangements aren't widely available, 58 percent said they were "uncomfortable" or "very uncomfortable" asking for a schedule other than the usual 9-to-5, the report says. Some reported that their request for a flexible schedule had tangible consequences: negative employee reviews, reduced work hours, and lost promotions.
New Yorkers surveyed across the five boroughs and across professions said they primarily need time off during the typical workday to visit the doctor and care for family members.
"The results suggest that New Yorkers from all walks of life face an untenable tension between their professional and personal responsibilities," Stringer's report says, "and that a new model of work is needed to ensure that parents can remain in the workforce, families have the flexibility to care for loved ones of all ages, and workers of every stripe have the opportunity to succeed."
Stringer and Slaughter agree that the new model calls for the right to request flexible or part-time work, as well as paid family leave for men and women. (Stringer first made his case for flexible scheduling in a 2014 report.)
A federal bill, the "Flexibility for Working Families Act," would guarantee the former, and a bill before the New York State legislature, the "Paid Family Leave Insurance Act," would fund paid family leave with employee payroll deductions of up to 45 cents a week.
