Boushey Heather
Center for American Progress, USA.
Future Child. 2011 Fall;21(2):163-90. doi: 10.1353/foc.2011.0012.
The foundations of the major federal policies that govern today's workplace were put in place during the 1930s, when most families had a stay-at-home caregiver who could tend to the needs of children, the aged, and the sick. Seven decades later, many of the nation's workplace policies are in need of major updates to reflect the realities of the modern workforce. American workers, for example, typically have little or no control over their work hours and schedules; few have a right to job-protected access to paid leave to care for a family member. Heather Boushey examines three types of work-family policies that affect work-family conflict and that are in serious need of repair--those that govern hours worked and workplace equity, those that affect the ability of workers to take time off from work because their families need care, and those that govern the outsourcing of family care when necessary. In each case Boushey surveys new programs currently on the policy agenda, assesses their effectiveness, and considers the extent to which they can be used as models for a broader federal program. Boushey looks, for example, at a variety of pilot and experimental programs that have been implemented both by private employers and by federal, state, and local governments to provide workers with flexible working hours. Careful evaluations of these programs show that several can increase scheduling flexibility without adversely affecting employers. Although few Americans have access to paid family and medical leave to attend to family needs, most believe that businesses should be required to provide paid leave to all workers. Boushey notes that several states are moving in that direction. Again, careful evaluations show that these experimental programs are successful for both employers and employees. National programs to address child and elder care do not yet exist. The most comprehensive solution on the horizon is the universal prekindergarten programs offered by a few states, most often free of charge, for children aged three and four.
如今管理职场的主要联邦政策基础是在20世纪30年代奠定的，当时大多数家庭都有一位居家照料者，能够照顾孩子、老人和病人的需求。七十年后，美国许多职场政策急需重大更新，以反映现代劳动力的现实状况。例如，美国员工通常对自己的工作时间和日程安排几乎没有控制权；很少有人有权享受受工作保护的带薪休假来照顾家庭成员。希瑟·布希研究了三种影响工作与家庭冲突且急需修复的工作—家庭政策，即那些管理工作时长和职场公平性的政策、那些影响员工因家庭需要照料而请假能力的政策，以及那些在必要时管理家庭照料外包的政策。在每种情况下，布希都调查了目前政策议程上的新计划，评估其有效性，并考虑它们可被用作更广泛联邦计划模式的程度。例如，布希考察了由私人雇主以及联邦、州和地方政府实施的各种试点和实验性计划，这些计划为员工提供灵活的工作时间。对这些计划的仔细评估表明，其中几个计划可以增加日程安排的灵活性，而不会对雇主产生不利影响。虽然很少有美国人能够享受带薪家庭和医疗假来满足家庭需求，但大多数人认为企业应该被要求为所有员工提供带薪休假。布希指出，几个州正在朝着这个方向发展。同样，仔细评估表明，这些实验性计划对雇主和员工都很成功。解决儿童和老年人照料问题的全国性计划尚未存在。即将出现的最全面的解决方案是少数几个州提供的面向三岁和四岁儿童的普及学前教育计划，这些计划大多是免费的。
