The ROWE movement hits Washington D.C.! Cali and Jody will be participating in The White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility scheduled for Wednesday, March 31 beginning at 1:15 and ending at 4:30 pm (EDT). That’s right! Cali and Jody will share the benefits of ROWE with lawmakers, other key figures, and First Lady Michelle Obama [...]
Archive for the ‘Government’ Category
Walk the Walk, Google!
We were stunned (STUNNED!) to read this story about how Google wants the city of Mountain View, CA to change its zoning laws so that more homes can be built near the tech giant’s headquarters. It seems that Google employees face such a tough commute (and have such limited access to public transportation) that the [...]
If Every Day Were a Snow Day
The snowstorm that hit the East coast earlier this month spawned more than a series of quippy nicknames such as “Snowpocalypse” and “Snowmageddon.” The storm also prompted some columnists to think out loud about about how one might learn from being denied access to the workplace by Mother Nature. USA Today puts a frown on [...]
Pitfalls of Utah’s Four-Day Workweek
We wrote this post, with hope, back on 12/27/2009. Following is the original post and an update…. In August 2008, the state of Utah experimented with a four-day workweek in an effort to save energy costs. Out of the state’s 24,000 executive branch employees, 17,000 moved to a 10-hours/day, four-day workweek. Early reports were good, [...]
Sorry, But We're Out of Time
We haven’t heard the reports yet, but the first National Vacation Matters Summit was held in Seattle recently. The conference, backed by non-profit Take Back Your Time, was created to prompt a discussion about the death of the American vacation. Indeed, some of the facts and stats from TBYT’s website are eye-opening: The U.S. is [...]
What if Teachers Ran the Schools?
The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently ran a story about a new state law that gives teachers the power to create charter-style schools that are still under the umbrella of the more traditional top-down school district: Here’s how the law works: Schools would have a contract with the school board. But they would otherwise be exempt [...]
"Dead Cities"…Don't Sludge 'Em
Last year, Forbes.com published a story with the damning title “America’s Fastest Dying Cities.” Based on long-term economic and social indicators such as unemployment, productivity and population loss, the piece painted a negative but even-handed picture of the ill effects of the decline in American manufacturing. In response, Peter Benkendorf, the director of an arts [...]
The European Debate About Hours
In the past few months we’ve been following the debate about the European Union’s Working Time Directive. Sound obscure? It is! Does this make us traditional work culture geeks? Most definitely! Kidding aside, these kinds of discussions are important because of what they reveal about our beliefs about time and work. The purpose of the [...]
Congestion Fees, Telecommuting and You
We’ve been following the saga of New York City’s “congestion fee” plan, an $8 fee that would apply to the nearly 1 million cars that enter Manhattan everyday. As we noted in a previous post, this kind of solution, while well-meaning, can only have a limited impact on the problem of overcrowded streets. That’s why [...]
Family Day Tussle
Check out these reader responses to a question asked by the Toronto Star about whether or not the government should determine whether or not stores should be open on statutory (or legal) holidays. There is an interesting tension here between people who want the government to step in and keep stores closed (for the greater [...]
Modern Working Environment: Tools & Techniques for Virtual Managers
June 13, 12 p.m. CDT
