Cross-National Workplace Policy

In May The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) and the Sloan Center on Aging & Work recently co-hosted a Report Release in Washington, DC.   The new report, “Statutory Routes to Workplace Flexibility in Cross-National Perspective,” was prepared by the IWPR and the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law.  The report reviews statutory employment rights in 21 high-income countries - including the U.S. - aimed at increasing workers’ ability to change their working arrangements to balance work and family while facilitating lifelong learning and gradual retirement. It argues that, in the context of U.S. demographic and economic changes, an explicit right to request flexible work could play an important role in preparing the U.S. economy for the future.

For more on the report, as well as the table of measures that govern rights to alternative work arrangements collected for the report, click here »
 

Minding the Gap

The Center on Aging & Work and Middlesex University Business School convened a colloquium hosted by GlaxoSmithKline in London this month.  Center Director Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes presented “Minding the Gap: Talent Management, Employee Priorities and Remaining an Employer-of-Choice,” encouraging  discussion on how changing age demographics are impacting UK and European employers in recruiting and retaining talent.  Participants shared innovative employer strategies for meeting these global challenges and identified ways the Center’s Global Initiatives can facilitate partnership between the business and academic communities.

Click here to learn more about Global Initiatives.

A New Form of Ageism?

Later this month, Director Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes and members of the Global Initiatives team will present on the perceptions of older workers at the 2008 AARP International Forum on the Future Workforce, hosted by the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium.  The team will discuss how ageism may not be a problem only for older workers; the recent focus on the multi-generational workforce may have had the unfortunate unintended consequence of making it acceptable to re-cast workers of different age groups according to stereotypes.  As a result, employers need to consider the advantages and disadvantages of strategies that are either age-neutral or age-friendly/age-specific (recognizing that employees might have different preferences or priorities over their life course).

Visit our publications for more insights into the global multi-generational workforce more »