Archive for the ‘Worklife Balance’ Category
Posted by egehl on March 19, 2010
If you don’t mind, please allow me the opportunity for a small rant. It’s personal to my state, but because it has gotten incredibly drug through the mud by the national media and there’s a misconception it was included in the healthcare reform bill as “an unwarranted back room deal” I need to debunk the perception of the “Louisiana Purchase”.
I understand why the public is upset by “special deals” made by a few Senators including my own in the healthcare bill. However what people don’t understand is that the so-called “Louisiana Purchase” is money desperately needed in my state because of a faulty federal formula that is out of our control, and penalizing the financial health of Louisiana.
As a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Louisiana received federal disaster aid to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. As a result, our economy was artificially inflated by the influx of billions of dollars of temporary, one-time hurricane relief monies.
Unfortunately these hurricane recovery funds are now having the unintended consequence of dramatically decreasing our state’s match rate for federal Medicaid funding, also known as FMAP.
Every state receives a FMAP rate which determines how much the federal government will give that state in Medicaid funding. The agency responsible for determining the average incomes for Medicaid matching purposes, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) in the Department of Commerce, looks at a state’s average per capita income to calculate the rate. The rate is different for each state depending on each state’s income levels so poorer states receive a higher match.
Unfortunately the last calculation of Louisiana’s average income included recovery monies therefore in the federal government’s eyes our state has a higher per capita income because of recovery dollars, which are now dwindling away. The change in our FMAP rate is ironic given Louisiana is one of the poorest states in the nation, and needs Medicaid assistance desperately for our large impoverished population.
All policymakers in Louisiana, including Republicans and Democrats, have been extremely concerned about FMAP and how it will impact our state budget. Starting next year Louisiana will face a massive decline in federal Medicaid funding over and above what other states are dealing with because our state’s match rate will decline.
Louisiana faces the loss of an estimated $1.3 billion in federal Medicaid funding in state fiscal years 2011 and 2012, with an on-going, annualized deficit of almost $900 million. The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) has announced that, if forced to absorb this level of funding reduction, it will have to reduce or eliminate critical programs serving the needs of Louisiana’s most vulnerable populations. In addition, up to125,000 children from low and moderate-income families could lose their health insurance currently provided under Louisiana’s LaCHIP program.
Bipartisan stand-alone legislation has been introduced in Congress to change the FMAP formula, but it has not moved forward. And this issue will not just impact Gulf Coast states, but any state that receives significant federal disaster relief dollars so it’s a national problem.
With this impending deficit looming over Louisiana, Senator Landrieu included $300 million in the healthcare reform bill so that our most vulnerable populations wouldn’t fall through the cracks in the coming years. This was not to fund a pet project, but to keep our state budget solvent so that critical health and human services would not be cut. Our state’s inability to afford offering Medicaid to the same number of citizens because of less federal funding will impact thousands of women and their children.
I hope everyone will think differently about the “Louisiana Purchase” and realize this was for the health and well-being of my state, not to showcase a backroom deal.
Posted in Advocacy, Families, Health, Politics, Worklife Balance | Tagged: FMAP, healthcare reform, Louisiana Purchase, Medicaid | 1 Comment »
Posted by sherrysaunders on March 17, 2010
Posted in Career Advancement, Economy, Families, Feminism, Gen X & Gen Y, Gen Yner, Health, Veterans, Worklife Balance, green, sports | Tagged: Career Advancement, Diversity, Economy, equality, health prevention, Successful Workplaces, workplace | Leave a Comment »
Posted by egehl on March 10, 2010
Those of us who are civilians go about our everyday lives and don’t often think about the men and women serving our country, and the families struggling everyday because of that sacrifice. While service men and women fight and defend our national goals abroad it is the spouses, mostly women, that have to keep the family together and functioning as normal as possible.
When we think and talk about the work and sacrifice of our military, we cannot leave out military families. The military has increasingly become a community of families, as one in seven active-duty members enters the military married and for those entering the eighth year of service, three in four are married and many have children. And when the service member leaves for duty the glue that keeps the family together is the military spouse.
For every person in uniform, there are loved ones back at home that are just as tied to that person’s deployment and the time and effort it takes to serve our country. The wives of those serving in the military are just as battle fatigued as the service members. While they aren’t in the military, they feel like they are after multiple deployments and months being separated from their spouse. After 8 years of war, military families are at the breaking point and need support.
Military families are just like civilian families in that they often depend on a two person income. While the majority of military spouses are employed, typically they earn less than comparable civilian spouses. In addition, they must become single parents while their spouse is away and take care of the children alone, which adds additional stress and challenge to balancing work and life.
Not only do wives struggle with the absence of their spouse, but so do the children. Two million military children are faced with wrenching separations from a parent and suffer from feelings of depression, anxiety and abandonment. According to a RAND study, children in military families have emotional and behavioral difficulties at rates above national averages, and reported symptoms of anxiety and problem behaviors like fighting in higher numbers. Military wives must help their children through these challenges alone, and are faced with the daunting task of supporting their children emotionally so that they won’t suffer from long-term repercussions.
For a long time military wives have not received a lot of attention. However the internet and blogging has changed that. On NBC Nightly News, a story was shared about a woman named Rebecca living in the Fort Bragg area who started a blog entitled “Operation Marriage”.
Rebecca is a military wife whose husband is a veteran of three deployments and could be sent on a fourth. She started the blog because she wanted to give a voice to the voiceless, and she blogs honestly about her intimate feelings and experiences surrounding her husband’s deployment. She strikes a chord with other military wives with her brutally honest blog entries. Through her written word, military wives can commiserate together and find solace knowing there are other women who experience the same emotions they endure everyday.
The internet also offers military wives with advice and support on how to shoulder the enormous responsibility and inevitable sacrifices that come with being part of the military community. For instance, iVillage shares 21 best tips on how to deal with a spouse’s deployment.
Our country owes a lot to the men and women fighting everyday in multiple wars, and the families left behind who support them. Military wives have had to endure a lot over the past 8 years of back to back conflicts and repeat deployments that create months of separation. They too need help and support to get through these difficult times, and I applaud women like Rebecca for creating an outlet to express how it really feels to be married to both a man in uniform and the military.
Posted in Families, Veterans, Worklife Balance | Tagged: military families, military wives, Operation Marriage | Leave a Comment »
Posted by joyinhome on March 3, 2010
Posted in Advocacy, BPW, Career Advancement, Diversity, Economy, Education, Families, Gen X & Gen Y, Research, STEM, Social Media, Successful Workplaces, Workforce Development/HR, Worklife Balance, YWM | Tagged: women, family, Pay Equity, Career Advancement, Veterans, gender roles, Successful Workplaces, equality, work-life balance, Diversity, policy, workplace diversity | Leave a Comment »
Posted by joyinhome on March 2, 2010
E-lobby today to impact policy for working women and their families!
Participate in the Working Women Day of Action. Send an email or take action in your home state: schedule a district meeting, or make a call – do something to increase our collective voice and let Congress know that you care about working women and their families.
Business and Professional Women’s Foundation annual Policy & Action Day is today in DC. We’re educating and lobbying on behalf of working women and their families. And Heather Boushey is helping us do it!
***Be a part of the conversation- ’Tweet Up’ (#bpwf) with us.***
Our Call to Action focuses on these issues:
- Paid Sick Days
- Paid Parental Leave
- Retirement Security
- Equal Pay
- Women Veterans
More info on the issues.
Posted in Advocacy, BPW, Career Advancement, Diversity, Economy, Education, Families, Gen X & Gen Y, Misbehavin' Notification, Pay Equity, Politics, Successful Workplaces, Woman Misbehavin', Worklife Balance, YWM, girls, green | Tagged: women, family, Pay Equity, Gen X & Gen Y, Veterans, gender roles, Successful Workplaces, Economy, Politics, equality, work-life balance, paid sick leave, policy, workplace diversity | 3 Comments »
Posted by egehl on February 19, 2010
A lot of wonderful events happen in February including Valentine’s Day, Black History Month, Mardi Gras (for us New Orleanians), the Super Bowl and importantly for women, National Wear Red Day. Every February, women are encouraged to think about their heart health and how their physical and emotional lifestyle might be helping or hurting their heart.
Earlier this month on Friday, February 5th the nation recognized National Wear Red Day, which is sponsored by the American Heart Association (AHA). AHA’s annual National Wear Red Day is a chance for women nationwide to show that they care about their heart health, and will take action towards preventing heart disease through healthy eating, exercise and regular checkups with their doctor.
However you can be mindful about your heart everyday. 
Many women don’t realize that heart disease is the number 1 killer of women. As our lives become more hectic and stressful it’s critical to be mindful of how that strain could be impacting your heart health. At any age it’s important to have a healthy diet, perform regular exercise, and decrease stress as prevention strategies. However in order for women to reach their diet and exercise goals, there must be better access to healthy foods especially in poorer neighborhoods, improved public recreation facilities and listings of nutritional information in more restaurants.
A recent study published in the Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes journal showed that racial gaps exist in women’s heart-health awareness, women’s knowledge of heart attack warning signs is not sufficient, and nearly half of women report they would not call 9-1-1 if they were having heart attack symptoms.
Further, the study revealed that although 60 percent of white women were aware of heart disease as the leading cause of death for women, less than half of African-American (43 percent), Hispanic (44 percent) and Asian (34 percent) women identified heart disease as the leading cause. In addition, most women lacked knowledge of proven therapies for preventing cardiovascular disease and half of younger women ages 25-34 were unaware of heart disease as women’s number one killer.
Therefore in order to really tackle the high rates of heart disease among women, there must be better awareness among multicultural and younger women, increased education about what to look for in terms of warning signs of a heart attack, and more explanation about why it’s important to call 9-1-1 if you experience heart attack symptoms.
It’s important to sustain awareness and educational campaigns around the prevalence of heart disease and how to prevent it. You can help spread awareness about heart disease by asking your workplace to organize a wear red day, talking about heart disease at one of your community meetings, or encouraging friends and family to get regular checkups so that they are mindful of any physical symptoms that might pose problems down the road.
Posted in Gen X & Gen Y, Health, Lifestyle, Worklife Balance | Tagged: American Heart Association, heart attack, heart disase, National Wear Red Day | 1 Comment »
Posted by egehl on February 8, 2010
This goes without saying, but I have to write it anyway, but I love her. The more I get to know her she truly inspires me with her wit, charm, intelligence, humor, composure, and sensibility. Our First Lady is truly one of a kind, which is why I am always intrigued to learn more about her priority issues.
Michele Obama has many including helping women acheive a better work-life balance and supporting women veterans and their families. Additionally she is interested in the issue of childhood obesity, which has become a national health emergency as our young generation continues to gain weight at an alarming rate.
Childhood obesity is a real problem in this country, and getting worse. It’s a serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents, and occurs when a child is well above the normal weight for his or her age and height. It’s particularly troubling because the extra pounds often start kids on a path to health problems that were once confined to adults, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
There are many shocking statistics associated with this epidemic such as, 1 in 3 or 33% of American kids are obese. When broken down by race, health inequities are evident as African American and Mexican American youth have greater degrees of obesity. Overall our youngest generation is on track of being less healthy and having a shorter lifespan than their parents.
As the First Lady has noted, it’s not a surprise that this is happening because of the burdens and pressures of modern day life. Today’s busy families have fewer free moments to prepare nutritious, home-cooked meals. Although genetics can play a role in whether or not an individual will become obese, behavioral and environmental factors are more likely responsible for the increased prevalence. Our kids are eating less healthy and leading more sedentary lifestyles. From fast food to electronics, quick and easy is the reality for many of today’s families.
Everyday parents are faced with the looming question of what to feed their children and how to make it healthy. This is especially challenging for working parents who feel tired and stressed after a long day at work, and may not have the time or energy to put together a balanced meal.
Kids are shuffled to and from a gazillion activities, and parents feel pressure to feed their kids at a certain time so trips to fast food restaurants become more frequent. Over time those choices start to build up and the child comes to expect and like eating fast food. And it’s not that parents don’t care about what their children are eating, or want them to eat healthily, but they need help.
To no one’s surprise, the best strategy to combat against excess weight for children is to improve their diet and exercise levels. Like adults, most excess weight is caused by kids eating too much and exercising too little. For those children that eat more calories than needed, they gain weight beyond what’s required to support their growing bodies. And with more kids spending less time exercising and more time in front of the TV, computer, or video-game console it becomes even harder to burn those excess calories.
So what can parents do to tackle this challenge? Here are some tips:
- Try to have dinner together as a family as often as possible.
- Lead by example because kids will follow your direction.
- Provide healthful food and beverage choices as much as possible, even if that means a few healthy TV dinners.
- Assist and educate children in making healthful decisions regarding types of foods and beverages to consume, how often, and in what portion size.
- Encourage and support regular physical activity.
- Limit children’s television viewing and computer time to less than 2 hours per day.
- Discuss weight status with your child’s health-care provider.
- Get help from family members.
Posted in Education, Health, Lifestyle, Worklife Balance | Tagged: childhood obesity, first lady, Michele Obama, obese epidemic, obesity | Leave a Comment »
Posted by YWM on February 4, 2010
Posted in Advocacy, BPW, Career Advancement, Economy, Families, Feminism, Gen X & Gen Y, Health, Successful Workplaces, Worklife Balance, YWM | Tagged: Economy, family, Heather Boushey, paid sick leave, Pay Equity, policy, Successful Workplaces, work-life balance, workplace diversity | Leave a Comment »
Posted by espressodog on February 3, 2010
Not surprisingly, 61% of unpaid caregivers in the United States are women.
A caregiver is anyone who provides basic assistance and care for someone frail, disabled or ill and needing help. Caregiving takes many forms from handling daily activities such as bathing, managing medications or preparing meals, to managing finances, transportation, and grocery shopping. About 44 million Americans provide 37 billion hours of unpaid, “informal” care each year for adult family members, friends, and children in need and a majority are women.
In 2007, the estimated economic value of family caregivers’ unpaid contributions was at least $375 billion, which is how much it would cost to replace that care with paid services. Caregivers provide life-sustaining, necessary and invaluable support, often working long hours and enduring sometimes heartbreaking conditions. What are we doing to support these women and lessen the financial, physical, and emotional burden they face?
In the State of the Union, President Obama proposed two policy initiatives aimed at relieving the financial burden of caregiving on middle-class families. One initiative would nearly double the child and dependent care tax credit for middle class families making under $85,000 a year. Child care costs have grown twice as fast as the median income of families with children since 2000, but the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit has only increased once in 28 years and is not indexed for inflation. Currently, the child care tax credit reimburses 20% of child and dependent care expenses that enable caregivers to work or look for work. That rate will be raised from 20% to 35%. Families could claim up to $3,000 in expenses for one child or $6,000 for two children. The maximum credit for a family with two children making $80,000 a year would increase from $1,200 to $2,100. The administ
ration also proposed to increase the child care tax credit for families making between $85,000 and $115,000 but not by quite as much.
Caregiving should not make women poor, but it does. Women who are unpaid caregivers are nearly three times more likely to be poor and five times more likely to depend exclusively on Social Security. Almost 60% of all caregivers either work or have worked while providing care. And of those caregivers that hold a paid job, 62% have had to make adjustments to their work, such as reporting late to work or giving up work entirely. One-third of female caregivers leave the workplace altogether, reducing their likelihood of receiving adequate health care benefits, retirement or Social Security income for themselves.
The second initiative prosposed by President Obama would expand support for families balancing work with elder-care, helping caregivers manage their multiple responsibilities and allowing seniors to live in the community for as long as possible. The Caregiver Initiative adds $52.5 million in funding to the Department of Health and Human Services caregiver support programs that provide temporary respite care, counseling, training, and referrals to critical services. The extra funding will allow nearly 200,000 additional caregivers to be served and 3 million more hours of respite care to be provided. It also adds $50 million to programs that provide transportation help, adult day care, and in-home services, such as aides to help seniors bathe and cook, which eases the burden for family members and helps seniors stay in their homes.
It is important to recognize that the nearly 66 million caregivers are a crucial extension of our formal health care system. Everyone knows about the high cost of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, but the cost of taking care of your aging parents at home is not as well documented. Without their efforts, those receiving care would turn to public programs such as Medicaid, their quality of life and health status would decline, and public costs would increase.
These caregivers play a vital role in helping seniors stay in their communities or at home. But too often they don’t have the support they need to balance caregiving with work and family responsibilities. We must support caregivers so they can continue in their roles.
What you can do:
Posted in Families, Worklife Balance | Tagged: caregivers, child care, family, obama administration, work-life balance | Leave a Comment »
Posted by leadlikeagirl on January 28, 2010
During the seven years I served in the US Army, the things I considered ”workplace perks” included sleeping in past 5 am and being in a unit that slept on cots when we went to the field (as opposed to our infantry friends that just curled up on the ground next to the nearest tree).
Apparently anything that got me better sleep constituted a perk! But beyond that, I had no concept of what real workplace benefits looked like.
When I transitioned out of the military into the civilian world, this meant even the smallest of perks made me giddy beyond words. I remember calling my mom and squealing with delight about the free coffee in my first office.
“You wouldn’t believe the beverage machine I get to use at my new job. It makes coffee, tea, and chococinos!! I don’t even know what a chococino is but I want one!”
Coming from the army, standard run-of-the mill perks that the rest of the work world had grown accustomed to were still big news to me (and truth be told…the chococinos do still make me giddy).
But as I’ve continued in my civilian career, I’ve learned not all those little extras are created equally. I’ve discovered there’s more to employment than considering what kind of coffee machine is in the office. Each new job I’ve held has introduced me to new perks, each time setting the bar higher for future employers.
The first boss that allowed me to work from home one day a week certainly changed the way I look at benefits. On that one day, I found I was twice as productive in half the time (while also getting my laundry done). With my weekend free of worrying about my lack of clean underwear, I also able to better enjoy my time off, leaving me fully recharged when I showed up to work on Monday.
Now, the ability to telecommute is on my must-have list when I consider a new job. In addition, I’ve also come to love casual work environments (who’s not more productive in comfy clothes?!) & flexible schedules (because sometimes I do my best work at 2am). I find the quality of my life is better, which makes me happy. But the quality of my work is better too…which makes my employer happy! (Read: Workplace Flexibility = Return On Investment)
I stumbled into these benefits before I ever knew to ask for them but now can’t imagine living without them. And I’m thankful there are employers out there who continue to push the limits of what is considered a “normal perk.”
This continued search for work-life balance may just be what helps cure the economy, diminishes crazy city traffic, and makes us all a bit more productive in the long run!
This week’s “Tell Us What You Want, What You Really Really Want Theme” is workplace perks. We want to hear from you, Gen Y:
- What kind of perks would your dream job include?
- How do those perks foster a good work-life balance?
- What barriers are preventing you from getting those perks?
You can post your musings on Young Women Misbehavin’, Facebook, Twitter or email us at kbarrett@bpwfoundation.org.
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Posted in BPW, Gen X & Gen Y, Gen Yner, Lifestyle, Veterans, Worklife Balance | Tagged: military, work-life balance | 6 Comments »
