Are you familiar with the old adage, “A happy worker is a good worker?” Even in the face of a recession, employers have begun to take this adage quite seriously, offering employees a panoply of new benefits—even naps. In addition to avant-garde benefits (really only offered by a handful of firms), employers and policy makers have begun to acknowledge the connection between workplace flexibility (for example, a parent’s ability to flex hours if their sick child needs to be shuttled home from school) and productivity.
Slightly nervous MarketWatch reporter, Ruth Mantell, recently interviewed Cecillia Rouse, member of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, about workplace flexibility, wondering what the administration’s plans are with regard to this perk of the workplace. That is, Mantell, like many employers, are wondering what the administration’s agenda is with regard to federal rules (such as FMLA) mandating that employers be, to a certain degree, flexible. Rouse commented that the administration plans to “streamline unnecessary rules and costly rules,” while maintaining “cost beneficial” rules that protect workers. One thing specifically the administration is eyeing and looking to bolster are “paid state leave funds,” which pay-out to employees who are forced to take extensive leave. Something Rouse makes explicit, however, is the administration’s overall stance on flexibility—that many programs benefit both employers and employees, and should be left intact. Nevertheless, Rouse’s rather ambiguous statements about future cuts leave much to the imagination, leaving one to wonder whether the administration’s plans will fully embrace the adage, “A happy worker is a good worker.”
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