Guest Op-Ed: Families and flexibility in the 21st century workplace
Even as Americans danced to “9 to 5,” the “traditional” family unit of the mid-20th century that the song describes—a male breadwinner and a female housekeeper and caretaker—had begun to give way to a new model, in which dual-earner families were becoming the norm.
Today, mothers are the primary or co-breadwinners in almost two-thirds of American families and one in five workers provides some form of elder care, a number that is expected to rise as Baby Boomers age.
However, many of our workplaces remain attached to inflexible work rules that adhere to the “9 to 5” workday. As a result, nearly 75 percent of employees—women and men—report not having enough time to spend with their children, while millions more struggle to integrate their personal lives with their professional responsibilities.