TOPICS
TOPICS
Special Report: Balancing Act
The innovations of modern life have provided unprecedented flexibility to the 21st century workforce. But progress brings its own set of challenges. Sophisticated technology has allowed more employees to work remotely, but its ubiquity also makes it tougher to draw a distinct line between work and life outside of work. More two-income households have increased job opportunities for women and men and provided a greater sense of financial stability. At the same time, working families face thorny and expensive decisions when it comes to obtaining care for their children or aging parents.
The federal government, now more than ever, wants healthy and happy employees. As a result, agencies are offering an array of benefits ranging from yoga classes to financial counseling to help federal workers juggle their busy and increasingly complicated lives. Government Executive has interviewed employees and federal managers for a sense of what agencies are doing to improve workers' quality of life. Our reporting is by no means comprehensive, but it provides a broad look at the kinds of resources available to employees and long-term trends in telework, fitness, family care and other areas.
This isn't new territory for Uncle Sam. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, created a lifestyle and health promotion program for employees in 1978. But the growing rate of obesity among Americans as well as the adverse effects of economic recession, climate change, pandemic disease and two wars have raised the stakes significantly. The Obama administration already has vowed to make health and wellness a priority for the federal workforce, requiring agencies as part of the fiscal 2011 budget process to take inventories of their health and wellness programs. In several public appearances at agencies, First Lady Michelle Obama has highlighted the importance of work-life balance in providing employees with the resources to help reform the government. Recently, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter R. Orszag introduced a pedometer challenge to employees, encouraging them to keep track of their physical activity and promising incentives such as healthy happy hours.
The high-profile attention is encouraging, but the administration must put its money (and other resources) where its mouth is if it wants to make positive contributions to its employees' lives. State-of-the-art fitness facilities, top-notch daycare and cafeterias full of organic food aren't free, and it's important that all employees, regardless of their financial situations, have the opportunity to take advantage of such benefits. If the administration's results can match its rhetoric, the federal workforce could be an example of health and wellness to employees everywhere.
We start our special report with a look at health and wellness programs. Check back in the coming weeks for stories on personal enrichment programs, family care and flexible work arrangements. Please send any feedback and suggestions to klunney@govexec.com.
COMMENTS
- I like that the Federal Government wants us to be healthy. The fact remains that we Government employees do not. Many become sick and die in government service. We age like anybody else. I want the ability to donate sick leave to those in need. Donating annual leave to create sick leave makes no sense. The Government wants to save money by making us work more for less benefits (time off). At the same time, the Government wants us to be healthy. Some of us are (Yay!). Some of us just are not. Those of us who are healthy feel guilty when we do not sacrifice well-earned and much-needed vacation hours for an ailing colleague. Who desperately needs them. Whose family desperately needs them Government can act the Scrooge in this matter and continue to refuse to allow the donation of sick hours. Alternatively, Government can create laws allowing sick leave to be donated in the same way as regular vacation. In fact, Government can start by allowing a two-for-one donation. Much as the new law allowing one hour of credit for each hour of unused sick leave, we should be allowed to donate two hours for one received by the approved leave recipient. That is, if the Government does not think one-for-one is a good Scrooge-like bargain. Shawn Hendricks Posted January 31, 2010 4:29 PM
- There is lots of talk about these wonderful benefits, like cafeterias with great healthy meals, fitness centers, weight loss programs etc. Maybe in the bigger cities, bigger centralized facilities, but for the small office in the rural locations, where lots of government workers really interact with the direct public - no such luck unless it is a crisis intervention or you can do it via the internet. Not wasting monies here. REA Posted October 20, 2009 8:52 PM
- Abbeylou, this concept makes sense just like not clear cutting forests or using limited water resources to grow golf courses in the desert makes sense. The use of educated ethical human capital is the use of this nation's most valuable resource, and it must be conducted in a sustainable manner in order to avoid political and economic instability. The government is only mirroring practices that have been implemented in private sector businesses in order to maximize employee productivity. The days of sweat shops and child labor may appeal to a limited few sadistic souls, but happily, are not going to be relived in this country any time soon. noman Posted October 20, 2009 3:15 PM
