Press Conference on Sloan Foundation Report: 'Integrating Work and Family Life: A Holistic Approach' Scheduled

Washington, D.C. – Aging parents, two high pressure jobs, deadlines in the office and a sick child home from school -- what's a family and society to do to cope? The Sloan-Work Family Network, supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, will unveil their report, "Integrating Work and Family Life: A Holistic Approach" at a roundtable on Sept. 14 at the Phoenix Park Hotel, Washington, D.C. The roundtable will begin at 8:30 a.m. and will be followed by a press conference at 11:30 a.m.

The media is invited to attend both the roundtable and the press conference. For roundtable reservations contact Susan Cass at [email protected]; to attend the press conference contact A'ndrea Elyse Messer, [email protected] or 814-865-9481.

The report, "Integrating Work and Family Life: A Holistic Approach," written for the Network by Lotte Bailyn, T Wilson professor of management., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Robert Drago, professor of labor studies, Penn State; and Thomas A. Kochan, George M. Bunker professor of management, MIT, is embargoed until Sept. 14, but will be available to the press on Sept 1. A related Call to Action will be found at http://lsir.la.psu.edu/workfam as of Sept. 1.

The report, based on a panel of experts in the work-family field, contains recommendations including suggestions for workers, families, government, employers, and unions on dealing with the increasing societal problems of integrating work and family, but its key emphasis is on bringing all the players together to solve this critical problem.

The report recognizes the effect of work-family pressures on society and explores the problems of financial stresses, increasing time squeeze, low wage ceilings for paid care providers, under use of family friendly policies and work structures that do not fit today's reality.

The half day session will include a roundtable with Bailyn, Drago and Kochan presenting the key points of the report followed by comments and discussion by invited participants from Society for Human Resource Management, the Institute for Women's Policy Research, AFL-CIO, and the Employment Policy Foundation. The press conference will follow.