[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 16148]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               RECOGNIZING NATIONAL WORK AND FAMILY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of 
National Work and Family Month. As a mother of young kids in a 
household with two working parents, I know all too well the daily 
struggle facing today's American families. How can we be great parents 
and also be great at our jobs?
  This summer, when I was home in my congressional district, a 
constituent raised a question that particularly struck me: Can you 
imagine what a typical workweek would look like if suddenly, without 
warning, every single child care provider failed to show up to work and 
left parents with no alternative child care options? From Wall Street 
to Main Street, America's businesses would come to a grinding halt; and 
the carefully spun web of endless schedules, systems, and to-do lists 
that we've created to make it all work would unravel.
  With the number of parents working full-time on the rise, more and 
more families are fully engaged in the daily juggling act that comes 
with trying to do it all. Particularly in today's economy when secure 
employment has become more tenuous, parents have become increasingly 
hesitant to ask their employers for greater flexibility in their work 
schedule, to encourage their company to open a day care center, or to 
ask for the option to work remotely.
  If anything, the current economic climate has led to an even greater 
need for increased flexibility. Thousands of parents are at home not by 
choice but because they lost their jobs and have not yet had the 
opportunity to reenter the workplace. These parents may be at home, but 
looking for employment is a full-time job.
  With thousands of American families experiencing the situation as we 
speak, we are hearing too many stories about parents who couldn't get 
to an interview, a networking opportunity, or a job training session 
because their partners didn't have the flexibility in their work 
arrangements to make it work.
  Studies show that employees and their families are not the only ones 
to benefit from greater workplace flexibility. From improved 
productivity and efficiency to higher employee morale, flexible work 
arrangements can help employees and help businesses reach their fullest 
potential.
  In the last decade, we have seen significant strides made toward 
improving the great juggling act that is work-life balance. We cannot 
let this progress slip away during these challenging economic times. In 
the spirit of National Work and Family Month, I urge my fellow 
policymakers, employers, and employees to pause this month to think 
about how we can better work together to make it just a little bit 
easier for today's families.
  Attending the school play, tending to a sick child, or just being 
able to meet your family's needs makes a huge difference in the morale 
and work ethic of an employee. Achieving work-life balance makes a more 
productive employee and a more loyal one. I encourage all employers to 
assist their employees in achieving this balance. It will reap 
immeasurable benefits for both the workplace and for our families.

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