[Vision2020] Panel Rejects Day-Care Rules
Saundra Lund
sslund at roadrunner.com
Wed Feb 28 12:35:50 PST 2007
I just want to add a couple of comments that Tom kind of touches on . . .
I think when we discuss the benefits of at-home jobs, there's a tendency to
think more about jobs that tend to be more -- for lack of a better word --
professional/technical telecommuting kinds of things.
However, there are HUGE groups of at-home workers who *don't* fit into that
picture of at-home workers. As Tom mentions, at-home child care providers
are part of that. If any of you know folks who provide this vital service,
you know that's it's not an easy occupation.
And, there are lots of other at-home workers who fall into that category.
As I wrote to another who questioned my comment that at-home work can have a
negative impact on quality of life for workers and their families:
It's been quite awhile since I looked into it, but one of the strong points
made was that many at-home workers tend to have increased job-related stress
because they can never really get away from work when they work from home.
At-home workers, too, tended to work more uncompensated hours -- I believe
that was specific to hourly at-home workers rather than those who were
salaried, but I can't recall the specifics. There was also a study that
looked at women who do phone jobs from home (calling for charities, customer
service "call centers" and the like), and that work eroded the time
available for families because workers were routinely expected to cover
times they weren't scheduled. Other problems cited included the isolation
from others, decreased collective problem-solving, decreased successful
collective bargaining on issues such as wages, work hours, job descriptions,
health-care and other benefits, etc. There's also the illusion that when
one works from home, one doesn't need childcare. Now, while perhaps that
works for some families (like yours), it definitely isn't true for lots of
at-home workers. I can speak specifically (although not personally) about
workers who provide telephone customer service from home -- trying to
provide home phone-based customer service while also caring for a
child/children is a recipe for disaster and incredibly stressful for parents
who try to balance work and child-care.
And, of course, there were lots of problems discussed about cost-shifting,
but those issues don't directly relate to the quality of life issues I
mentioned.
I think -- but I'm not sure -- that there is a tendency these days to think
about at-home workers in term of more professional or skilled telecommuters
(look at the brief list Dan Carscallan mentioned) . What that is a valid
group of at-home workers, it's only one group, and I suspect it's a smaller
group than those who do things like run at-home daycares, do telemarketing
or other phone-based (unskilled) jobs, do sewing, ironing, medical billing
(I've several friends who do that, and what a thankless job and perhaps one
of the worst at eroding family time), etc.
But, as I said, it's been a long time since I spent any time researching the
issues.
_____
I think some at-home jobs can be a really good thing that works well for
those involved.
However, I think we need to use care to not lump all at-home jobs together
and think of them as some sort of panacea.
JMHO,
Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.
- Edmund Burke
***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2006, Saundra Lund.
Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside the Vision 2020 forum
without the express written permission of the author.*****
-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Tom Hansen
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 11:32 AM
To: lfalen at turbonet.com; deco at moscow.com; vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Panel Rejects Day-Care Rules
Roger Falen stated:
"Working from hone is great and would be a plus for everyone."
And just what work-at-home opportunities are there here in Vandalville,
Roger?
I mean other than opening a day care center.
Tom Hansen
>From: lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com>
>Reply-To: lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com>
>To: "Art Deco" <deco at moscow.com>, "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Panel Rejects Day-Care Rules
>Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 10:16:25 -0800
>
>Wayne
>Working from hone is great and would be a plus for everyone.
>
>Roger
>-----Original message-----
>From: "Art Deco" deco at moscow.com
>Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:03:21 -0800
>To: "Vision 2020" vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Panel Rejects Day-Care Rules
>
> > Roger writes:
> >
> > "The statements by some Republicans that the voted against the day
> > care bill, because mothers should stay at home is ridiculous. In an
> > ideal
>world
> > that would be desirable."
> >
> > Why in an ideal world, it is the just the mothers that stay home?
> > Why
>not
> > let the families choose, if they can afford to live on one salary,
> > which parent stays home?
> >
> > Why not make it a national/state/local policy to promote much
> > broader
>use of
> > the work from home concept? We now have the hardware and software
> > technology that would allow parts of many jobs to be done at home.
>Besides
> > allowing more time for parents to spend with their families, such a
> > workforce shift would save gasoline, etc.
> >
> > W.
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "lfalen" <lfalen at turbonet.com>
> > To: "Ellen Roskovich" <gussie443 at hotmail.com>; <thansen at moscow.com>;
> > <suehovey at moscow.com>; <graylex at yahoo.com>; <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 9:12 AM
> > Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Panel Rejects Day-Care Rules
> >
> >
> > >I am glad you brought up on site day care. This is something I
> > >have thought was a good idea for a long time for those companies
> > >that are
>big
> > >enough to do it. Obviously small companies can not. The statements
> > >by
>some
> > >Republicans that the voted against the day care bill, because
> > >mothers should stay at home is ridiculous. In an ideal world that
> > >would be desirable. There are many circumstances where that is not
feasible.
>Single
> > >working mothers are only one example. Day care is needed and they
> > >need
>to
> > >be safe. Some allowances should be made for babysitter, but
>professional
> > >day care centers at least need some minimal rules to insure the
> > >kids
>are
> > >not put in harms way.
> > >
> > > Roger
> > > -----Original message-----
> > > From: "Ellen Roskovich" gussie443 at hotmail.com
> > > Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:49:45 -0800
> > > To: thansen at moscow.com, suehovey at moscow.com, graylex at yahoo.com,
> > > vision2020 at moscow.com
> > > Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Panel Rejects Day-Care Rules
> > >
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