Work and families

The Boston College Sloan Work and Family Research Network's stated mission is

to promote informed decision making about work and family issues and to facilitate dialogue that encourages community building among three stakeholders groups (and their constituents) - academics/researchers; employers and the workplace; and state public policy makers.

Founded in 1997, the Network serves as "a virtual commons" with three main concourses: Research/Teaching; Workplace Practice; and State Policy. Offering downloads by topic (e.g., afterschool care; Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); changing definitions of families; and flexible work schedules), and by issue (Policy Leadership Series), the Network is a one stop shopping for work-family resources. The Work-Family Bills and Statutes Database, created primarily for state policy makers, provides easy overview access to relevant proposed state bills and passed laws. Bills and statutes may be downloaded as topic clusters in pdf, browsed by state, and searched by keyword.

Highlighted by the Network is the National Partnership for Women and Families' annual overview of paid family and medical leave initiatives introduced in state legislatures:
Where Families Matter: State Progress Towards Valuing America's Families, February 2006.
(available in pdf, 224KB, from the National Partnership)

Workplace Flexibility 2010, a Network partner, is located at Georgetown University Law Center. Also funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Workplace Flexibility 2010 "is designed to support the development of a comprehensive national policy on workplace flexibility." The initiative provides pdf documents discussing laws impacting workplace flexibility, and offers online materials distributed at their May 1, 2006 congressional briefing, Meeting the Needs of Today's Families: The Role of Workplace Flexibility .