Presidential Candidates Weigh In on Work-Life

Well, THIS was cool. For the first time, both Presidential candidates weighed in on the issue of work-life (see this WSJ entry, and this Families And Work summary)

Now...being a work-life guy myself and knowing that most of you who read this will probably not have the time to dig into the details, I thought the most useful thing I could do was pull out the specific recommendations that each candidate made. If you read the Families and Work article above, you get the full text of the interviews. But I read through them for anything that was specific (not just fluff) that each candidate was suggesting. Here's what I found:

Obama

• Establish a Presidential Commission on Work-Life
  
• New law requiring 7 paid sick days a year
• New law allowing employees to petition their employers for a flexible work arrangement, which would require a reply (note: the business would not be required to grant the arrangement)
• On paid leave, several changes:
  
  • Expand the "Family And Medical Leave Act (FMLA)" to cover businesses with 25 or more employees (current is 50 or more)
  • Allow workers to take leave for elder care needs
  • Allow parents up to 24 hours of leave eahc year to participate in their children's activities
  • Employees could not be fired for dealing with these essential needs
    
• On pre-K plans for children:
  
  • Quadruple the number of children eligible for "Early Head Start"
  • Increase "Child Care Development Block Grant" money
  • Reform the "Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit" and allow low-income families to receive up to 50% credit on child care expenses
    
• On after school care: double funding for "21st Century Community Learning Centers"

McCain

• Establish a Presidential Commission on Work-Life
• Would not expand FMLA
• Does not want any mandates on what businesses should or should not be required to provide to their employees
• Wants to start "Centers of Excellence" in "Head Start" to reform Head Start to make it more efficient (particularly with measurable standards for the program)
• Specifically does not advocate any after-school programs
• Wants to look more at "PACE (Program fo All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly)." He sees "institutional bias" in our system in general (note: not in PACE...see comments below) that he wants to eliminate so that seniors have a choice to stay in their home versus an institution.
  

So there you go. A head-to-head comparison of specific recommendations. I was surprised to see how very different the candidates were on this topic. If you have the time, I recommend you look through the Families and Work summary.