Kathie Lingle's Work-Life Blog

Voters Take Heed! Here is the Long-Awaited Best of Congress!

Aug. 12, 2008 — No sooner had I received my official copy of the press release last night, when I picked up the August/September issue of Working Mother magazine at my dentist’s office early this morning, and there it is in pictures — the inaugural list of 24 members of Congress who have been identified as the recipients of a new award to recognize those leaders on Capitol Hill who contribute the most to improving the quality of life for working families. They come from all regions of the country and are from both sides of the political aisle.  Although the majority are men, 10 of the winners are women. Several states have multiple representatives, led by Connecticut, with three legislators: Senator Dodd and two members from the House of Representatives, one a Democrat and one Republican. Pennsylvania, Ohio and California all have two winning legislators. Click here to see the press release that includes the list in its entirety.

But here’s the shocker, which is really the best part of this award — to become a finalist, these legislators have to jump through not one, but two hoops. It goes without saying that they must have supported families by drafting, sponsoring and voting for appropriate legislation. But they also have to demonstrate that they actually practice what they preach in the family-friendly practices and policies they implement with their own staff. Even though this is the federal government, it is news to me that every individual member of Congress apparently establishes their own people policies, including pay, leaves, time off and flexibility practices. Now, you and I have watched enough action-packed episodes of West Wing to appreciate that workplace flexibility and generous leave policies are hardly the top priority on busy legislators’ agendas.

So the surprises inherent in this particular list have more to do with who is not on it. We’re told that 50 of the 535 legislators on Capitol Hill applied for the award, and we know that half of them qualified. Not bad for a first effort. This is not dissimilar to the trajectory of other work-life “best practice” awards that took several years to build up to the numbers they now represent. It takes confidence as well as the right stuff to step forward into the crucible of public evaluation.

Let’s hear it for the first courageous winners who have stepped up to the national plate. And kudos to the creators of this innovative award, Corporate Voices for Working Families and Working Mother Media. The bar has been set and we look forward to many more congressional leaders to win acknowledgement for the good work they are doing on behalf of all of us who work, not to mention the hard-working folks who work for them. I’m sure if all of us across the land encourage our own legislators to get into play, this every-other-year contest will ramp up even faster. And who knows, with substantially more interest and involvement from we the people, maybe some of the pending legislation that’s currently hanging in the balance out there on behalf of families, telecommuters and more flexible work environments in general might actually come to a vote.  What better tribute to these award winners than to help them do what it takes to enact their family-friendly legislation into law.  

For more information on public policy read Cara Welch’s Blog, Public Policy Perceptions

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of WorldatWork and its affiliate, Alliance for Work-Life Progress (AWLP).