News

Cascade Employers Association | Spotlight on Flexibility

Cascade Employers Association is a membership-based association that provides resources and consulting on human resources issues.  Based in Salem, Cascade Employers Association has 16 employees and over 400 members.  They have an additional office in Portland and employees that live and work in other cities as well.

Regional Livability Summit | FFO on Workplace Wellness

Portland-based Coalition for a Livable Future’s annual Regional Livability Summit 2013 is coming up on Friday, October 11th in Portland — and we’re presenting!

This year’s theme is Equity in Action: Map to a Healthy Future. FFO Executive Director Andrea Paluso will talk about the importance of paid sick days for a healthy economy and workforce in Portland and beyond, and FFO Deputy Director Sharon Bernstein will talk about the role workplace flexibility plays in workplace performance and employee wellness.

FFO Honored to Win Award

We couldn’t be more pleased to be honored this year by the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project for our work on behalf of workers. Their mission is to improve enforcement of the workplace and organizing rights of low-wage, contingent, and immigrant workers in the Northwest, and especially in metropolitan Portland.

Film Screening: “Norma Rae” on 9.29

At Family Forward Oregon we believe that our economy does best when workplaces work for both the employees and employers alike.  And that is happening in some workplaces (which deserve our business!).

But it’s also not happening in too many workplaces. Workplaces where employees are under or unequally paid, overworked, refused benefits, denied full-time positions, unable to schedule ahead, discriminated against for being pregnant or being a family caregiver, and the list goes on.

Which is why we chose “Norma Rae” — a classic film about collective bargaining, union organizing, and workplace conditions — as the 3^rd film in our 2013 Film Series.

2013 Awards Lunch + Work-Flex Workshop

Workshop: Creating a Flexible Workplace | October 16th

Flexibility at work can work. It’s far more than a trend or a buzzword. Real workplace flexibility has the potential to enhance your work environment, boost productivty, attract (and retain) talent, and enable employees to care responsibly for themselves and their families – which is good for all of us.  But for those who haven’t run with it yet, the big question is HOW?

Have we got the training for you! Click here for details and to register.

2013 Work Flexibility Award Winners

We know that creating a family-forward workplace takes courage and leadership.  We also know that Oregon families – and businesses – do better when workplaces are flexible.  And in the 21st century, it’s THE way to work.

In 2013, Family Forward Oregon once again brought the Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility to Oregon to a truly outstanding group of employers in an outstanding crowd.

What Happened in Salem? Our 2013 Legislative Update

Oregon’s 2013 state legislative session recently ended after a busy five months.  We focused on four issues during the session that fit our vision of a family-forward Oregon: Paid sick days, Equal pay for Equal work, Retirement security, and Domestic workers’ rights.

We know you want progress in these areas (and others!) as much as we do, so we are writing today with a legislative progress report.  We accomplished a lot with our elected and non-profit partners in Oregon’s 2013 legislative session: two of our priority bills passed (pay equity and retirement security studies), and two made significant headway in what is typically a multi-year process.

Poverty in Oregon’s Working Families

People have a lot of ideas about who is poor and why  — some accurate, some inaccurate.  We prefer the facts, and believe that the more people know them the more people will support the smart policies that we advocate for today’s families to be economically secure while raising a family.  When it comes to […]

“Right to Request” Law Passes in Maine

There are many ways we can improve the policies in our country to make work work for families.  One is the “right to request,” which enables workers to request flexible work schedules and get an official answer why not if denied.  Importantly, these laws  prevent employer retaliation for workers who make a request.  The state of Vermont just passed the first state law of this kind in the U.S. Not surprisingly workers in several other countries have long enjoyed this right.