Did you know ... October is National Work and Family Month, designated by Congress, and designed to focus on the benefits of more flexible and family-friendly policies in the workplace?

Last week CMF and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) held a webinar for congressional staff on the topic of workplace flexibility ("workflex") and discussed how it IS possible to have these types of arrangements in Congress.

Why? In a CMF-SHRM survey of 1400+ congressional staff, more than half said that the "flexibility to balance work and life issues" was very important to them, but just over a quarter were very satisfied with their workplace flexibility.

The webinar also featured a Chief of Staff who discussed the types of workflex they have had in their office for years, and the benefits they've seen having a more flexible workplace.

Not to worry if you missed the webinar — we recorded it and also offer you a downloadable guide ("The Workflex Toolkit for Congress") that walks you through the various types of workflex (hint: it's more than telecommuting). It also addresses common concerns with workflex and how you can implement these arrangements in your office.

We Want to Hear From You

If you've implemented workflex policies in your office, let us know! We're always looking for success stories. Or, if more applicable, we can offer additional management guidance on how to improve your practices.

If you have any ideas for webinar topics, tell us what you want for future training programs. In August, we held a session on "Creating a Positive Office Culture," which you can watch below.

More Information

The Life in Congress project is a partnership between the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) that seeks to identify human resource challenges in Congress and provide recommendations for overcoming them in order to make Congress a better place for both Members and staffers to work.