GETTING WORK DONE
Workplace flexibility key during strike
near Bell on Monday morning. He said since CPS students could ride CTA buses for free on Monday, they planned to take advantage, possibly heading downtown.
“We’re walking around, we’ll take a few free bus rides,” he said.
Lane Tech senior Daisy Aviles, 17, from Humboldt Park, spent her morning carrying a homemade sign and walking the picket line with her Lane Tech teachers. She was finishing homework for a law class Sunday evening when she heard the strike announcement.
“When they told us the strike was going on, my heart was in my throat,” she said. “I was ready. I bought poster board over the weekend.”
She said her parents supported her efforts, but she had a hard time finding friends to join her at the picket, which started at 6:30 a.m.
“Some of my friends are sleeping,” she said.
For companies and their employees caught in a child-care conundrum, the Chicago teachers’ strike could push companies toward adopting flexible schedules or letting people telecommute.
For workers, the same circumstances could prompt them to check out benefits some employers already offer, such as on-site or subsidized child care.
“Companies need to make all work, or as much of it as they can, portable,” said John Challenger, chief executive of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. For many employers, the easiest option is telecommuting, Challenger said. The teachers strike “could impel companies to go in that direction,” he said.
Companies used to fear abuse of work-at-home privileges, Challenger said, but that has diminished as they collect positive experiences with the policy. “People are very responsible and appreciative,” he said.
While employers the Sun-Times contacted Monday reported little immediate impact on the first day of the strike, a long walkout will multiply the headaches.
Sittercity, the Chicago-based online babysitter-finding service, saw a 17 percent jump in its Monday traffic compared with a typical Monday in back-to-school season.
“This is definitely a jump in our business,” said Sittercity spokeswoman Mary Schwartz.
The site, which enables parents to find and hire baby sitters, first started getting increased traffic last Thursday, Schwartz said.
The national average baby-sitter’s rate is $11.25 an hour.