IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1598 
Expressing support for the designation of the month of October as National 
Work and Family Month. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 30, 2010 
Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York (for herself and Mr. PLATTS) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education 
and Labor 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing support for the designation of the month of 
October as National Work and Family Month. 
Whereas, according to a report entitled ‘‘Attraction and Re-
tention’’ 
published 
by 
an 
organization 
called 
WorldatWork, the quality of workers’ jobs and the 
supportiveness of their workplaces are key predictors of 
job productivity, job satisfaction, commitment to employ-
ers, and retention; 
Whereas, according to a 2008 report by the Families and 
Work Institute entitled National Study of the Changing 
Workforce, employees with a high level of work-life inte-
gration are, compared to employees with moderate or low 
levels of work-life integration, more highly engaged and 
less likely to look for a new job in the next year, and also 
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enjoy better overall health, better mental health, and 
lower levels of stress; 
Whereas, according to a 2004 report entitled ‘‘Overwork in 
America’’, employees who are able to effectively balance 
family and work responsibilities are less likely to report 
making mistakes or feeling resentment toward employers 
and coworkers; 
Whereas, according to the Best Places to Work in the Fed-
eral Government rankings released by the Partnership for 
Public Service and American University’s Institute for 
the Study of Public Policy Implementation, work-life bal-
ance and a family-friendly culture are among the key 
drivers of employee engagement and satisfaction in the 
Federal workforce; 
Whereas finding a good work-life balance is important for 
workers in multiple generations, as indicated by a 2009 
survey entitled ‘‘Great Expectations! What Students 
Want in an Employer and How Federal Agencies Can 
Deliver It’’, which found that attaining a healthy work- 
life balance was an important career goal of 66 percent 
of respondents, and a 2008 study entitled ‘‘A Golden Op-
portunity’’, which found that workers between the ages of 
50 and 65 are a strong source of experienced talent for 
the Federal workforce and that nearly 50 percent of 
these potential workers find flexible work schedules ‘‘ex-
tremely appealing’’; 
Whereas, according to research by the Radcliffe Public Policy 
Center in 2000, men in their 20s and 30s and women in 
their 20s, 30s, and 40s identified as the most important 
job characteristic a work schedule that allows them to 
spend time with their families; 
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Whereas, according to research by the Sloan Center for 
Aging and Work, a majority of workers age 53 and older 
attribute their success as an employee, by a great or 
moderate extent, to job flexibility, and also report that, 
to a great extent, job flexibility contributes to an overall 
higher quality of life; 
Whereas employees who are able to effectively balance family 
and work responsibilities feel healthier and more success-
ful in their relationships with their spouses, children, and 
friends; 
Whereas 85 percent of United States wage and salaried work-
ers have immediate, day-to-day family responsibilities 
outside of their jobs; 
Whereas, according to the 2006 American Community Sur-
vey, 47 percent of wage and salaried workers are parents 
with children under the age of 18 who live with them at 
least half-time; 
Whereas job flexibility often allows parents to be more in-
volved in their children’s lives, and parental involvement 
is associated with higher child achievement in language 
and mathematics, improved behavior, greater academic 
persistence, and lower dropout rates; 
Whereas a 2000 study entitled Urban Working Families re-
vealed that a lack of job flexibility for parents negatively 
affects child health by preventing children from making 
needed doctors’ appointments and receiving adequate 
early care, which makes illnesses more severe and pro-
longed; 
Whereas, from 2001 to early 2008, 1,700,000 active duty 
troops have served in Iraq and 600,000 members of the 
National Guard and Reserve (133,000 on more than one 
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tour) have been called up to serve, creating a need for 
policies and programs to help military families adjust to 
the realities that come with having a family member in 
the military; 
Whereas, according to a Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) report, breastfeeding is the most bene-
ficial form of infant nutrition, and the greater the dura-
tion of breastfeeding, the lower the odds of pediatric 
overweight and obesity; 
Whereas, according to the CDC, less than half of mothers 
who work full time exclusively breastfeed their newborns; 
Whereas, according to the CDC, employer policies that en-
courage breastfeeding benefit individual families as well 
as employers by improving productivity and staff loyalty, 
enhancing the employer’s public image, and reducing ab-
senteeism, health care costs, and employee turnover; 
Whereas studies show that a third of children and adolescents 
in the United States are obese or overweight and that 
healthy lifestyle habits, including healthy eating and 
physical activity, can lower the risk of becoming obese 
and developing related diseases; 
Whereas studies report that family rituals, such as sitting 
down to dinner together and sharing activities on week-
ends and holidays, positively influence children’s health 
and development, and that children who ate dinner with 
their family every day consumed nearly a full serving 
more of fruits and vegetables per day than those who 
never ate family dinners or only did so occasionally; 
Whereas unpaid family caregivers will likely continue to be 
the largest source of long-term care for elderly United 
States citizens, and the Department of Health and 
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Human Services estimates the number of such caregivers 
to reach 37,000,000 by 2050, an increase of 85 percent 
from 2000, as baby boomers reach retirement age in 
record numbers; and 
Whereas the month of October would be an appropriate 
month to designate as National Work and Family Month: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) supports the designation of National Work 
and Family Month; 
(2) recognizes the importance of balancing work 
and family to job productivity and healthy families; 
(3) recognizes that an important job char-
acteristic is a work schedule that allows employees 
to spend time with families; 
(4) supports the goals and ideals of National 
Work and Family Month, and urges public officials, 
employers, employees, and the general public to 
work together to achieve more balance between work 
and family; and 
(5) requests that the President issue a procla-
mation calling upon the people of the United States 
to observe National Work and Family Month with 
appropriate ceremonies and activities. 
Æ 
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