Just wrote our org’s paid leave policy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s OP. My last kiddo is 15 mos, so I don’t check this side of the forum much and forgot I shared this.

A few things:
* Reaction to this has been extremely positive (there is an anonymous place for people to give feedback to our policies)
* I’m a c-level executive and WOC, and yes, this policy is now in place
* We have minimum staffing ratios, with a plan in place to ensure staffing needs are met
* We actually have been thinking about a sabbatical benefit, ex: after you’re at the org for # years you qualify for # months (unless you’ve already taken paid leave within previous X year period)
* We have a very strong policy in place to promote diversity recruitment
* People are our greatest asset; we view this as investing in our long-term future
* It’s hard not to get annoyed at people in this thread who shit on something like this that is meant to be supportive of the reality that most people have families or get sick at some point in their lives. But then I remember people get angry because we’ve been conditioned to think that if you get something, that means there’s less for me. It doesn’t have to be that way. I believe we can create a work environment that is supportive of all our employees.

Thanks OP, the responses on this thread are shocking. Thank you for pushing this issue forward within your own organization!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why should you get full-time pay for working part-time after you’ve already gotten 3 months off paid? No need to be greedy. Goodness.

Feel free to move to Papua New Guinea, the ONLY other country on the planet without paid leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of special leave for those who don't have children get? My children are grown and I want the same privileges you get just for having a baby. You have created a monster and resentment from other employees.

Nothing. Your work will have less work to do replacing employees who leave because of no maternity leave. But at least your children will get maternity/paternity leave. Not everything in life is fair.

No. The other employees will have to cover for you while on leave and then cover when you come back and take your pumping breaks. Believe me, this kind of special treatment creates resentment by other employees. All an employer has to do is keep a job open for you but it doesn't have to be the same job.

Only short-sighted, entitled, selfish as**oles will be resentful. Decent people (especially women) will be very glad this is happening. Do you also resent people who get sick? People who have to care for a dying family member?

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of special leave for those who don't have children get? My children are grown and I want the same privileges you get just for having a baby. You have created a monster and resentment from other employees.

This is what I think. What about calling it a sabbatical or something and you can use those 6 months to care for your child or go live in Italy and learn Italian. It just give people more leave and they can use it however they want.

The most important thing is to never make positive change since things weren’t as good for people in the past.

Yes, people should never have it better than those before them. They need to suffer too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why should you get full-time pay for working part-time after you’ve already gotten 3 months off paid? No need to be greedy. Goodness.

Imagine better for yourself and your country. Goodness.

I'm imagining this from a realistic point of view and from the point of view of an employer. Why would I pay you a full-time salary for part-time work for 3 months after I've already paid you a full-time salary for the last 3 months when you weren't working? Yes, companies should take care of their employees to an extent, but let's not forget that they exist to make a profit. They're not just handing over money for people to have kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why should you get full-time pay for working part-time after you’ve already gotten 3 months off paid? No need to be greedy. Goodness.

Imagine better for yourself and your country. Goodness.

I'm imagining this from a realistic point of view and from the point of view of an employer. Why would I pay you a full-time salary for part-time work for 3 months after I've already paid you a full-time salary for the last 3 months when you weren't working? Yes, companies should take care of their employees to an extent, but let's not forget that they exist to make a profit. They're not just handing over money for people to have kids.

You, and the U.S., are outliers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why should you get full-time pay for working part-time after you’ve already gotten 3 months off paid? No need to be greedy. Goodness.

Imagine better for yourself and your country. Goodness.

I'm imagining this from a realistic point of view and from the point of view of an employer. Why would I pay you a full-time salary for part-time work for 3 months after I've already paid you a full-time salary for the last 3 months when you weren't working? Yes, companies should take care of their employees to an extent, but let's not forget that they exist to make a profit. They're not just handing over money for people to have kids.

You, and the U.S., are outliers.

Yes, an entire country agrees with me. Imagine that! We don’t think you should get money for nothing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why should you get full-time pay for working part-time after you’ve already gotten 3 months off paid? No need to be greedy. Goodness.

Imagine better for yourself and your country. Goodness.

Seriously PP. I know it’s hard but try to imagine yourself keeping up with the severed world instead of falling further and further behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why should you get full-time pay for working part-time after you’ve already gotten 3 months off paid? No need to be greedy. Goodness.

Imagine better for yourself and your country. Goodness.

Seriously PP. I know it’s hard, but try to imagine yourself keeping up with the DEVELOPED world instead of falling further and further behind.

Sorry that was a typo (fixed it!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why should you get full-time pay for working part-time after you’ve already gotten 3 months off paid? No need to be greedy. Goodness.

Imagine better for yourself and your country. Goodness.

I'm imagining this from a realistic point of view and from the point of view of an employer. Why would I pay you a full-time salary for part-time work for 3 months after I've already paid you a full-time salary for the last 3 months when you weren't working? Yes, companies should take care of their employees to an extent, but let's not forget that they exist to make a profit. They're not just handing over money for people to have kids.

You, and the U.S., are outliers.

Yes, an entire country agrees with me. Imagine that! We don’t think you should get money for nothing!

Actually the entire country doesn't agree with you.

And the U.S. is an outlier in that it does not offer paid family leave. It and Papua New Guinea stand alone.

[Anonymous]

Put 6 month free, paid maternity leave on the ballot in 2020 and see how fast it is defeated.

[Anonymous]

Don't forget to compare your hiring stats to your previous 5-10 years of hiring stats. You want to make sure this benefit isn't depressing the hiring of women who could become pregnant.

Monitoring potential consequences is important so you'll be able to address them if they occur.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't forget to compare your hiring stats to your previous 5-10 years of hiring stats. You want to make sure this benefit isn't depressing the hiring of women who could become pregnant.

Monitoring potential consequences is important so you'll be able to address them if they occur.

OP again. This is gender-neutral because we want either parent to be able to take leave. Also so there is no temptation to actually discriminate against women; an employee of any gender is equally likely to use this policy.

FYI, the first employee to use the new policy will be a non-birth parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put 6 month free, paid maternity leave on the ballot in 2020 and see how fast it is defeated.

84% of Americans support paid family leave; when surveyed about length of leave, most say 6 months is needed. That’s also what doctors, public health experts say is needed for new parents and cancer patients.

More: https://paidleave.us/resources

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't forget to compare your hiring stats to your previous 5-10 years of hiring stats. You want to make sure this benefit isn't depressing the hiring of women who could become pregnant.

Monitoring potential consequences is important so you'll be able to address them if they occur.

OP again. This is gender-neutral because we want either parent to be able to take leave. Also so there is no temptation to actually discriminate against women; an employee of any gender is equally likely to use this policy.

FYI, the first employee to use the new policy will be a non-birth parent.

You'll also want to monitor that.

My organization offers parental leave, not sex-limited. However, when we review the stats at my org, we find men are less likely to take the leave, and take it for shorter times. My organization is already in a male dominated industry, so we keep a very careful eye on our records to help limit any cooling effect our parental leave might have on the hiring of women of childbearing age.

As someone who's been there, I strongly suggest not just hand-waving and assuming any bias would apply equally to both men and women and thus not be an issue. We have found there still appears to be a bias against women of child bearing age. It could be because we're in a male dominated industry. It could be because of society's sexism. It could be because our hiring managers are more concerned about women having children and taking leave than they are about men. And so on.