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Parents Got More Time Off. Then the Backlash Started.
The New York Times ^ | 05 Sept 2020 | Daisuke Wakabayashi and Sheera Frenkel

Posted on 09/05/2020 12:07:57 PM PDT by Theoria

Pandemic policies at tech companies have created a rift between parents offered more benefits and resentful workers who don’t have children.

When the coronavirus closed schools and child care centers and turned American parenthood into a multitasking nightmare, many tech companies rushed to help their employees. They used their comfortable profit margins to extend workers new benefits, including extra time off for parents to help them care for their children.

It wasn’t long before employees without children started to ask: What about us?

At a recent companywide meeting, Facebook employees repeatedly argued that work policies created in response to Covid-19 “have primarily benefited parents.” At Twitter, a fight erupted on an internal message board after a worker who didn’t have children at home accused another employee, who was taking a leave to care for a child, of not pulling his weight.

When Salesforce announced that it was offering parents six weeks of paid time off, most employees applauded. But one Salesforce manager, who is not permitted to talk publicly about internal matters and therefore asked not to be identified, said two childless employees, reflecting a sentiment voiced at several companies, complained that the policy seemed to put parents’ needs ahead of theirs.

As companies wrestle with how best to support staff during the pandemic, some employees without children say that they feel underappreciated, and that they are being asked to shoulder a heavier workload.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: barren; childless; children; coronavirus; dontlikeitleave; economy; facebook; leave; parent; single; sterile; tech; twitter; work
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To: 9YearLurker

Lol, were they slaves? They could go work for someone who more valued “minorities and women.” And under my rock...that where freedom lives.


61 posted on 09/05/2020 1:31:07 PM PDT by Trailerpark Badass (“There should be a whole lot more going on than throwing bleach,” said one woman.)
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To: Trailerpark Badass
When I was an employer, my only concern was making sure they showed up for their shifts and not stealing my booze.

LOL. I don't even keep that around my office, so I guess I have one less concern than you did!

62 posted on 09/05/2020 1:35:09 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("We're human beings ... we're not f#%&ing animals." -- Dennis Rodman, 6/1/2020)
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To: Theoria

but it’s true. and God Forbid if it’s a single mom..... you have to do all her work with a smile.


63 posted on 09/05/2020 1:37:20 PM PDT by ronniesgal (Q. why did the chicken cross the road? A. It's Trumps fault and you're a racist!)
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To: Theoria

When Ross Perot was running EDS, he only wanted to hire married employees with children, figuring they would be more loyal because of their increased responsibilities at home, in other words, they couldn’t afford to be out of job.


64 posted on 09/05/2020 1:39:19 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator
One of the great paradoxes in the modern world is that societies that provide the most "family friendly" work places -- usually by law -- tend to have the lowest birthrates in the history of the human race.

How odd is it that "encouraging families" almost universally does the exact opposite?

65 posted on 09/05/2020 1:39:53 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("We're human beings ... we're not f#%&ing animals." -- Dennis Rodman, 6/1/2020)
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To: Alberta's Child

Well, I owned a bar, before modern POS systems were a thing. Had to keep an eye on those rascals giving away free drinks to their friends.


66 posted on 09/05/2020 1:40:06 PM PDT by Trailerpark Badass (“There should be a whole lot more going on than throwing bleach,” said one woman.)
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To: Theoria

The “child free and proud” losers are free to work elsewhere.


67 posted on 09/05/2020 1:41:54 PM PDT by Stravinsky (Politeness will not defeat the Marxist revolutionaries)
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To: Alberta's Child

I always point out that when you subtract all of the additional expenses you incur just so both parents can work, in the end, it really isn’t all the advantageous.

For example, you might only need one car, if one parent works. Money on work clothes, daycare, more eating out, it all adds up.


68 posted on 09/05/2020 1:43:07 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Trailerpark Badass

Well, that explains it. LOL!


69 posted on 09/05/2020 1:43:19 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("We're human beings ... we're not f#%&ing animals." -- Dennis Rodman, 6/1/2020)
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To: JudgemAll

Just wow.


70 posted on 09/05/2020 1:44:15 PM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: dfwgator

That’s a good point about Ross Perot and EDS. But I’ll bet his focus — certainly earlier on — was on hiring men with wives and kids at home.


71 posted on 09/05/2020 1:44:48 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("We're human beings ... we're not f#%&ing animals." -- Dennis Rodman, 6/1/2020)
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To: Alberta's Child

Also he hired Veterans returning from Vietnam.

Wished now I’d voted for him in 1992.


72 posted on 09/05/2020 1:45:28 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Alberta's Child; dfwgator

‘One of the great paradoxes in the modern world is that societies that provide the most “family friendly” work places — usually by law — tend to have the lowest birthrates in the history of the human race.

‘How odd is it that “encouraging families” almost universally does the exact opposite?’

You’re making an unfounded assumption about which is the cause and which the effect.


73 posted on 09/05/2020 1:49:21 PM PDT by NobleFree ("law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual")
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To: NobleFree
It's not exactly an unfounded assumption.

Any workplace policy that flies in the face of sound economic principles is likely to have destructive consequences.

When God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden and told them that they and their children would have to work for a living, He didn't offer any comfort by assuring them that they'd at least have a good "work-life balance." :-)

74 posted on 09/05/2020 2:03:14 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("We're human beings ... we're not f#%&ing animals." -- Dennis Rodman, 6/1/2020)
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To: 9YearLurker

People that buy and sell can work from home.

Brokers that line up buyers and sellers can work from home.

My profession is manufacturing, so working from home is a foreign concept I’m still trying to wrap my head around.

The Bob’s from the movie ‘Office Space’ will have a field day with the work at home crowd.


75 posted on 09/05/2020 2:08:39 PM PDT by unclebankster (globalism is the last refuge of a scoundrel)
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To: Alberta's Child

The higher the birth rate, the less the perceived need for family friendly policies. QED.


76 posted on 09/05/2020 2:09:43 PM PDT by NobleFree ("law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual")
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To: Trailerpark Badass
Lol, “EXACTLY!!” sez who?

Me, obviously. Along with everyone else who doesn't see any reason why people who choose to have kids should get special financial favors. And I say that as someone with kids - I chose to have them and I don't deserve special rights because of my choices.
77 posted on 09/05/2020 2:13:58 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: AnotherUnixGeek

Rights? I’m talking about a contract with an employer. Don’t like the terms, don’t sign it. Jeez, is this still a “conservative” website?


78 posted on 09/05/2020 2:17:55 PM PDT by Trailerpark Badass (“There should be a whole lot more going on than throwing bleach,” said one woman.)
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To: Alberta's Child

“Any workplace policy that flies in the face of sound economic principles is likely to have destructive consequences.”

Which does not imply that encouraging families will do the exact opposite.


79 posted on 09/05/2020 2:22:33 PM PDT by NobleFree ("law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual")
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To: NobleFree
How does that explain the decline of marriage in general -- even aside from any considerations for children -- in those same societies that provide the most generous "family friendly" policies?

What often gets overlooked in these conversations in that these policies have destructive side effects that are driven by two factors: (1) a loss of productivity from the separation of work effort from compensation; and (2) the breakdown of families from the replacement of family responsibilities by employer and/or government largesse.

80 posted on 09/05/2020 2:24:26 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("We're human beings ... we're not f#%&ing animals." -- Dennis Rodman, 6/1/2020)
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