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A side discussion in another thread has me wondering where people fall on these issues. As I said in the other thread, I do not support long maternity leaves because I believe they will foster discrimination against women, particularly in promotions (or lack therof) and I don't think employers should be saddled with the cost when there is no benefit for them. I also don't think the first 6 months are more important than the next 18 years. I see parenting as a multi decide committment and would rather see employers who make it easier to go back to work and keep working.
Let's say you can only pick one. Giving all mothers 6 months paid leave or contribute towards providing high quality day care for your employees with policies that make it easier to work ( things like flex time, on or near site day care).
I don't think we can afford both. I think we have to choose one. A divided house falls. These two are opposites. One says women belong at home and we're going to help them go home. The other says, women are valuable employees and we're going to help them feel more comfortable working after they start families so we can keep them. They are based on different views of women.
I go for family friendly policies for ALL. How about flex time for all and if you provide daycare for the parents, how about a gym for the non parents? Or if a parent needs to leave early one day the next day the childless person can leave early. Or providing paid leave for anyone who needs it regardless of being a parent.
I don't think we can afford both. I think we have to choose one. A divided house falls. These two are opposites. One says women belong at home and we're going to help them go home. The other says, women are valuable employees and we're going to help them feel more comfortable working after they start families so we can keep them. They are based on different views of women.
And your experience running a fortune 500 company tells you this?
Even during the recession many companies were posting record profits. Yes, they can "afford" these, they just do not want to.
A side discussion in another thread has me wondering where people fall on these issues. As I said in the other thread, I do not support long maternity leaves because I believe they will foster discrimination against women, particularly in promotions (or lack therof) and I don't think employers should be saddled with the cost when there is no benefit for them. I also don't think the first 6 months are more important than the next 18 years. I see parenting as a multi decide committment and would rather see employers who make it easier to go back to work and keep working.
In the other thread you said you didn't support any maternity leave and when a longitidinal study on the benefits of long maternity was presented you ignored it.
Were I an employer I'd invest in both. Because I've seen the results.
Many years ago I worked for a company that was very progressive for the times on these sorts of things. People went the extra mile because it was such a great place to work. The employer had a TON of perks, paid very well, great benefits, treated the employees more than fairly, had flexible hours for working parents (not just moms) and productivity was through the roof because of it.
They were able to be very selective in who they hired because people were beating down the door to work there.
I would want the 6 months off if I could only choose one. I wouldn't use an at work daycare, my husband and I worked our schedules around the kids or my mom would help in an emergency.
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