[rabeener]

One way to solve this is to extend these types of benefits as a way for any employee to help care for children. If you’re an aunt or uncle and want to take time off to help care for your nieces and nephews, you should be able to. That being said, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for employees complaining about these specific policies. The entire world is in uncharted waters here and these companies, as well as individual employees, are doing the best they can with responding. As the article points out, these benefits aren’t meant to be used for vacation, they were introduced as a way to help employees respond to a sudden loss of childcare and the collapse of an education system. And to anyone who thinks this is a vacation, I recommend spending a week in a household with children who are unable to go to school while still trying to get work done.

[mdorazio]

Alternative point of view: a better way to handle this is to reward the employees shouldering additional burden via money when parents take time off. Coworker takes a few months off for maternity leave? Fantastic - give the remaining team members a temporary raise until the person comes back. The whole "everyone has the same opportunity" argument never really made sense to me because not everyone shares the same goals or desired outcomes that align with those opportunities.

[rabeener]

Yeah sure, all for rewarding employees who end up doing more work as a result but we need to separate the two issues. The parent flexibility was introduced almost overnight as a way to respond to systemic changes to childcare and schooling. There hasn’t been a lot of time to get things right but the need for this flexibility was clear immediately. So yes, let’s keep figuring out how to take care of all employees during this time but let’s stop framing it as a parent vs. non-parent issue. This is just one class of employees, parents, who needed immediate relief and some companies stepping up and providing that relief. Instead of complaining about a new benefit for parents, work with management to find a way to help all employees in a way that feels equitable to all. We’re all still just trying to figure out how to keep moving forward in a world that changed suddenly.

I don’t know how to respond to the opportunity comment, I’m not sure I understand your point.

EDIT: added a comma

[bsg75]

AKA overtime pay?

[ip26]

If you’re an aunt or uncle and want to take time off to help care for your nieces and nephews, you should be able to.

That's a great angle. Absolutely agreed, caring for young children is basically a second job.

[mc32]

I don’t see why childless people are resentful of people who have more responsibility and a harder situation.

It’s selfish of them to be resentful. Kids are the ones who will be working when these people retire (whether by then they have children of not).

Society depends on new generations and so I don’t see a problem if parents get a small advantage.

[disown]

> It’s selfish of them to be resentful.

Isn't it more selfish to expect preferential treatment, privileges and time off just for having kids?

> Kids are the ones who will be working when these people retire (whether by then they have children of not).

Yes and won't the retired child-free people be paying for the work these kids provide? Or are you saying these kids should work for free to provide for the retired child-free people?

> Society depends on new generations and so I don’t see a problem if parents get a small advantage.

Well then you are free to give most of your paycheck to them. But why insist or force others to sacrifice?

[KindOne]

I'd argue that its unfair for the childfree people. I don't have or want kids so let me explain it from my side.

Why should I give up my social life and free time for someone else that has kids?

Why should I do more work so they can take time off to care for their kids?

The way I see it, having kids is optional in life. They knew or should have known the added responsibilities for when they had kids.

[bsder]

Because not all people who have children have a harder situation.

What about people taking care of parents with Alzheimer's? Do they not deserve the leave? I assure you that a parent with Alzheimer's is WAY harder than a child. In addition, the child will eventually get easier; Alzheimer's just gets worse.

The problem is "too little leave for everybody" not "extra leave for parents".

The solution is to set the leave amounts at a fixed amount that accommodates almost everybody. If parents have to burn that to take care of children, so be it. They made that choice.

[jimmyswimmy]

I'm a working parent but I understand the frustration. People see from their own point of view. What non parents see is that I am no longer pulling the same weight I pulled last year. Someone has to pick up the slack or the schedule has to slip. Both of these are frustrating to the hard driving employee who is bound to notice that I'm not doing as much as I used to.

I don't have a great solution. This is hard on everyone but in completely different ways. I'd be happy to compensate for my lower output with a pay cut to be given to those who are pulling the load for me. It would take away some guilt at not putting out what I'm used to. But I would need that pay cut to come with an understanding that it's an exchange for less responsibility.

[SpicyLemonZest]

Some of the people in the article do strike me as just resentful whiners, but some of them have quite reasonable points that the company isn't working as hard to take care of their needs. Being at home taking care of your kids in virtual school isn't a vacation - but neither is being at home alone, unable to go hang out with a single friend or family member.

[canada_dry]

> It’s selfish of them to be resentful.

I tend to agree. The it's all about me attitude has become so ingrained in western society that the greater-good is utterly discounted.

The most prominent covid related example of this is mask wearing. An unreasonably high number of people have decided that wearing a mask as a societal benefit isn't as important as their slight inconvenience.

[usaar333]

It's certainly selfish of them to be resentful but humans are selfish to some degree by nature. I do see why childless people are resentful. [note: I'm the parent of a small kid]

This same problem exists with every preferential policy (group policies, welfare, etc.) -- if society doesn't agree on the difficulties encountered by X group (or worse, sees people cheating the system in some way [1]), resentment triggers AND work productivity drops. See also problems with communism.

> would not be scoring employees on job performance for the first half of 2020 because there was “so much change in our lives and our work.”

This gets.. a bit problematic, as it is reducing the incentive for the people who did put a lot in. While the article notes everyone gets a higher bonus, it's unclear if this can result in promotions not happening for people who worked more hours during H1 -- that would trigger lots of resentment if it's the case. A more middle-ground approach might be setting a floor to ensure no one gets fired over weak productivity during covid, but still nonetheless rewarding those who put in more work time.

There's also a deeper question of whether it is the state's responsibility to cover parental leave or individual companies. Most other parents with this predicament had to rely on the state (take unpaid leave - and collect UI)

[1] Anecdotally, I have known people taking long paternity leave to use the time as much for childcare as to figure out their next start-up.