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NEW YORK — Carol Frazer Haynesworth was six months pregnant when she was laid off from her job. Now due in about two weeks with her first child, she says she was ecstatic to learn about a major move by Netflix, even though she never worked for the company. “It wasn’t even about me. It was about the millions of women around the country who might benefit from this,” explained Haynesworth. For one year Netflix is offering unlimited paid maternity and paternity leave for new parents after a child’s birth or adoption. The reason for the move, according to Netflix’s website, was to “foster a freedom and responsibility culture.”
More at link. WOW! Is all I have to say, that's amazing! Anyone know any other companies that are so generous? Keep in mind this isn't just for mothers that give birth but adoption too! If Netflix can do it it just goes to show how money grubbing sucker execs that work at other companies are far to cheap, greedy and selfish to offer such a thing. Perhaps if CEOs and the like got a much more reasonable amount, say, 80K a year instead of millions they all could easily afford to adopt a system like Netflix. VERY happy to see Paternity leave added as well!
A lot of companies (not all) offer 12 weeks of paid maternity/paternity with the option for additional unpaid leave. I've seen companies that offer up to 9 months total (12 paid, the rest unpaid). While that's not as good as paid for 12 months, it's very reasonable.
We've been discussing this a lot at work today. A few points:
1) Netflix already has an unlimited vacation day policy. This policy is actually redundant.
2) These plans rarely work the way that it's written. Usually there is a lot of corporate culture that pressures employees into not taking vacations for months every year and I'm pretty sure that they will be a lot of pressure against any employee who says "my wife just gave birth today. See you all next year!"
3) At every company that I have worked at in my career (yes, this could very well be just me), pretty much everyone in the company is maxed out on vacation days (where you stop accruing and it's use it or lose it) because culturally the company looks at you like a slacker if you take all of your vacation.
4) I work at a company now where I have 12 weeks of fully paid paternity leave and culturally there is absolutely no problem with taking all of it. I just let my manager know and he's cool with it. Other people all take 12 weeks off and nobody makes any snide remarks, looks at you in a weird way, etc.
I would much prefer an actual policy with a # of days or weeks for leave, vacation, etc. rather than this obscure "unlimited" or "up to 1 year" type policy where what's on paper is different from the cultural norms of the company so you need to figure out and play mind games to know what the "real" policy is.
We've been discussing this a lot at work today. A few points:
1) Netflix already has an unlimited vacation day policy. This policy is actually redundant.
2) These plans rarely work the way that it's written. Usually there is a lot of corporate culture that pressures employees into not taking vacations for months every year and I'm pretty sure that they will be a lot of pressure against any employee who says "my wife just gave birth today. See you all next year!"
3) At every company that I have worked at in my career (yes, this could very well be just me), pretty much everyone in the company is maxed out on vacation days (where you stop accruing and it's use it or lose it) because culturally the company looks at you like a slacker if you take all of your vacation.
4) I work at a company now where I have 12 weeks of fully paid paternity leave and culturally there is absolutely no problem with taking all of it. I just let my manager know and he's cool with it. Other people all take 12 weeks off and nobody makes any snide remarks, looks at you in a weird way, etc.
I would much prefer an actual policy with a # of days or weeks for leave, vacation, etc. rather than this obscure "unlimited" or "up to 1 year" type policy where what's on paper is different from the cultural norms of the company so you need to figure out and play mind games to know what the "real" policy is.
Based on #2/#4 - Seems to me that the policy isn't the issue, it's the perception of it. I've never experienced #3. Sure, there's been times when folks max it out because they simply forgot to take enough vacation. Which often end up with a bunch of folk taking days off in Dec. for the sake of taking days off. Had there been no cap or no set days, no one would be "forced" to take vacation.
I've worked at start-ups where there was no vacation policy (as opposed to one that states you have unlimited vacation), and people had no problems with taking vacation. Nor were there any cases of abuse as far as I can remember.
People prefer different things. There are those who simply can't work from home, those that prefer static hours vs. flexible, and those that want a specific hours of leave vs. a ROWE. The great thing is that if you develop your skills right, you tend to get to chose the options you want.
Let's look at the Seattle CEO who raised his minimum wage to $70k. He got lots of press but he lost customers, lost his three best/most senior employees (because they didn't get any sort of raise yet others who weren't nearly as valuable got 25%-50% raises), and got sued by a major shareholder.
The market drives compensation and year of paid parent leave is wholly irrational and unsustainable. People need to properly plan to have families.
In places like here in Canada, one year maternity leaves are dealt with by hiring a temporary worker - most commonly, new graduates, students, or people who have been out of the workforce. It's a great opportunity for those stuck in the "no experience" cycle.
I get the impression people in the US may think that these roles just go unfilled for a year - they don't. The temporary replacement starts the day the parent leaves for parental leave (mother, father, a combo of both). It's a great system, one that supports new babies being at home, less stressed employee, staffing stays at a decent level, etc.
Yes, overall, it costs everyone a little more, but it is an investment into children AND unemployment. I guess I simply can't understand why a woman should zombie-work with a newborn, rather than stay home with the baby while a jobless student gets a year of experience???
This policy is quite generous and patently unfair to those who cannot or who chose not to reproduce. Both in terms of redistributing the workload and in the disproportionate distribution of compensation.
If a person has 4 kids over 20 years they accrue 4 years of pay without working. A non reproducer would not accrue the 4 years. they take a virtual 4 year salary hit compared to the breeders.
The organization may exclude a segment of the workforce because they may choose a more non child making friendly environment.
even if the organization brings in a temp/replacement worker, it is hard top imagine they will be able to operate at the same level of performance as the regular employee.
We've been discussing this a lot at work today. A few points:
1) Netflix already has an unlimited vacation day policy. This policy is actually redundant.
2) These plans rarely work the way that it's written. Usually there is a lot of corporate culture that pressures employees into not taking vacations for months every year and I'm pretty sure that they will be a lot of pressure against any employee who says "my wife just gave birth today. See you all next year!"
3) At every company that I have worked at in my career (yes, this could very well be just me), pretty much everyone in the company is maxed out on vacation days (where you stop accruing and it's use it or lose it) because culturally the company looks at you like a slacker if you take all of your vacation.
4) I work at a company now where I have 12 weeks of fully paid paternity leave and culturally there is absolutely no problem with taking all of it. I just let my manager know and he's cool with it. Other people all take 12 weeks off and nobody makes any snide remarks, looks at you in a weird way, etc.
I would much prefer an actual policy with a # of days or weeks for leave, vacation, etc. rather than this obscure "unlimited" or "up to 1 year" type policy where what's on paper is different from the cultural norms of the company so you need to figure out and play mind games to know what the "real" policy is.
Basically this. If your company culture is geared toward workaholics, it doesn't really matter how generous the vacation package/parental leave package is.
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