5 ms·

To be somewhat fair this is still an amazing benefit: “It’s now capping parental leaves at six months and giving parents a taxable $20,000 stipend to defray the

by erentz 8y ago

To be somewhat fair this is still an amazing benefit: “It’s now capping parental leaves at six months and giving parents a taxable $20,000 stipend to defray the costs of childcare.” In the context that they are doing this while few other American organizations do it, and not that many other countries do something this generous.

hesdeadjim 8y ago
Yea, the article title can practically considered clickbait when this is the resultant change in benefits. Neither my wife or I had a need to be home for an entire year with our child. Three months for me would've been perfect, six would've been a vacation, and six months plus $20k to cover my daycare expenses for the year would've been... well, words fail me.
- bargl 8y ago
  OK, I read this felt a wave of relief. I'm not the only one. 1 year off sounds like torture to me. I'm not saying 1 year with my kid is torture. 1 year in the Caribbean would also be torture to me. I get cabin fever after a few weeks. My company did give me 1 month and it was awesome. I was also very happy to return to work after 2 (1 month unpaid). It was refreshing to engage that part of my brain again.
  - hesdeadjim 8y ago
    Yea I have zero desire to be off from work for that long. I took a sabbatical/break between projects from May until around September this year. I put myself under no real pressure to do anything, and during the weekdays I was free to go mountain biking and do whatever else I felt like. Yet still I worked on random projects for about 60% of the time the entire break. I just crave the deep flow state that comes from building things too much.
- sampo 8y ago
  > six would've been a vacation I assume you were at home together with your wife? Or are you calling staying at home alone with a 6 months to 1 year old toddler a vacation?
  - hesdeadjim 8y ago
    If it were both my wife and I home with the infant for six months, yes I would call that a vacation. Home alone? Abso-freaking-lutely not a vacation haha.
CydeWeys 8y ago
I've literally never heard of anyone offering better. My company offers 12 weeks parental leave plus 2 (I think?) weeks medical leave for birth mothers, and that's waaaay better than average.
- paulddraper 8y ago
  Outside of tech companies, 2 weeks of paid paternal leave is pretty good.
  - gnicholas 8y ago
    Major law firms generally give 16-18 weeks of maternity and 4 weeks of paternity leave.
    - paulddraper 8y ago
      9% of U.S. companies offer any paid paternity leave. [1] [1] https://www.thebump.com/a/paternity-leave-for-men https://www.thebump.com/a/paternity-leave-for-men
- sampo 8y ago
  Norway gives 14 weeks for the mother, 14 weeks for the father, and then either 49 weeks or 59 weeks to be allocated freely between the parents. If you choose 49 weeks, all of the leave is at 100% of salary. If you choose 59 weeks, the leave is at 80% of salary.
  - CydeWeys 8y ago
    There was an implicit "in the United States" in that comment, sorry if I didn't make it clear. I'm aware that there are better parental leave policies in other countries.
  - 55555 8y ago
    Is there a limit to the number of kids you can have while still doing this? Because if not, there must be some people out there that have been collecting 100% of salary while going to work a few weeks per year for 5+ years.
dyarosla 8y ago
From a parent’s perspective: money for time is not what one would call ‘amazing’- one of those two you can never get back. I, and I imagine many parents, would see it as a compromise more than anything. But- given the enthusiasm in the sibling comments here, it may also be a cultural thing. My opinion is that of a Canadian. Thinking that you don’t need the full first year with your child may be a big cultural difference of opinion.
- erentz 8y ago
  I don’t think people are making a value judgement that parents shouldn’t have the ability to spend more time with their children, just that for the USA (and for that matter most western countries to boot), this is still a very generous offer that isn’t mandated by any law. In Canada the time off is legislated making it a requirement for all business, and is what, 35 weeks to be shared between both parents, and consumed in the first 52 weeks?
germinalphrase 8y ago
Agreed. Still sounds like a great benefit. I’m a public school teacher and I receive only as much paid leave as I had accrued PTO (10 days a year). FAMLA prevents them from firing me for 12 weeks, but it’s not realistic to take anything beyond PTO. I’d be happy to defer some number of months of Social Security for two months of SS payments now to allow for paid leave, but that’s not on the table either.
alexashka 8y ago
I've heard of a time when women actually raised their children. It was less than 100 years ago, in every country too. Now it's 'generous' to get to spend 6 months with your child. Great progress everyone - please hurry back to your open office to check reddit, instagram, facebook, twitter and do that crucial collaborative work open offices encourage.

by erentz 8y ago

hesdeadjim 8y ago

Yea, the article title can practically considered clickbait when this is the resultant change in benefits. Neither my wife or I had a need to be home for an entire year with our child. Three months for me would've been perfect, six would've been a vacation, and six months plus $20k to cover my daycare expenses for the year would've been... well, words fail me.

bargl 8y ago
OK, I read this felt a wave of relief. I'm not the only one. 1 year off sounds like torture to me. I'm not saying 1 year with my kid is torture. 1 year in the Caribbean would also be torture to me. I get cabin fever after a few weeks. My company did give me 1 month and it was awesome. I was also very happy to return to work after 2 (1 month unpaid). It was refreshing to engage that part of my brain again.
- hesdeadjim 8y ago
  Yea I have zero desire to be off from work for that long. I took a sabbatical/break between projects from May until around September this year. I put myself under no real pressure to do anything, and during the weekdays I was free to go mountain biking and do whatever else I felt like. Yet still I worked on random projects for about 60% of the time the entire break. I just crave the deep flow state that comes from building things too much.
sampo 8y ago
> six would've been a vacation I assume you were at home together with your wife? Or are you calling staying at home alone with a 6 months to 1 year old toddler a vacation?
- hesdeadjim 8y ago
  If it were both my wife and I home with the infant for six months, yes I would call that a vacation. Home alone? Abso-freaking-lutely not a vacation haha.

CydeWeys 8y ago

I've literally never heard of anyone offering better. My company offers 12 weeks parental leave plus 2 (I think?) weeks medical leave for birth mothers, and that's waaaay better than average.

paulddraper 8y ago
Outside of tech companies, 2 weeks of paid paternal leave is pretty good.
- gnicholas 8y ago
  Major law firms generally give 16-18 weeks of maternity and 4 weeks of paternity leave.
  - paulddraper 8y ago
    9% of U.S. companies offer any paid paternity leave. [1] [1] https://www.thebump.com/a/paternity-leave-for-men https://www.thebump.com/a/paternity-leave-for-men
sampo 8y ago
Norway gives 14 weeks for the mother, 14 weeks for the father, and then either 49 weeks or 59 weeks to be allocated freely between the parents. If you choose 49 weeks, all of the leave is at 100% of salary. If you choose 59 weeks, the leave is at 80% of salary.
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  There was an implicit "in the United States" in that comment, sorry if I didn't make it clear. I'm aware that there are better parental leave policies in other countries.
- 55555 8y ago
  Is there a limit to the number of kids you can have while still doing this? Because if not, there must be some people out there that have been collecting 100% of salary while going to work a few weeks per year for 5+ years.

dyarosla 8y ago

From a parent’s perspective: money for time is not what one would call ‘amazing’- one of those two you can never get back. I, and I imagine many parents, would see it as a compromise more than anything. But- given the enthusiasm in the sibling comments here, it may also be a cultural thing. My opinion is that of a Canadian. Thinking that you don’t need the full first year with your child may be a big cultural difference of opinion.

erentz 8y ago
I don’t think people are making a value judgement that parents shouldn’t have the ability to spend more time with their children, just that for the USA (and for that matter most western countries to boot), this is still a very generous offer that isn’t mandated by any law. In Canada the time off is legislated making it a requirement for all business, and is what, 35 weeks to be shared between both parents, and consumed in the first 52 weeks?

germinalphrase 8y ago

Agreed. Still sounds like a great benefit. I’m a public school teacher and I receive only as much paid leave as I had accrued PTO (10 days a year). FAMLA prevents them from firing me for 12 weeks, but it’s not realistic to take anything beyond PTO. I’d be happy to defer some number of months of Social Security for two months of SS payments now to allow for paid leave, but that’s not on the table either.

alexashka 8y ago

I've heard of a time when women actually raised their children. It was less than 100 years ago, in every country too. Now it's 'generous' to get to spend 6 months with your child. Great progress everyone - please hurry back to your open office to check reddit, instagram, facebook, twitter and do that crucial collaborative work open offices encourage.