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A kind of pay gap can still sneak in by having roles that are typically favoured by women being less well paid. Also via women being penalised for taking time o

A kind of pay gap can still sneak in by having roles that are typically favoured by women being less well paid. Also via women being penalised for taking time off to have children (in the US, probably quite a significant thing given the paucity of holidays). And another pay gap that's still quite insidious is when women are passed over for promotion to the next level that has a higher pay grade. This is not quite as bad as two people doing the exact same job being paid differently, but it can still lead to a pay gap, and some of those factors are worth being conscious of and addressing.

onion2k 7y ago
Basecamp's maternity/paternity policy is "Paid Parental Leave: When you welcome a new baby, Basecamp encourages you to take up to 16 weeks maternity leave and up to 6 weeks paternity leave, at 100% paid salary. Single fathers, or primary care givers, can also take up to 16 weeks." (correct as of 2016) As I understand it that's amazing compared to most American companies. It's roughly equivalent to what you get in progressive European countries.
- gdfasfklshg4 7y ago
  Scandinavian countries have more like a year parental leave.
  - mcv 7y ago
    It's comparable to mainland Europe, and better than some: in Netherland, I believe paternity leave has just been expanded from 2 days to 2 weeks. 6 weeks is significantly better, but probably falls short of what Scandinavian parents get.
    - gdfasfklshg4 7y ago
      Paternity leave is still shocking in many countries.
throwawayosiu1 7y ago
I'm a startup founder and I'd like to understand this: Let's say we have a pay scale that pays you ~15% raise yoy + years of experience. We have 2 people for this example - one male and one female. Both join in at 5 yrs of experience and make 100k (example numbers) as intermediate engineers. A year later both are making 115k. Now the female engineer goes on maternity leave for 16 months - she get paid at the rate of 115k/yr for that period. The male on the other hand - makes a little over 130k. On top of that he's at 7 years of experience so he's now a senior engineer - that promotion beings his salary to 150k. The female engineer is at 115k with 6 yrs of real experience while her colleague is making 150k. On the face this looks super unfair, but is it really? She's getting paid based on years of working experience and those 16 months can't count towards it of course Is my train of thought wrong?
- shafyy 7y ago
  I didn't recheck your calculation (assuming it's correct). The problem often arises because it makes more sense for the mother of a baby to take a longer leave than the father (e.g. breast feeding). Therefore, that time shouldn't count as missed work experience (although it factually is). One can discuss if 16 months is the right time frame (or maybe say for 6 months it doesn't count as missed work experience, anything above that does). That's a different discussion.
  - zaphar 7y ago
    As the father of 5 I can say that many things would have been easier if I had been able to take a long paternity leave when the kids were born. The first year is an exhausting one and having two of you around to share the work and be moral support would have made it all much easier. It would be better in all kinds of ways, more equitable, better for the mother and child, better for the company, if the father got just as much time off as the mother.
  - shados 7y ago
    > that time shouldn't count as missed work experience Assuming (big assumption) that they started at exactly equal skill, and learn at the same pace...well, practice makes perfect. One will be better than the other. Ive taken sabbaticals in the past, and it sure as hell affected by skills vs someone who didn't.

onion2k 7y ago

Basecamp's maternity/paternity policy is "Paid Parental Leave: When you welcome a new baby, Basecamp encourages you to take up to 16 weeks maternity leave and up to 6 weeks paternity leave, at 100% paid salary. Single fathers, or primary care givers, can also take up to 16 weeks." (correct as of 2016) As I understand it that's amazing compared to most American companies. It's roughly equivalent to what you get in progressive European countries.

gdfasfklshg4 7y ago
Scandinavian countries have more like a year parental leave.
- mcv 7y ago
  It's comparable to mainland Europe, and better than some: in Netherland, I believe paternity leave has just been expanded from 2 days to 2 weeks. 6 weeks is significantly better, but probably falls short of what Scandinavian parents get.
  - gdfasfklshg4 7y ago
    Paternity leave is still shocking in many countries.

throwawayosiu1 7y ago

I'm a startup founder and I'd like to understand this: Let's say we have a pay scale that pays you ~15% raise yoy + years of experience. We have 2 people for this example - one male and one female. Both join in at 5 yrs of experience and make 100k (example numbers) as intermediate engineers. A year later both are making 115k. Now the female engineer goes on maternity leave for 16 months - she get paid at the rate of 115k/yr for that period. The male on the other hand - makes a little over 130k. On top of that he's at 7 years of experience so he's now a senior engineer - that promotion beings his salary to 150k. The female engineer is at 115k with 6 yrs of real experience while her colleague is making 150k. On the face this looks super unfair, but is it really? She's getting paid based on years of working experience and those 16 months can't count towards it of course Is my train of thought wrong?

shafyy 7y ago
I didn't recheck your calculation (assuming it's correct). The problem often arises because it makes more sense for the mother of a baby to take a longer leave than the father (e.g. breast feeding). Therefore, that time shouldn't count as missed work experience (although it factually is). One can discuss if 16 months is the right time frame (or maybe say for 6 months it doesn't count as missed work experience, anything above that does). That's a different discussion.
- zaphar 7y ago
  As the father of 5 I can say that many things would have been easier if I had been able to take a long paternity leave when the kids were born. The first year is an exhausting one and having two of you around to share the work and be moral support would have made it all much easier. It would be better in all kinds of ways, more equitable, better for the mother and child, better for the company, if the father got just as much time off as the mother.
- shados 7y ago
  > that time shouldn't count as missed work experience Assuming (big assumption) that they started at exactly equal skill, and learn at the same pace...well, practice makes perfect. One will be better than the other. Ive taken sabbaticals in the past, and it sure as hell affected by skills vs someone who didn't.