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It's not only that maternity leave policies in the US suck in the majority of companies, it's that fact that quality child care is so expensive, that many mothe

It's not only that maternity leave policies in the US suck in the majority of companies, it's that fact that quality child care is so expensive, that many mothers find it cheaper to stay at home or work part-time, especially those with more than one small child. Add in the fact that many companies are understaffed to cut expenses, that there can be resentment from coworkers when a mother goes maternity leave. You might get some blowback from the non-parents and singles in the office when you expect them to cover for you with no incentives, not even a thank you. Try working in a office with deadlines and critical projects when 40% of staff are expecting...

PeterisP 14y ago
Well, in countries with larger maternity (and other) leaves and functioning overtime legislation, it's obvious even to dumb,lazy and miserly managers that (a) you need to plan for workers becoming unavailable, and (b) you need to hire extra staff for absences, as it's cheaper than paying lots of overtime. Only in USA they can get by without caring about this. Handling long absences is an everyday task just if you handle vacations properly - a month paid vacation means that of an unit of 12 employees at any time at least one is off, so every company has worked out how to handle replacements and task switching properly (i.e., delegate tasks to someone who has time) - and if you handle a month off, then you can handle 6 or 12 months off.