What do you think of Netflix's new family policy?

[Guest]

Did you guys hear the news that Netflix is allowing a new mother or father up to a YEAR of PAID leave to bond with their new babies?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/business/netflix-offers-expanded-maternity-and-paternity-leave.html?_r=0

 

http://time.com/3986543/netflix-parental-leave-policy-women/

 

What a great gig! The employee could get pregnant every year and get paid to be a parent! I would think that maybe offering free child care at work would make a lot more sense. I guess those of us left at work aren't supposed to mind chipping in so that the new family can spend time together. How about some of us older employees, who might have to take care of aging parents who can't take care of themselves any more? Should I ask my fellow employees to chip in, too? Where I work, we get many women doctors come in to work at our health care facility, then promptly take 9 months off to bond with their babies. At least it's not paid leave (I don't know how these new doctors can afford to pay off their student loans and expenses), but it leaves their patients in the limbo. Some covering doctors just refill meds and the patients fall through the cracks. I think that some of these entitlements are going over-board, personally.

[sincitymix]

Did you guys hear the news that Netflix is allowing a new mother or father up to a YEAR of PAID leave to bond with their new babies?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/business/netflix-offers-expanded-maternity-and-paternity-leave.html?_r=0

 

http://time.com/3986543/netflix-parental-leave-policy-women/

 

What a great gig! The employee could get pregnant every year and get paid to be a parent! I would think that maybe offering free child care at work would make a lot more sense. I guess those of us left at work aren't supposed to mind chipping in so that the new family can spend time together. How about some of us older employees, who might have to take care of aging parents who can't take care of themselves any more? Should I ask my fellow employees to chip in, too? Where I work, we get many women doctors come in to work at our health care facility, then promptly take 9 months off to bond with their babies. At least it's not paid leave (I don't know how these new doctors can afford to pay off their student loans and expenses), but it leaves their patients in the limbo. Some covering doctors just refill meds and the patients fall through the cracks. I think that some of these entitlements are going over-board, personally.

 

At my old job, we had the training manager get pregnant like clock work every 9 months for just about 8-10 years.. she managed to pop out like 12 kids.. . She said she loved the feeling of being pregnant. However this pretty much threw off every ones schedule, as we had to plan everything around her pregnancy and maternity leave.

Unfortunately Marternity leave only seems to apply to women, as another coworker asked for maternity leave when his newborn was being born, had some illness or problems and needed more care then his recovering wife could give it, and was told No. He had to take FMLA.

Men want to bond with their newborns too..

[Wolfer]

Well, I agree with what you say completely. I know it's incredibely politically incorrect to voice these things in the general public or at work... But the fact of the matter is, is that maternity leave does disrupt a workplace. Because either colleagues have to chip in or a temp is hired.

And also the fact that colleagues without children seem to always get the short end of the stick whenever overtime needs to be done. It's not because I don't have kids I don't have other responsibilities or duties outside of work.

At my place of work a woman was employed for four years, of which she effectively worked only two. The rest of the time she was on pregnancy/maternity leave (she got pregnant twice).

 

Seeing as how disruptive this was to the workplace, I can imagine an employer at least thinking about this when hiring women.

[BSR]

Well, I agree with what you say completely. I know it's incredibely politically incorrect to voice these things in the general public or at work... But the fact of the matter is, is that maternity leave does disrupt a workplace. Because either colleagues have to chip in or a temp is hired.

And also the fact that colleagues without children seem to always get the short end of the stick whenever overtime needs to be done. It's not because I don't have kids I don't have other responsibilities or duties outside of work.

At my place of work a woman was employed for four years, of which she effectively worked only two. The rest of the time she was on pregnancy/maternity leave (she got pregnant twice).

 

Seeing as how disruptive this was to the workplace, I can imagine an employer at least thinking about this when hiring women.

For every single HR law on the books, there are a dozen ways around it. You just have to be very careful about what you say, when, where, and who's listening. And for God's sake, don't ever Ever EVER put anything that even borders on illegal in writing. I know a guy who does a lot of hiring and who more or less refuses to hire any woman under 35, whether they have kids (because they'll be dashing off every time their kids need them) or not (because most will end up having them eventually, with all the impending disruptions of maternity leave and childcare). Is that discrimination and therefore illegal? Of course it is! But he works in an industry where there were always dozens if not hundreds of applicants for every position, and it's easy to find a plausible reason or two for eliminating any given candidate. The nature of the job is such that somebody can't just drop everything & leave whenever Johnny throws up at daycare or Janey has an ear infection. He doesn't feel the least bit bad about it because he argues that women who need the flexibility that childcare demands are better off looking for a different line of work. It's better for the company and better off for the mothers. He's hired plenty of older women (the sneaky bastard somehow figures out a way to find out the number and age of the candidate's kids), so the EEOC is none the wiser.