Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Thursday August 06 2015, @04:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the in-dependent-views dept.

On Tuesday, August 4th, Neflix announced on their blog that they would begin offering new parents a progressive parental leave policy:

...Today we're introducing an unlimited leave policy for new moms and dads that allows them to take off as much time as they want during the first year after a child's birth or adoption.

The Boston Globe picked up the story earlier today and compared Netflix's new policy to Google's, which offers 18 weeks of paid maternity leave and 12 weeks of "baby bonding" time. The Boston Globe also notes:

The US and Papua New Guinea are the only countries among 185 nations and territories that hadn't imposed government-mandated laws requiring employers to pay mothers while on leave with their babies, according to a study released last year by the United Nations' International Labor Organization.

This new policy "covers all of the roughly 2,000 people working at [Netflix's] Internet video and DVD-by-mail services, according to the Los Gatos, California, company."

However, not all media voices are pleased with this change. Suzanne Venker, author of the recent book The Two-Income Trap: Why Parents Are Choosing To Stay Home, writes for Time :

Offering new parents full pay for up to one year is akin to putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. The needs of children are huge, and they do not end at one year. On the contrary, they just begin. Taking a year off of work to meet those needs merely scratches the surface.

What does Soylent think? Should companies offer new parents lengthy paid leave after they bring a new bundle of joy into the world, or do generous policies do more harm than good?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday August 06 2015, @05:50PM

    by acid andy (1683) on Thursday August 06 2015, @05:50PM (#219171) Homepage Journal

    Once it became the norm for both parents to work simultaneously, it meant as a household they had more income, which meant a slightly reduced wage needed per head, allowing employers to pay less, or at least delay pay rises. Then it becomes a vicious circle. Based on this, the fairest thing for Netflix to do would probably be just to give everyone a slight raise instead. Over the longer term those with children would benefit from that too probably just as much anyway.

    Coincidentally I only just made a very similar comment [soylentnews.org] on the VR thread.

    --
    If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2015, @02:34AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2015, @02:34AM (#219380)

    Once it became the norm for both parents to work simultaneously, it meant as a household they had more income, which meant a slightly reduced wage needed per head, allowing employers to pay less, or at least delay pay rises.

    Wages haven't been reduced, they've just failed to keep up with inflation for decades. There is no "vicious cycle" to it - both parents started working because they had to, not because they wanted to for extra money, because wages have been stagnant for decades.

    • (Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday August 07 2015, @08:21AM

      by acid andy (1683) on Friday August 07 2015, @08:21AM (#219470) Homepage Journal

      I meant a reduction in real terms. If wages don't keep pace with inflation, then the inflation adjusted wage is reducing. It is a vicious circle because when a majority do something, it becomes the expectation. It's a vicious cycle because employers will often pay the minimum applicants will accept, so the need to pool resources with a partner becomes permanent and people start to look for other ways to save money. A race to the bottom.

      --
      If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?