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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?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Thursday August 06 2015, @05:12PM
yet again, those who choose not to be parents get one less benefit.
how about just treating everyone equally? you want to give parents a benefit, then offer a similar one to the rest of us. no one has pensions anymore and people cannot afford to retire. maybe put some money to match in our 401k? or re-create the pension idea again?
that said, hats off to netflix for at least moving FORWARD on something that the US is too far behind on, compared to the rest of the modern world. such an embarrassment that the US treats its workers just about the worst in the world! essentially no time off, no vacation anymore (since companies found a trick to deny you sick time and vacation time; they call it something else and make it hard for you to even TAKE it when you need it). pay raises are not even at the cost of living increase (I've gone 10 years without ANY increase and I'm not making a big salary, so I really am left behind money-wise, compared to the rate that costs are going up). when you get to a 'certain age' you can't get fulltime offers anymore; they only offer you contract work (if even that) and they shoo you out as soon as they numbers need tweaking (some manager needs a new boat...)
work life in the US SUCKS SUCK SUCKS. so, hats off to netflix for at least using their wealth to help the worker bees, at least a little bit.
companies are at an all-time high in terms of profits; and yet workers are at a nearly all-time low in keeping up with cost of living. unions from 50 yrs ago improved life much more than we have now. how have we let things get SO BAD???
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @06:19PM
If you want that benefit, it isn't hard to figure out what you'd need to do to earn it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @07:18PM
You should not need to be a parent (and therefore likely contribute to overpopulation) to get these benefits. More time off should be the standard for everyone.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @07:45PM
I don't think it's fair that my childless colleagues have so much more free time and disposable income than I do.
Where's my benefit??
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @08:00PM
Indeed, please mod parent up. Your benefit is that you don't spend $500K raising a child for 25 years (probably a conservative estimate in the Northeast).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @08:39PM
I also hate how employers give additional paid time off to childless employees based on their life decisions.
Wait, what were we talking about?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2015, @03:24AM
How did this garbage get modded up? More time off is needed for everyone because people are worked to the bone. It's not merely an issue for parents.
Free time and disposable income are personal matters, not employer policies. Irrelevant.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday August 07 2015, @01:13PM
You're right. The solution for society to make more money is to stop having any children.
That is not the long-term solution you think it is.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by nukkel on Thursday August 06 2015, @09:18PM
That's what appeals to me in the idea of a basic income -- unemployment, disability, parental leave, etc etc, all those arrangements which create huge administrative overhead can simply be tossed in the trash.
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Friday August 07 2015, @02:07AM
Partly, because we destroyed the unions. On the one hand, we allowed them (or their respective leaderships) to become parasitic and self-serving rather than taking the time and effort of participating and governing them ourselves; on the other hand, we allowed them to be crippled by corporate and legislative interests, rather than standing up for our own and for each other in solidarity; and on the gripping hand, we allowed ourselves to be convinced that unions and other forms of collective organization and action are EvilBadCommunistSocialism (TM), something to be reflexively abjured, rather than realizing that, properly used and controlled, they are tools, something to be used to protect ourselves from and to balance out the powers of corporation and/or government.
Disclaimer: I am not a union member currently, but have worked non-union, partial-union and full union shops and been a member of both dysfunctional and properly functioning unions (sometimes in the same organization).