Ask HN: How is your company supporting working parents during Covid-19?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23920398

by forbiddenvoid • 6 years ago

16 17 6 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

What strategies, safeguards or support is your company providing to help ensure that working parents' careers are not negatively impacted by the attribute of being a parent during a global pandemic?

cameronbrown3• 6 years ago

Up to 14 weeks of family leave for parents. I don't have kids but I'm happy for those around me who need it to not be completely stressed out. The only thing I'm unsure about is if it hurts career progression, but I doubt anyone is progressing much this year anyway.

giantg24• 6 years ago

At full pay? My company is giving 12 weeks of childcare leave at 60% pay.

I took 6 weeks of parental leave when my kid was born. It definitely hurt my career and my bonus was 1% instead of the target 8% (we're pay for performance).

cameronbrown3• 6 years ago

Fully paid, but it's a FAANG so that's not necessarily surprising.

OldHand2018• 6 years ago

Mostly just by being human. Two examples:

1. We had an all-staff conference call, and right as it was starting a baby started crying loudly. The CEO laughed and said it had been a really long time since he's heard that in his house. Once it was quiet, he carried on as if nothing happened.

2. I was in the middle of a conference call, speaking about something or another and my son starts his guitar lesson with the amp turned up way too loud. The executive on the call yells out "Smoke on the Water! Sounds great!" and while I'm frantically texting my wife to get the volume turned down he talks about how he got to play basketball with his son in the driveway at lunch and how great it was to see his kids so much more now.

Our company has been doing a lot better than expected since the pandemic started, so that probably takes a lot of the pressure off.

cameronbrown3• 6 years ago

Mostly just by being human.

If there's anything the corporate world could do with, it's probably this. And not the fake kind of human that's been popularised by "modern" companies (where things seem bubbly but aren't backed up by an actual culture of respect).

I honestly believe that we can all make better products and company cultures this way.

giantg24• 6 years ago

Yep, my company fakes it. Awesome policies on paper, but they don't follow their own rules.

duxup2• 6 years ago

I work for a small company, just a handful of people, just 3 who code.

They're great about everything. They get you have more productive days than others, things happen, and it actually motivates me to put in extra time at times, late nights at home after the kids go to bed (granted it's also about just sharpening my skills and etc to me).

maps7• 6 years ago

I would love to work for a company that size. Have you always worked in small companies?

duxup2• 6 years ago

Nope, my previous job was 5000+ employees.

There are advantages and disadvantages for both IMO.

matt_the_bass3• 6 years ago

We just let our employees do what they need to do. One of my colleagues was only working about 2 days a week due to kid duty for 3 months. We (as I. Company and colleague) didn’t really have a choice. That’s just life. We all know and understand. This results in a Good work/life balance and pretty strong team.

Over the last 20 years, our SHORTEST engineering hires have stayed for at least 5 years. Most stay longer. Core has been together for 19.

I take that as a sign of a pride.

giantg24• 6 years ago

Wow, that's impressive.

matt_the_bass3• 6 years ago

Thanks! I guess I just made a place that I’d want to work at. It turns out that f you hire smart people they just figure out what needs to get done. No sense in micromanaging them.

On the other hand I only had limited experiences working at big companies I didn’t want to work at.

chrismatheson• 6 years ago

Where do you work? A place where people are staying that long seems like somewhere to investigate ...

matt_the_bass3• 6 years ago

A small company that’s not currently hiring (sorry). A small company is not for everyone. But I like it.

edithwilson• 6 years ago

At Mirage we are using PPE for our working employees.

Meanwhile check - Wood vs. Concrete blog https://bit.ly/3eU17fh

thewalkeroo• 6 years ago

At the corporate level, almost nothing.

“Here’s a hotline, don’t kill yourself”

and

“Here’s 15 days pandemic leave if you get covid”

What I would have liked is the ability to go on leave like my wife. I don’t care if it’s unpaid, I just can’t take the kids being around the house with noting to do now that my wife’s leave is done.

Ask HN: How is your company supporting working parents during Covid-19?

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