I work in Sweden and struggle to consider working elsewhere. The paternity leave was amazing and really allowed time to form a strong bond with the kids and didn't affect seniority at work. Flexible hours mean that I start early but can dive away at 15:00 to pick up the kids from day care. If the kids are unwell, I can take care of them without any problem. All the meanwhile having a challenging rewarding tech job.
The thing is that the company I work for is just like all the other companies in the area, so it makes for nice work life balance and a pretty happy family :)
Ask HN: Is your company (job) family friendly?
41–50 of 83 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is your company (job) family friendly?
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, which is why I upboated you. My wife is a stay at home mom. Makes life way better for all of us, much less stressful for the children and she enjoys it. I wish more women would consider it, especially if their husbands make a living wage. Life isn't all about money.
Fuck that. I make a living wage too, tyvm, and I like my career. Why shouldn't the dad be the stay at home parent?
Cool story feminist. You're obviously triggered by my patriarchy.
Re: Ask HN: Is your company (job) family friendly?
#43What does "family friendly" mean? It's unclear from your post. Does he want to work fewer hours but get paid more money, or does he just want more flexibility to schedule his hours?
I interpreted to mean that the company's policies take into account the needs of people with families, i.e. husband/wife/partner and potentially children.
Generally I would expect this to translate to a meaningful commitment to work/life balance, flexible hours, adequate paternity/maternity leave, the ability to occasionally (or primarily) work-from-home, and some benefits and incentives that make sense for people with families (such as employer contributions to life insurance and disability insurance).
the way you phrased your question "Does he want to work fewer hours but get paid more money" includes a lot of implicit hostility, by the way. I'm not sure if you meant it that way but that's how it reads.
Re: Ask HN: Is your company (job) family friendly?
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, which is why I upboated you. My wife is a stay at home mom. Makes life way better for all of us, much less stressful for the children and she enjoys it. I wish more women would consider it, especially if their husbands make a living wage. Life isn't all about money.
Maybe more men should consider it, "especially if their [wives] make a living wage."
Being a stay at home dad is emasculating.
Re: Ask HN: Is your company (job) family friendly?
#45I am single but most of my co-workers have kids. I work at a small startup and work hour flexibility is huge for me. Generally, as long as my work gets done and I don't miss meetings I am free to work my own hours within reason. For example, if I know there is a big snow storm coming I'll take a day or two off work with just a day's notice to ski. But then I'll work over the weekend. I think this only works because all of our employees are very dedicated and motivated. Once we grow think might need to change a little.
Re: Ask HN: Is your company (job) family friendly?
#46I was working for a company that was moving from remote work to full-time in the office. My former co-worker and I decided to start our own company so we could stay remote and close to our families. I have 7 kids, he has 8 and we both homeschool. That was almost 6 years ago and I've never regretted it. If you value time with your family, nobody is a better boss than you. It's not unusual for me to shoot an IM over to…
I don't usually reply, I am lurker but you sir, being the family man then you are a hero! The hero HN needs and the hero that HN deserves!
Re: Ask HN: Is your company (job) family friendly?
#47Created a throwaway to name my company: Castlight Health. Our company is definitely family friendly. Our CEO threw a birthday party for his son and invited the company and all their family members; it was essentially a party for company kids. Most of our social events are during company hours so you don't feel the pressure of having to hang out with coworkers during your free time. Many company events are family friendly.
More importantly I have seen many colleagues and managers take the 4 pm BART home to deal with kids issues. We also have a much more diverse age set of engineers - half of the engineers in my seating area are over 50. If you've experience Silicon Valley ageism please check us out because we definitely like to hire experienced engineers.
I linger around hacker news and it's weird hearing about toxic company cultures around this area as I've started to take for granted my perks. While I'm somewhat young (30) and without a family, I'm used to (and appreciate) working with folks who started coding before PCs even existed. I like that I can easily take the day off when I have a friend visiting and my colleagues can do the same for a school activity. I appreciate that my free time isn't monopolized through forced company social events and I can have a clear separation between work and play.
I can't imagine ever working at a place where every one looked exactly like me, drank the cool aid, and embraced "work hard play hard" (which usually means just work hard).
Re: Ask HN: Is your company (job) family friendly?
#48I'm working at the most family friendly company I've ever worked for right now (http://planning.center).
We're very remote friendly, which is a big plus. They pay for my whole family's healthcare (even though it's just my wife and I right now). We have a "family week" every year where they pay for our S.O. to come with us to an in-office week (and we're welcome to bring kiddos) for a week in town where they keep them entertained during the work day and do some special events for the whole fam at night. The best thing though is that during the summer we get every Friday off. Paid. So that's a whole day a week for the entire course of the summer to spend with your family (and that's what it's meant for).
There are other companies that offer different benefits that we don't (due to size or whatever), but I feel like we offer an incredible set of benefits for someone with a family.
Re: Ask HN: Is your company (job) family friendly?
#49I was working for a company that was moving from remote work to full-time in the office. My former co-worker and I decided to start our own company so we could stay remote and close to our families. I have 7 kids, he has 8 and we both homeschool. That was almost 6 years ago and I've never regretted it. If you value time with your family, nobody is a better boss than you. It's not unusual for me to shoot an IM over to…
How do your kids adapt to social interactions with kids of their age, spending 24/7 with your family might be tiring and in young age there is a big difference between 3 and 5 year olds, I think they need to interact with kids of their age and different cultures to be better adapt in future life, that's just my opinion, I might be wrong?
I am a former homeschool parent whose oldest will soon be 30.
You are entirely wrong. Homeschooled kids typically have stronger relationships and better social skills.
Re: Ask HN: Is your company (job) family friendly?
#50My anecdotal experience: companies are much more "family friendly" when the CEO and senior managers themselves have families. Stated differently, paraphrasing the CEO that just had their first kid: "holy crap, this is a lot of work!!!!" You have not truly experienced sleep deprivation until you have had sustained, parental sleep deprivation.
Not to take away too much from what you said, because its valid in some ways, but "family" is broader that that. Families aren't just "having young children" and "family friendly," in a workplace setting, fits in a broader category than "accommodates parents with young children."
(Its also important to have personal time to yourself even if you don't have a family as well)