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Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19

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Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19

#781

Post by Cd00d »

briandear wrote: post #694
lotsofpulp wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>When a policy hits close to home: more work, higher taxes, reduced disposable income, suddenly support isn’t quite so robust. Yes, because I'm not going to put my family at a disadvantage versus others in society unless everyone is going to chip in. That's a perfectly reasonable position to hold.

But everyone doesn’t chip in. 47% of Americans pay no federal income taxes.

That's because they make so little money that paying taxes would impact their ability to feed themselves.

This comes up just enough I wonder - are there really people that wish to revoke citizen privileges because you don't earn enough money?

Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19

#782

Post by ojbyrne »

leetcrew wrote: post #600
tunesmith wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your conception of Democrats is that they will only vote for tax increases on people richer than them, then you have a pretty inaccurate conception of Democrats. Yes, Democratic politicians will try to tailor their tax increases to not hit the middle class, but that's because they are trying to attract more voters than just Democrats.

are you sure? > An individual’s likelihood of being a Democrat decreases with every additional dollar he or she earns. Democrats have a huge advantage (63 percent) with voters earning less than $15,000 per year. This advantage carries forward for individuals earning up to $50,000 per year, and then turns in the Republicans’ favor — with just 36 percent of individuals earning more than $200,000 per year supporting Dem…

Seems like you should have included the next section for a broader context:

“ While Democrats lose support as income increases, there seems to be a tipping point where the ultra-wealthy begin leaning Democratic. The most famous example would be the entertainment industry, where star-studded events have become a significant part of Democratic culture.

But this phenomenon is not limited to Hollywood. A review of the 20 richest Americans, as listed by Forbes Magazine, found that 60 percent affiliate with the Democratic Party, including the top three individuals: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison. Among the riches families, the Democratic advantage rises even higher, to 75 percent.”

Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19

#783

Post by stormbeard »

ulmas wrote: post #774
ultramundane8 wrote: post #743

This thread is absolutely bananas. I actually read most of it at 759 comments. The short version is that people with kids are insanely defensive about it. In many cases, they have literally rewritten their brains to see reproduction as exclusively good and necessary. If you suggest anything else, you will be swiftly brigaded and condemned. Those without children are all over the place. Their opinions vary from comple…

"rewritten their brains"... conceiving, carrying, birthing, raising a child is not like picking a favorite beverage or ice cream flavour, and changing the choice as you evolve. It's not something you set your mind about, and change it a couple weeks later as a result of a mood swing, or because of an influential article or a comment on the web. "reproduction ... good and necessary"... people don't get kids because it…

You're not really making a point here. If you think they are wrong, then tell us why you think this. Shooting down the comment and providing no real input is unproductive.

Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19

#784

Post by Cd00d »

ramraj07 wrote: post #682
wmsiler wrote: post #595

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>they chose to have children, and I chose not to Up until the pandemic, my work schedule had almost never been affected by me being parent in any way. I chose to have kids knowing that my wife and I would be able to continue working without this significantly impacting our jobs (after the first several weeks after they were born, of course), and that has always been true until this. You are acting as though parents f…

I do not agree with this. Even side hustles have been adversely affected by the pandemic. Quite nearly everything in our lives has been. Parents deserve all the concessions that can be afforded, but people without kids should also be afforded the same. Having children is a personal choice in the end, it's a right, but nothing special in anyway. People should not be penalized for not making that choice, just like they…

You should research the meanings of equality and equity. Equity is not a penalization for those with better circumstances, it is simply support for those that lack it.

Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19

#785

Post by honkycat »

softwaredoug wrote: post #18

It's simply depressing how parent/kid-hostile society has become... I'm not saying we need explosive population growth. But I feel one of the main purposes of society is raising and protecting children. If you're a human-future-optimist, you want some kind of generation that's better than us to continue on.... I'm not saying you NEED to have kids, but I feel it's part of society's collective duty to consider the next…

> It's simply depressing how parent/kid-hostile society has become.

This is such bullshit, akin to the "Christians" who feel like they are being persecuted, even though the majority of people in the US are christian.

MOST PEOPLE HAVE CHILDREN. Only 30% of women at age 30 are childless currently, and that number drops to 20% by 40. By what measure are people who have children a persecuted minority? [1]

I would ABSOLUTELY agree that society is not currently supportive of people in general, however this persecution complex about having kids is unfounded. The vast majority of people are on your side, and in fact the majority of people have kids.

1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/241535/percentage-of-chi...

Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19

#786

Post by ironman1478 »

Aunche wrote: post #416
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #4

I am a middle-aged adult with no children who's worked at tech firms for the past couple decades. To be honest, the "resentment" of those without children have for "benefits" those with children get strikes me as extremely selfish, immature and displaying a total lack of empathy. This is time off specifically to take care of children, something now that has become exceedingly more difficult in Covid times. What's nex…

> strikes me as extremely selfish, immature and displaying a total lack of empathy Empathy needs to go both ways. Childless employees tend to be younger and less experienced, so they often are paid less than those with kids. If you're a junior who needs to work 80 hour weeks to pick up the slack from seniors with kids, but you're also paid less, it's understandable that you would be angry.

No single employee at a company is productive enough that them leaving literally doubles a person's workload, especially when most people aren't actually productive for an entire day and there is a lot of evidence that 4 day work weeks are just as productive. If this environment did exist, the employee should quit unless they are making A LOT of money.

Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19

#787

Post by throwta22 »

sokoloff wrote: post #745
throwta22 wrote: post #615

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I'm out of the loop but I didn't realize that parents actually felt like they're doing society and the human race a favor by having several kids. I always viewed it as the opposite. We're at no risk of extinction and companies should not subsidize people for having kids, at least not more than 1. Many people love taking advantage of that sweet sweet 16+ week parental leave.

I love my kids. Even with that, I assure you I was looking forward to the break and reduction in workload when my parental leave expired and I went back to the office...

At the place I work it was never mandatory to take parental leave.

All these years I always said congratulations when coworkers had kids...when I really should have thanked them.

Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19

#788

Post by honkycat »

Waterluvian wrote: post #291

One thing I wish I could make my childless peers grok is that THERE IS NO VACATION when you have young kids. I’m taking this week off and people speak as if I’m on vacation. Please please hear my words literally: my job is my break. Weekends are more physically and intellectually exhausting than weekdays when I get to $&@# off to work for eight hours. My paid time off is a way to give us a fighting chance at laundry…

It is funny because I have seen this reflected a lot with my older co-workers. They work OBSESSIVELY ( although don't seem to get more work done... ), and I independently identified exactly this sentiment: Work is kinda fun when you have a family. There is a beer keg, you hang out with your friends at work, there are clear goals and metrics and putting in more work often has positive results, people listen to you and respect you...

Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19

#789

Post by rconti »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #4

I am a middle-aged adult with no children who's worked at tech firms for the past couple decades. To be honest, the "resentment" of those without children have for "benefits" those with children get strikes me as extremely selfish, immature and displaying a total lack of empathy. This is time off specifically to take care of children, something now that has become exceedingly more difficult in Covid times. What's nex…

I just skimmed the article, and I don't doubt the issue is real, but they cited, I think, one actual human who had a specific complaint.

It feels like an article written with its narrative before its 'research'.

My anecdata is my company is (publicly and at the middle leadership level) very supportive of the compromises parents and others are making, I harbor no resentment towards parents, and have seen not one shred of it in informal communications. YMMV.

Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19

#790

Post by luckylion »

rdtwo wrote: post #315
luckylion wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they are unhappy about their managers' decision to favor their colleagues. If you give a tax rebate to anyone who's last name starts with A, are the other people not allowed to be annoyed, given that they have to pay more taxes to make up for the rebate? "Why can't you just be happy for the A people?" feels weird. Just pay those not taking time off for the time they would've taken off. It's not a complicated conc…

In this example people who’s letter starts with a basically lost a major social safety net but got a small perk instead. It’s like saying sorry you don’t qualify for social security anymore but here is 600$

When the funding continues, why are they losing anything?

When the company continues to produce the same output, their salaries are the same, they get their equity bonus, and undoubtedly they expect their promotions not to be affected, what are they losing?

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