ITT a lot of people who don't have kids talking about the "benefits" of having children. It's pretty clear anyone who talks about "benefits of being of parent" don't have kids.
Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19
721–730 of 1001 posts
Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19
#722After reading many, many comments here I think it's become very evident to me how important it is to live with/near extended family and very close friends. It takes a village to raise a child and living as isolated parents far from friends or family that can help in raising children is not sustainable.
Americans (and maybe other western civilizations) seem to have removed ourselves so far from community that we forgot what true community is even for. Sharing resources and helping others simply to be a part of the "tribe" without having to pay for every single thing. This transactional consumerist economy has pushed us to where we're paying for everything, have incredibly fragile networks of dependency, and can't trust anyone unless money and a contract is involved.
Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19
#723All of the data presented seems to be parents who are anxious about their performance at work, then, what, a single anecdote about an asshole manager?
I'm sure this problem exists, but I as a peer or manager do not hold this against those with kids. If you have kids, I want you to feel supported right now, not afraid.
Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19
#724Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't fully agree with you. Back when I worked in retail or fast food, smokers could step out for a 5 minute smoke break every once in a while. As a non-smoker, I wasn't allowed to just sit there for 5 minutes. At the end of the day, we got paid the same, but smokers got 30 minutes off, courtesy of the non-smokers who picked up the slack. Likewise, parents are excused from work because they have children. I fully a…
They get the perk of more flexibility because they're providing a service to society, raising children for the next generation. You don't get this perk because you didn't have children. Your contribution is more work because you have more time to do it.
> They get the perk of more flexibility because they're providing a service to society
From companies? The market doesn't care about all that. It's supply and demand. If parents get "perks" from companies it's because the companies need to provide them to attract workers(on the whole).
Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19
#725Earlier quoted context omitted.
>an essential service that some people perform to ensure that society as we know it can continue to exist I empathize with parents, but please don't make it sound like it's a selfless act they are doing for the good of society. Also, childless couples/singles get taxed at quite a high rate (after any returns) vs parents. You compound that over 21 or whatever years it takes for kids to become "productive". Furthermore…
Well said. It's a bit farcical that this discussion has degenerated into "I have kids for the better of society". Let's stick to the simpler rationale that some people have kids because they love kids and/or want to pass down their genes.
People join the military for lots of reasons (patriotism, free college, bad family situation, and more) but we all recognize that funding the military and making life tolerable for service members is necessary for our society to keep working.
Similarly, people choose to have kids for lots of reasons (family pressure, want to pass on genes, etc.) but society's continued existence depends on people having kids, so it's on all of us to support the people who do have kids whether or not any given individual's motivation is noble.
Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19
#726This feels like more of an effort to create a story than accurate reporting of what life is like inside tech firms right now. 1. Parents lives have been temporarily turned upside down as almost all childcare disappears. Temporary is turning out to be a long time... but still. 2. Most companies are composed of people of all ages and stages of life which means there are lots of parents. Particularly when you consider m…
Sorry but ageism is not only real, but in silicon valley it's a hiring strategy.
Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19
#727Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ignoring the obvious downsides for a moment, I'd happily trade places with one of my childless coworkers right about now. This morning I went up and down the stairs at least ten times while trying to get my 7- and 9-year old kids successfully established in their first remote learning session, simultaneously participating in two consecutive Zoom meetings with coworkers, and figuring out how to solve a nagging issue i…
A BIG chunk of all that drama is due to the US social safety net not including childcare. That's the thing disturbing thing about these stories: employees are turned against each other when it's a) the company; and b) your tax dollars, not providing any kind of built-in childcare for society. In France, kids can go to preschool and have pre- and post- school childcare, which has to be paid, but it's only like $500/mo…
>A BIG chunk of all that drama is due to the US social safety net not including childcare.
Of course it does. That’s 90% of what grade school is and that’s why sending kids back to school is such a high priority for so many people.
Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19
#728One 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…
That is called life. There is no vacation when you have a sick spouse, or bought a new house, or are in a car accident. Your job shouldn't be your break, regardless of your situation. My wife is at a FAANG company currently covering for 4 people who all get double digit weeks off because they chose to have children. Does she get any time off for literally working 18 hour days 7 days a week? No of course not.
> FAANG
> 18 hour days 7 days a week
Really it’s the workers fault when one of the richest companies in the history of the world is working someone to the bone because they can’t figure out staffing?
Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19
#729Earlier quoted context omitted.
This argument is made again and again in this thread, and it never got addressed. 1. There are already functional mechanisms for contribution. A single, childless person is already contributing more through their taxes. The government already heavily subsidises child-rearing. 2. Child-rearing is given an arbitrary pass that other equally charitable actions wouldn't get. A single, childless person couldn't let his com…
1. I have no figures on subsidies for child-rearing, but "heavily subsidises" seems very unlikely in most places, maybe Scandinavia can make that claim. I suspect any help provided by the government is more than wiped out by lost income from one parent staying at home or working part time for ~5 years (or more with multiple children). Or nursery costs should both parents want to work as soon as possible. 2. Donating…
Depopulation is guaranteed after it peaks.but we just control population because with exponentially growing population, we also have exponentially exploding consumption rates. It’s like Carroll’s Red Queen analogy. We can never outrun.
We must control population to conserve non renewable resources. So we can comfortably perpetuate our species without burning the house down and killing everyone.
Re: Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19
#730Earlier quoted context omitted.
Someone has to provide the goods and services you'll consume when you're old. Those people are today's kids, whose parents are doing you a big favor at considerable expense to themselves. Raising children isn't like smoking, a hobby, a side hustle, or other miscellaneous personal obligations. It's more like military service and jury duty -- an essential service that some people perform to ensure that society as we kn…
That makes it sound like raising children isn't already an extremely strong biological urge and something that tends to provide immense satisfaction to parents. If parents didn't receive special benefits at work to help them raise children, or if all adults were given comparable benefits regardless of whether they have children, I don't think that would shatter the incentive structure and result in having too few hum…
uhhh,
we already have a shattered incentive structure and are not reproducing enough humans to support the next generation. US fertility is below replacement, as is pretty much every other developed or middle income country. Its likely that we will see peak world population in our lifetime.