Discussion

• @joeperticone Joe on x

  Me telling parents of toddlers how during the pandemic I've studied winemaking, taken up tennis, cycling, and playing video games https://twitter.com/...

• @daiwaka Daisuke Wakabayashi on x

  When the pandemic forced office and school closures, some companies offered more time off to parents. But as the impact of Covid drags on, some employees without kids are saying this is unfair. It's causing a rift at some companies, especially at Facebook https://www.nytimes.com/…

• @anandwrites Anand Giridharadas on x

  If you are a company raking it in, of course you should accommodate parents. But you don't need to make non-parents work more. You could hire more people in a moment of staggering unemployment, right? The problem here is plutocratic divide and conquer. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @karterhol Ted Sullivan on x

  I've felt the frustration of having to work holidays because “I don't have a family.” But during a pandemic, it's selfish of kid-less workers to attack parents who are getting a little extra help. Juggling work/homeschool/caretaking is not “easy peasy” https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @owenthomas Owen Thomas on x

  A powerful Google VP who is now the CEO of YouTube. (The Google child-care kerfuffle was one of my bigger Valleywag scoops, picked up by the NYT and drawing worldwide attention.) https://gawker.com/5016355 https://twitter.com/...

• @iainthomson Iain Thomson on x

  We're happily child-free but whining because parents dealing with raising small humans need extra help is just selfishly dumb. Working from home is hard on everyone, but I'm continually amazed at the parents on our street, and in our lives, for staying sane. More power to them. h…

• @arindube Arindrajit Dube on x

  More than ever before, Covid has created an enormous gulf between parents of young children and other people. This gap in available work time is enormous and unprecedented. And it's not going anyway anytime soon. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @amlwhere Ann Marie Lipinski on x

  The deep lack of empathy on display in this story and in the comments is stunning. There's a historic pandemic, people. Schools and daycare are shuttered or risky. Would you have the parenting workforce quit? Try a little tenderness. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @techledes Connie Guglielmo on x

  One #Apple employee encountered frustrating resistance when asking for flex schedule. A manager responded that the employee was expected to work full time - or not at all - “unofficially.” @iansherr on this very important topic for life under #COVIDー19. https://www.cnet.com/...

• @bendreyfuss Ben Dreyfuss on x

  Is the implication here that Facebook *normally* requires a doctor's note for sick days? https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @jackiegschneid Jacquelyn Schneider on x

  My biggest regret in AD AF was my lack of flexibility for troops w/children. I was in my 20s-30s, double income, no kids, working 12+ hours a day, doing sprint triathlons. I was crushing it. But I had no empathy for others. I know we lost talent because of it. Don't be me. https:…

• @susan_hennessey Susan Hennessey on x

  The same old anti-maternity leave arguments dressed up for 2020. Parents with kids at home are drowning right now. Companies that don't adopt policies to accommodate the crisis will face a (primarily female) brain drain with massive long-term costs. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @keithnhumphreys Keith Humphreys on x

  Supporting parents to take care of kids is a ripoff only of those childless adults who were never children. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @maustermuhle Martin Austermuhle on x

  I have many thoughts on this. But most of them include words I'd rather not use on this family-friendly platform. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @sonnybunch Sonny Bunch on x

  lol get rekt childless employees https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @laurenzcollins Lauren Collins on x

  The lack of solidarity (that goes for parents and non-parents) never fails to amaze 🇺🇸 https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @sfpelosi Christine Pelosi on x

  Any backlash against #parents getting help for distance learning is ingrained with the status quo - a mommy track that punishes mostly female parenting. Change that: give everyone the #PTO, telework, and mental wellness space to care for self and family. https://www.nytimes.com/.…

• @emilybell Emily Bell on x

  shocking thing here is how 3 months is seen as a long time. It's not. I took 3x lots of 6months, working full time on either side, and that felt not enough. (I was lucky to be somewhere that promoted me whilst on parental leave rather than regarded it as a career disaster) https:…

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  @sheeraf @daiwaka A big divide is that parental status lines up with seniority and role at these companies. On the engineering side, I would estimate that the vast majority of Directors and VPs are parents of school-aged children and a slight majority of ICs are not.

• @sadydoyle @sadydoyle on x

  “Why are childless people being framed as the assholes?” Because the article describes instances where childless people are specifically cornering and publicly berating parents for caring for their kids, trying to edge them out of jobs during a recession. That's asshole behavior.…

• @jessgrose Jessica Grose on x

  The comments on this piece are wild. Most of the people complaining about the unreasonable “entitlements” parents get (example: a six week maternity leave) are only bashing their coworkers, not, I don't know, their management for saddling them with work. https://www.nytimes.com/.…

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  @sheeraf @daiwaka Resources for parents has a long history of conflict in the Valley. There was a famous blow-up at Google over their switch to in-house, super-high-end daycare that only pre-IPO employees could afford because it was the wish of a powerful VP.

• @doubleeph Tyro on x

  Quite an interesting article. The idea that taking time off to look after children is some kind of holiday is funny to put it mildly https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @tonyfratto Tony Fratto on x

  Man, I really don't understand how some people don't have more empathy for parents right now. The challenges they're facing are epic and we all need them to succeed. We need them to be heroes. We should be rooting for them, boosting them, not dragging them. https://twitter.com/..…

• @ahmed Ahmed Al Omran on x

  Some employees without children say that they feel underappreciated, and that they are being asked to shoulder a heavier workload. Parents are frustrated that their childless co-workers don't understand how hard it is to balance work and child care https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @sadydoyle @sadydoyle on x

  So, I do want to talk a little bit more about parenting discrimination and childfree stigma, because I feel like the conversation around this piece is getting stuck in a familiar place: https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @mennenia Maxim Cramer on x

  What baffles me about this is that employees are so obsessed with work that, rather than attacking parents and the companies for “unfair” leave policies, they don't think to ask the companies to readjust their expectations of what can be done in 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @jillfilipovic Jill Filipovic on x

  Very easy to say that the employees without kids are being churlish here, but being asked to do more work without more compensation because you don't have kids is actually very unfair and possibly illegal and absolutely grounds for frustration. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @schanoes Veronica Schanoes on x

  Or...you could direct that churlishness at your boss, who should be hiring enough employees for everybody to have a decent work-life balance, instead of letting him put you against each other. https://twitter.com/...

• @obsidian_blue Obsidian Blue on x

  Yeah I wish people would get this. You can be flexible to employees with kids at home but don't then turn around and ask me to do their work. https://twitter.com/...

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  @sheeraf @daiwaka I expect that there is also a gendered aspect, and that 70% of the upvotes are from young, male engineers. FB has a norm of aggressively pushing new dads to take the full leave benefits as it is the only way to make it ok for new moms. Young male eng only people…

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  @sheeraf @daiwaka And it really is difficult. 3 months of leave is basically somebody quitting and getting rehired. You have to completely replace them and then work them back in just when the org has stabilized. Really hard when SrMgr/Directors take leave, but only way to be equ…

• @jmangan Jeff Mangan on x

  This is an issue? Empathy is fleeting, almost non-existent, in some areas of today's society. Support your colleagues, parents or not. Leaders need to recognize everyone experiences change differently, be flexible enough to implement policies that reflect that understanding https…

• @davekonopka Dave Konopka on x

  “It's not fair” — 3 year olds and tech bros. https://twitter.com/...

• @caro Caroline McCarthy on x

  Weird opinion: this is thinly veiled class resentment. People in tech (and, well, in SF in general) tend to have kids later and so a whole lot of young employees erroneously see this kind of thing as perks going to their wealthy bosses. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @caitlin__kelly Caitlin Kelly on x

  I find the Times story on parents vs non-parents at tech co's esp interesting considering how long those places could safely ignore parents—remember when Apple's new HQ had a 100K ft gym but no daycare?—something @pardesoteric touched on earlier this week https://www.wired.com/..…

• @sarahw Sarah Weinman on x

  The takeaway is that tech companies suck, everyone should get more paid time off, childcare should be universal, and unions are essential. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @sadydoyle @sadydoyle on x

  This fight has been raging since the beginning of the pandemic and it just gets so maddening. No-one is getting time off to relax or have fun, no-one wants to be in this situation, but the parents have two full-time jobs & the non-parents have one. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @joshelman Josh Elman on x

  If you never have had a child (or can't or have lost one) I can see having a hard time with these policies. But what the complainers are failing to understand is that these policies are intended for the kids involved and *not* to give the parents a break https://www.nytimes.com/.…

• @skrishna Swapna Krishna on x

  I just cannot handle the fact that these people are blaming their co-workers who are parents, rather than the companies they work for, for extra workload they shoulder. Childless people shouldn't have to take that on! But...it's not parents' fault? It's the companies'?? https://t…

• @hshaban Hamza Shaban on x

  Of the many deeply embarrassing and shameful attitudes expressed in this story, one thing jumps out: the same companies that claim to stand for “community” and “the global public square” are filled with people who can't sympathize with their own colleagues https://www.nytimes.com…

• @ryangrim Ryan Grim on x

  The obvious solution here: Let aggrieved employees without kids have time off too, as long as they watch the kids of their fellow workers. See how long they think they're getting the shaft https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @iamjakestream Jake on x

  Just go pop out some babies so you can also “enjoy” those same benefits 🤷‍♂️ https://twitter.com/...

• @kikutowne @kikutowne on x

  Big “Me-ternity Leave” Energy https://twitter.com/...

• @backwardshatt @backwardshatt on x

  @Techmeme Having unprotected sex should give anyone more benefits

• @ja_davids Jordan Davidson on x

  Just a reminder that not everyone who is childless is childless by choice. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @mattdpearce Matt Pearce on x

  Sorry, but if you don't have kids (like me) it's still your responsibility to support people who do. They're raising the next generation of people who are gonna grow your food, pave your roads, fix your A/C and do that surgery you need to stay alive. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @gina_scooter Gina on x

  fr why is everyone in this country so bitter and selfish god damn https://twitter.com/...

• @heatherkelly Heather Kelly on x

  These benefits aren't even really “time off” because there is no time off from parenting right now. It's a whole second full time job. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @joannastern Joanna Stern on x

  This is a really interesting story. Only thing that's missing is some employee debating having a child for the office perks... https://twitter.com/...

• @mccanner Erin Mccann on x

  There are workdays I end up absolutely spent. I am healthy and don't have kids. The only thing I feel toward my coworkers who have kids, and therefore need or get a little extra help from the company, is absolute awe at how they are managing this year. https://twitter.com/...

• @hillarydixler Hillary Dixler Canavan on x

  This anger is best directed at the federal government rather than your boss and coworkers. The federal government's failure to contain this pandemic is why kids couldn't go back to school and daycare. Childcare is vital to **all** companies. https://twitter.com/...

• @liahaberman Lia Haberman on x

  Everyone needs a little extra compassion & tolerance at different times in their lives. Creating a society that demands peak performance at all times leaves no room for you to care for yourself, pets, parents, partners... https://twitter.com/...

• @rtulshyan Ruchika T on x

  This is a direct result of a country that does not mandate a single day of paid maternity leave & 1/4 mothers go back to work 10 days after giving birth. Childcare is frightfully expensive. It's a straight line argument—America never cared about parents. This isn't surprising. ht…

• @econ_marshall Marshall Steinbaum on x

  This is why the ultimate aim of “family policy” should be to separate family considerations from employment to greatest extent possible. https://twitter.com/...

• @caro_milanesi Carolina Milanesi on x

  I could not agree more with Dai on the point that the pandemic affects us all in different ways. You might not have kids but might be caring for an elderly parent or a sick family member. There is a human call to action on #empathy and a business call to action on #transparency h…

• @shivanibanfal Shivani Banfal on x

  I've been the childless employee who is given extra work to let those older than me enjoy their time with there family. At first it played towards my empathy but slowly it ate away at me. I clocked more hours & my ability to enjoy my life was being taken away. It was exploitation…

• @lisatozzi Lisa Tozzi on x

  I can't get over this. People are just awful sometimes. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @ceciliakang Cecilia Kang on x

  Home schooling while working in exchange for more work (even a lot more work)? I think I know about a million working parents who would take that trade in a second. No one wins with this dispute. It's a shitty time people. For everyone (non parents too). https://twitter.com/...

• @jdesmondharris Jene on x

  Imagine having a great salary w/ every perk you could ever ask for while people are being evicted & dying and losing loved ones all over the country & the feeling you choose is ... anger that your coworkers who are parents got a little bit of compassion https://www.nytimes.com/..…