Week 8 Discussion and Responses - Leadership and Ethics

Week 8 Discussion - Family-friendly Corporate Policies – Leadership and Ethics

Many people assume "family-friendly" corporate policies and programs are intended and used primarily by women.

What are the workplace needs of fathers or men with other familial responsibilities?

To what extent do men use these policies?

Why don't men use them more wisely?

Support your views.

Text and Resources

Required

Text: Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy Author: Lawrence, A. & Weber, J. Publisher: McGraw-Hill Ed/Year: 14th/2014 ISBN-13: 978-0-07-802947-9

Discussion Response 1

BY: A.R

First and foremost, Happy Father’s Day to all the dads!

Long gone are the days when women were the primary care givers and the man was the primary breadwinner.  According to Rehel and Baxter, “both partners work in 59.1 percent of married couples with children, and 68.2 percent of single mothers are also employed outside the home.” A very surprising statistic relating to conflict of work and family among dads between 1977 and 2008 shows an increase from 35 to 60 Percent. This was significantly higher than the mom’s conflict of work and family which increased by only 6 percentage points. (Rehel, E. and Baxter, E., 2015, para 7). What does all this mean? Are dad’s becoming more involved? Yes!

Workplace needs for dads are the same as moms - TIME, paid family leave and sick leave. It’s absurd in our country that in a normal corporate job one starts out working and gets only 2 weeks’ vacation and generally 2 sick days.  Family time isn’t a priority.

Based on a survey by Boston College’s Center for Work and Family, Human resource professionals stated a noticeable increase in the number of males taking part in paternity leave (Rehel, E. and Baxter, E., 2015, para 23). Dads using the time off allowed by companies seems to be dependent on percentage of pay. International studies show more dads use family leave when they get a high level of wage replacement (Rehel, E. and Baxter, E., 2015, para 24).

A study in Quebec showed that in 2005 only 32 percent of men used the family leave. By 2011 the percentage was up to 70 percent.  In the US, a study of human resource management shows less than 20% of companies offer paid paternity leave (Sahadi, J., 2016, para. 3). Even more disturbing is the finding that 36% of men wouldn’t use their paternal leave for fear of perception and impact on their current position (Sahadi, J., 2016, para. 4).

References:

Rehel, E. and Baxter, E. Men, Fathers, and Work-Family Balance. (2015, February 4). Retrieved from: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2015/02/04/105983/men-fathers-and-work-family-balance/

 Sahadi, J. Dads get more of a (paid) break at work. (2016, June 16). Retrieved from: http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/16/pf/parental-leave-fathers/index.html

Discussion Response 2

BY: A,W

Fathers or men with other familial responsibilities abide by an unspoken rule in the workplace when it comes to showing up at the job and working their normal work schedule each week; employees are praised more on their annual performance evaluation if they are seen daily at the office than those that are not. In today’s society, it’s quite normal for employers to offer Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and flexible work schedules for employees that need it. FMLA is job protection for the employee that’s faced with serious family needs. On the other hand, FMLA is unpaid. Now there are companies that will pay their employees during FMLA by use of the employee’s benefit time such as vacation congruent with the 12 weeks of FMLA that’s offered. But for the breadwinners that do not work for a company that offer this option, unpaid time off is a huge dilemma.

Men are more inclined to working a flexible schedule rather working from home or telecommuting. According to a survey, men are less likely to telecommute than women and 64 percent of men rather have flexible arrival and departure times in their work schedule (Fondas, 2013). The survey also conveyed men’s concerns that fewer hours in the office can hinder a person’s career advancement (Fondas, 2013). There was a study of about a hundred employees, both supervisors and subordinates, and they study shows that managers unconsciously relate terms such as responsible and dependable to workers that they see in the office during regular business hours. This is an inherent bias against workers that may be on a flexible schedule or telecommuting when it comes to performance evaluations (Fondas, 2013).  

Consider the men that were unemployed and finally found a job. Many men and women fear the term at-will with their employers and that fear is justified especially if you have bills and a family to take care of. Now, there are laws that protect the employee from being fired based on gender, race, age, sexual orientation, and disability. Outside those factors, a company can lay off employees at any time and their reasons are usually based on job performance or budget cuts. Again, many men feel that going against showing up at work and working the normal hours required a week can impair their career advancement. When it comes to layoffs, men feel their chances are higher to be let go if they are not showing face at the workplace (Boushey, 2009). From my research, it seems that if a man feels that job security or job advancement can be compromised by their absence or flexible work schedule, then these men are more likely to not make use of these family friendly policies.

 

References:

Boushey, H. (2009, March 3). Encouraging Family-Friendly Workplace Policies. Retrieved June 18, 2017, from https://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/women/reports/2009/03/03/5728/encouraging-family-friendly-workplace-policies/

 

Fondas, N. (2013, July 19). How Women and Men Use Flexible Work Policies Differently. Retrieved June 18, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/07/how-women-and-men-use-flexible-work-policies-differently/277954/

Discussion Response 3

BY: I,H

The United States remains as the only industrialized nation to not have a formal paid parental leave practice in place (Kass, 2017). Without any formal requirement, it is common to see that many organizations have set up their own policies, some more generous than others. American employees are entitled to 12 weeks – combined for mom and dad if they have the same employer - of unpaid leave that is protected by the Family and Medical Leave act which expire 12 months after birth, adoption or foster care of a child (United States Department of Labor, n.d.). While this may be the only option for certain workers, companies like Facebook offer 17 weeks paid leave for all new parents, and salaried employees at Netflix are allowed up to 12 months paid leave (Kass, 2017). More and more we see that work-life balance and family-friendly policies are making employers more attractive, hence the 49 percent of organizations making changes to accommodate working parents (Brooks, 2016). Paid family leave policies have become a recruitment advantage and retention tool for employers (Kass, 2017). Even so, its been noted that new dads are still hesitant on taking advantage of this benefit.

 

Even firms that offer generous paid time off during this time for fathers are reducing the time offered because the new dads are not taking the full offered time (Kass, 2017). Jason Hall, writer for Forbes interviewed new dads who have taken some time off after having a new baby in the family and they explained the stigma associated with taking paternity leave as not a fear of losing their jobs but the unspoken disapproval that may come with taking a long leave (Hall, 2013). A 2012 study showed that even when offered paid paternal leave only 12 percent of fathers took advantage of the benefit compared to 69 percent of mothers (Hall, 2013).

 

With more and more households in America having two working parents, being able to take time off to bond with their children and families is a benefit that working dads need to take advantage of. At the same token, colleagues and managers should not allow the feeling of guilt to arise within the fathers that do take the time off but rather encourage it as having a good work-life balance will only create happier and more motivated employees.

 Isamar

 

 Brooks, C. (2016, December 16). Retain Employees With Family-Friendly Workplace Policies. Retrieved June 19, 2017, from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/9635-family-friendly-policies.html

Hall, J. (2013, June 14). Why Men Don't Take Paternity Leave. Retrieved June 19, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2013/06/14/why-men-dont-take-paternity-leave/#1ae1f7891bd7

Kass, D. (2017, January). The FemInEM Focus: More Groups Offer Paternity Leave (The Tr... : Emergency Medicine News. Retrieved June 19, 2017, from http://journals.lww.com/em-news/Citation/2017/01000/The_FemInEM_Focus__More_Groups_Offer_Paternity.19.aspx

United States Department of Labor. (n.d.). Retrieved June 19, 2017, from https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/fmla/10a1.aspx