I think parents deserve maternity and paternity leave, but it seems like there should be a generically available break for similar lengths of time available to workers who aren’t having children.
@jdm The same idea crossed my mind recently. Playing the devil’s advocate - people without children have higher disposable income than otherwise - this could compensate unpaid leave. Also from societal perspective, investing for the care of future task payers has higher return. That said, I do believe there is a strong point to consider here and improve on, as demographics are changing.
@todor I was talking with my girlfriend and something I do agree with is that we should make a carve out for special time for children becaue child rearing is a communal effort. I think I'm more concerned with how employes balance all of this. Often times employees pick up slack while their coworkers are out. This probably is career favorable for the employee overall, but it would be cool if after a team member gets back from a long leave that the workers picking up the slack got like a paid week off as a thank you for stepping up.
Alternatively, I wish employers would just build teams with enough slack in the system that even if someone is gone, it doesn't feel like more work is really being picked up.