<story><title>Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19</title><url>https://www.cnet.com/news/tech-firms-face-growing-resentment-of-parent-employees-during-covid-19/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ng12</author><text>What I&amp;#x27;ve seen is the complaints are largely coming from couples that want to raise kids while both parents work full time jobs. Asking for fewer hours so you can continue that lifestyle is asking your employer and fellow employees to subsidize your second income, not your ability to have and raise children. My coworkers with SAH spouses aren&amp;#x27;t feeling the burn anywhere near as badly -- it&amp;#x27;s just an extended summer for them.&lt;p&gt;I feel a lot of empathy for single parents but those seem to be relatively rare in the field.</text></item><item><author>mc32</author><text>I agree.  Parents are making sacrifices which benefit society as a whole. Those children the parents are taking care of now will be the ones who will provide for the one complaining now via taxes as well as services rendered to them.&lt;p&gt;If anything, companies should be providing more childcare so that more women (as well as some men) will have less of a burden balancing career and caregiving.&lt;p&gt;I see these people as being petty complainers who wouldn’t raise their own children (own or adopted) but complain someone else is willing to be a productive member of society engaging in the workforce and raising the productive adults of tomorrow when these complainers will be asking for benefits and services that would be unavailable without future adults.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s similar to &amp;quot;I don&amp;#x27;t take the bus, why should my taxes pay for public transit.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I would concede if there are people exploiting this privilege then that’s a problem and management should address it.</text></item><item><author>hn_throwaway_99</author><text>I am a middle-aged adult with no children who&amp;#x27;s worked at tech firms for the past couple decades. To be honest, the &amp;quot;resentment&amp;quot; of those without children have for &amp;quot;benefits&amp;quot; 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.&lt;p&gt;What&amp;#x27;s next, complaining that the cancer patient gets extra time off so why don&amp;#x27;t I?&lt;p&gt;If anything, I&amp;#x27;m thankful for all those people with kids who will (a) take care of the continuation of the human race, and more selfishly (b) support our society and economy when I am too old to do so.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sulam</author><text>Just keep in mind, those people working two full time jobs might be barely making ends meeting in Silicon Valley. Maybe one is a tech writer earning 5-figures and the other is a nurse with a schedule they don&amp;#x27;t control and that doesn&amp;#x27;t give them real benefits (this is all too common). They can&amp;#x27;t afford to quit and now they have to juggle kids, too. Everything worked fine when the kids were in school and they could pay for after school care, but now both of those options have been removed. On top of everything else they also have to figure out how to organize their 3 bedroom place into two classrooms and an office. Oh and for the cherry on top, now you can&amp;#x27;t even be outside safely without a high quality mask on.&lt;p&gt;And yes, I&amp;#x27;m thinking of a specific couple -- this is not a made up situation.</text></comment>
<story><title>Tech firms face growing resentment of parent employees during Covid-19</title><url>https://www.cnet.com/news/tech-firms-face-growing-resentment-of-parent-employees-during-covid-19/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ng12</author><text>What I&amp;#x27;ve seen is the complaints are largely coming from couples that want to raise kids while both parents work full time jobs. Asking for fewer hours so you can continue that lifestyle is asking your employer and fellow employees to subsidize your second income, not your ability to have and raise children. My coworkers with SAH spouses aren&amp;#x27;t feeling the burn anywhere near as badly -- it&amp;#x27;s just an extended summer for them.&lt;p&gt;I feel a lot of empathy for single parents but those seem to be relatively rare in the field.</text></item><item><author>mc32</author><text>I agree.  Parents are making sacrifices which benefit society as a whole. Those children the parents are taking care of now will be the ones who will provide for the one complaining now via taxes as well as services rendered to them.&lt;p&gt;If anything, companies should be providing more childcare so that more women (as well as some men) will have less of a burden balancing career and caregiving.&lt;p&gt;I see these people as being petty complainers who wouldn’t raise their own children (own or adopted) but complain someone else is willing to be a productive member of society engaging in the workforce and raising the productive adults of tomorrow when these complainers will be asking for benefits and services that would be unavailable without future adults.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s similar to &amp;quot;I don&amp;#x27;t take the bus, why should my taxes pay for public transit.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I would concede if there are people exploiting this privilege then that’s a problem and management should address it.</text></item><item><author>hn_throwaway_99</author><text>I am a middle-aged adult with no children who&amp;#x27;s worked at tech firms for the past couple decades. To be honest, the &amp;quot;resentment&amp;quot; of those without children have for &amp;quot;benefits&amp;quot; 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.&lt;p&gt;What&amp;#x27;s next, complaining that the cancer patient gets extra time off so why don&amp;#x27;t I?&lt;p&gt;If anything, I&amp;#x27;m thankful for all those people with kids who will (a) take care of the continuation of the human race, and more selfishly (b) support our society and economy when I am too old to do so.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jtsiskin</author><text>I’m not sure I buy this argument due to the disruptions of COVID. Pre-COVID, both parents working full time may have made total sense.&lt;p&gt;With daycare, nannies, and&amp;#x2F;or school it’s perfectly reasonable both parents can have full time jobs. One parent may have even delayed their career during the youngest years and only recently resumed work.&lt;p&gt;The issue now is COVID makes these childcare options impossible, so it isn’t the parents fault for both working, and they have a momentary huge increase in childcare responsibility. This is not something they could have planned for and suggesting one parent quits their job and stays at home is unfair.</text></comment>