Deb,
I am so glad you posted this. I have been contemplating saying the
same thing since the thread came up, but then it went into ugly places
and decided to hold my thoughts.
I too think new parents should get maternity or paternity leave, and
reasonable people can disagree on amounts, paid versus unpaid,
government mandates, etc etc. Not only is it the right thing to do and
helpful to the new family, but also it is\ in the museum's best
interests to encourage the high morale and staff continuity that sound
maternity (and bereavement and other types of leave) encourages.
I also think that the museum world, in general, is remarkably flexible
on this issue compared to other professions. There are glaring
exceptions of course and I am sure there are real horror stories from
the museum field and heart warming tales from private corporations.
But anecdotally I can say that although I tend to make less than my
friends and family who work for industry, government, hospitals, and
other arenas, I always have more flexible leave policies and
expectations in terms of punctuality, flex time, and working at home
and this includes maternity leave. Again, this is anecdotal, but I
have been in museum work for 20 years and worked at a number of places
including private institutions and local and federal government
museums. (The latter being the least flexible, but overall rather
generous in terms of pay and leave compared to smaller, private
institutions.)
But that flexibility comes at a price. What may be generosity and a a
healthy flexibility in terms of maternity leave and work from home
policies to the beneficiary is a disorienting uncertainty about the
future to the staff who takes up the slack. I have also worked at an
institution that was basically dominated by what we mockingly
(inappropriate as it may seem in hindsight) referred to as a mommy-
mafia. (a phrase coined by a young lesbian woman who adopted it not
just out of resentment that as a single, childless person she felt
exploited by the parents on staff who always seemed to have child
emergencies when late or weekend hours were needed, but that if she
and her partner ever did have a child, any maternity leave or benefits
would not accrue to her. Issues of sexual orientation, same sex
marriage, and gay parenting and adoption are integral to this
discussion. Focussing it solely in terms of a heterosexual male/female
dichotomy is so 20th Century) Personnel decisions were overwhelmingly
dominated by issues of babies, children, and family. Those of us
without and some with grown children were EXPECTED, not asked, to
stay late and close up after events, come to the museum in the middle
of the night when the alarm sounded, and work late or take on extra
duties when parents had sick children, took maternity leave or needed
to take off to deal with a school function. This bred a fair amount of
resentment among us non-parents. And, being disproportionately young
and new to the profession we were disinclined to speak up against our
employers. (Who, btw were a married couple with three children,
including a small toddler which pretty much set the priorities and
stacked the deck against us) I will say we received comp time for our
efforts, but few of us could free ourselves of duties to use it. Staff
turnover among part time and junior staff was huge, myself included. I
had so much comp time and unused vacation when I left, I continued to
get a paycheck for three months.
If I read Deb right, I think we differ in one regard. I think that
employers are right to treat momentous life events differently than
other types of leave. Bereavement and cataclysmic health leave (for
employee or family member) as well as mat/pat-ernity leave is
different than routine annual leave, sick leave, personal days, etc
and should be treat as such. So I would not equate maternity leave
with backpacking across Europe with a niece e as she seems to. Unless
she means that someone who takes up the slack for someone on long-term
leave should get appropriately compensated so she can take this time
off. But I don't think if a company gives a month of maternity leave
(just to use a round number as an example) that company should give
EVERYONE that same month regardless. There are some momentous, rare
life events that deserve their own consideration and categories. Just
my opinion, again, reasonable people can disagree. I could have
misinterpreted Deb's thoughts here, but I think we are on the same
page generally.
However, when it comes to leave and benefits that everyone gets such
as vacation, sick, personal, or whatever days, I, too, resent being
told, as I have both implicitly and explicitly, that my free time is
less a priority to the institution than those who use theirs to care
for children. I can't imagine I wouldn't help out a co-worker in need
by doing extra work or switching days off, but that is between me and
them. To be told I must defer to another employee because what they do
with their leave is more important than what I do with mine by an
employer or supervisor is insulting. What we do on our own time is not
the employer's or supervisor's business.
So please make a coherent maternity leave policy, but include issues
of bereavement and cataclysmic health issues for employee and family.
Also include what happens to people who take on the duties of those
who leave. Spell out issues of comp time and overtime. Length of
maternity leave should be spelled out in advance. Don't assume a
substitute can work longer or shorter due to last minute needs of the
leave-taker. If lengthening is needed, make sure the substitute can
take up the slack. And don't just ask, go over their duties with them
and make sure. If the leave taker wants to come back early, what will
happen to the substitute? Will they continue to accrue any extra
benefits? If you have hired a temp, you might not be able to get out
of the contract. If you have temporarily promoted someone, they might
be counting on extra pay or other benefits. If the substitute takes on
extra responsibilities or learns extra skills, spell out what that
means to the substitute ahead of time. If an assistant curator
temporarily becomes a full curator while the curator is on maternity
leave, make sure that assistant knows what will happen during (will
they get paid full curator salary during that period, will they earn
over-time, comp time) and after (will they go back to the old job at
same pay? Will they be recognized for expanding their skill set? Will
they get credit for any project they worked on during that period?)
"No" can be an acceptable answer as long as "no" is the answer up
front. Don't string someone along with empty promises.
Just remember that codified maternity and other types of leave are as
much for the benefit of the institution as the employee. Treating one
set of employees poorly to benefit of another set will not help anyone.
Matthew White
On Jan 12, 2008, at 11:18 AM, Deb Fuller wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I don't want to stir the pot but I do want to give another perspective
> being a single woman without kids. While I think that women and men
> should be allowed time off for maternity/paternity leave, I think that
> comparable programs should be available to single people. We might not
> have a newborn to take care of but we might have aging parents, want
> to help out a relative with a newborn, or backpack with our niece
> throughout Europe as a college graduation present.
>
> I understand that parents need flexible schedules and "family
> frieindly" policies. But the problems I've seen is that sometimes,
> single people are left to "pick up the slack" so to speak. For
> example, a parent leaves early to pick up a child from an early school
> dismissal but single people are asked to stay late to get work done
> "because they don't have a family to take care of." Or parents get
> flexible schedules and the option to work at home while childless
> employees are made to stick to a set schedule and discouraged from
> taking work home. (Yes, it happened to me.)
>
> Now we realise that parents aren't going home to lounge on the couch,
> but why is my time less valuable than a parent's? If we are getting
> paid the same, we should all be doing the same amount of work, getting
> the same amount of leave time, and be asked to put in the same amount
> of overtime. I don't mind helping out and covering for parents but I
> don't want to be looked down on because I ask for some extra time to
> do something which isn't childcare related or want a flexible schedule
> and the option to work at home like a parent has.
>
> So regardless of what policy your museum or workplace has, I think you
> need to seriously examine it and make sure it is fair to EVERYONE,
> parents and non-parents a like. And don't assume that because someone
> is single and doesn't have kids, they can work late or always cover
> for someone who leaves early or works from home.
>
> Deb
>
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