The family faces many challenges and must overcome many obstacles. For each problem that arises there is some type of solution. However, the solution to a problem might not come easily. What might be beneficial for one family could be a problem for a company or another family. In modern America men and women are both encouraged to be in the work place and to prioritize their careers. Jobs have become more demanding and time consuming. This stress poses a threat to families, especially new parents. Offering parental leave has numerous benefits for individuals and families, but creates challenges for businesses. This paper will discuss the benefits of parental leave for families, the challenges businesses face because of parental leave, and my …show more content…
However, the demands put on parents by the workplace can make spending time with the family a difficult task. The technological revolution has made it possible for businesses to assign work after hours which could cut into family time. Balancing family and work is even more difficult for new parents. They must learn what it means to be a parent, maintain a healthy marriage, and continue to provide for their family. According to Kunz (2013), parents experience stress and exhaustion following the birth of their child. Kunz also mentions the responsibility parents have to aid in every aspect of their child’s development. Parents are being pulled in one direction by their infant and another by their boss. This strain can be especially difficult for new mothers who want to breastfeed. Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for 6 months (who.int, 2017). If a woman returns to work quickly after giving birth, she will have difficulty breastfeeding and is at a greater risk for postpartum depression (cbsnews.com, 2017). The need for time to bond with an infant, encourage healthy development of the child, and to rest from child birth are all reasons why parental leave should be offered to all people. The need for time off after the birth of a child is not exclusive to one group. Parental leave should be offered to all types of families and business’ and the government should offer adequate assistance …show more content…
Parental leave benefits parents, newborns, and older children. By raising healthier, happier families, we will have a healthier, happier society. Before researching, I knew that parental leave was beneficial to mothers, fathers, and babies. I was surprised to find out that it can be beneficial for older children in the home. When I thought about parental leave I never considered the possibility of there being an older child in the home. However, it makes sense that having a parent home and available to the child would be beneficial. I can understand that finding the funding for parental leave could be very difficult. I also understand that it would be frustrating for companies to have to fill in the gap left by a mother or a father on parental leave. Despite these challenges, the proven benefits of parental leave for the family make a more compelling argument. Allowing parents to take off work enables them to fulfill their role as their child’s
In her essay, “Win-Win Flexibility,” Karen Kornbluh explains the need for workplace changes due to changing family structures. Kornbluh explains that norms have shifted from a traditional family consisting of a breadwinner and a homemaker to what she coins a juggler family. According to Kornbluh, a juggler family is characterized by, “two working parents or an unmarried working parent” (323). By making changes, traditional work schedules can be altered to increase flexibility and better accommodate juggler families. In addition to the shift in family structures, parents are now working longer hours and have limited opportunities to take time off or change their work schedule. As a result of long, inflexible hours, many working individuals find it difficult to care for children or provide care for elderly or ill family members. Due to this, large sums of money are spent on childcare each year, and many children still do not receive the level of care that they need (Kornbluh 323).
This paper will describe the problem that Kelly experienced with her new job with the sick leave policy. We will discuss if Kelly should call CLAIR, or discuss this further with Mr. Higashi? What is this main dispute about for Kelly? For Mr. Higashi? In these types of conflicts is a compromise possible? What are the tangible factors in this situation? What are the intangible factors in the negotiation Is saving face more important to Kelly or Mr. Higashi? Why? Which are more important, the tangible or intangible factors? Is this true for both Kelly and Mr. Higashi?
If you and your significant other had a child, would you want to be there to not only support your partner, but to see your child’s first milestones in real life? Of course you would! The problem is most parents miss crucial parts of their child’s life because of the lack of paid maternity and paternity leave in the United States. New families, across the nation, should be allowed a minimum six months of paid maternity leave.
This policy allows working couples to choose how they balance their work and parenting commitment to their new baby. The first two weeks are reserved for the mother but the remaining fifty weeks can be shared between both parents (Glegg, Swinson, 2013).This will definitely give chance to fathers to bond with their infants on an equal footing with the mother. Sarkadi, et al (2007) also suggests that policies should be made that fathers of young children may choose to do part time jobs so they can have time with their
Trial and error tests have been exercised, including the extension of Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI), to examine how beneficial or detrimental it is to the economy. Some short term solutions and suggestions have also been pitched. Lovell and Helmuth claim that one policy that would reduce pressure on the early child care, thus cutting down on leave time, is to expand support for employees caring for their newborn at home. Providing paid parental leave for workers is projected to improve retention of young workers, preventing millions per year in costs associated with employee turnover. Having a policy that would reduce the costs to workers and society for carrying out basic life tasks would be the ideal and admired implementation.
Recently women’s rights and women’s equality in the workplace has come back to the fore as a topic for discussion in government agencies and the United Nations. Whilst this is a very important topic, when it comes to time off from work when a new child is born, women in the US have some provision, whereas men have none.
Currently in the United States, under The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, the federal government mandates a minimum of 12 weeks unpaid maternity leave to mothers who have a newborn or have newly adopted a child. Whether or not an employer chooses to pay the mother during this time is left to their discretion. This law only applies to about 50 -60 percent of working mothers due to firm size and duration of employment requirements. Currently, only 11 percent of private sector workers have access to paid maternity leave in the United States. The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t mandate paid maternity leave to women. (Stearns, 2015)
As we all know, majority of females are mothers and many are single mothers to beat that. Therefore, the thought of them not having paid maternity leave is quite disturbing to me. Why is the United States the only country in the world that doesn’t make paid maternity leave mandatory in the workplace? How are these females supposed to support their child, along with them if there not getting paid for the time they must take off? In many cases, that female may not have anyone to care for that child, so that she can go back to work. Things such as these may not be put into consideration by employers, but giving birth is a remarkable experience for females. Most importantly, maternity leaves gives a mother time to bond with her newly born child and it gives her time to recover or heal from the overwhelming birthing process. Therefore, the least companies can do is give paid maternity leave to females, while they’re missing work
Bringing a new baby into the world is one life changing experience. The lives of both the mother and the father are changed tremendously as they begin to learn to raise a child by trial and error. Maternity leave for mothers of newborns is never disagreeable; when it comes to paternity leave, however, it becomes one of the most controversial topics of the workforce. Reasons for maternity leaves and paternity leaves are both justifiable. Men should have the opportunity to take paternity leave from their jobs so that they can be a helping hand to the mother, have a chance to bond with their newborn child, and help bridge the gap in gender equality in the workplace without the stigma and criticism. After the birth of the child, women can become emotionally and physically fatigued, so men take an important role as care giver and supporter, especially in the first few weeks. If a father has an opportunity to stay home for the first couple of weeks, to care for both the mother and his new child, it will make a big impact for the family.
However, several researches have shown that when mothers return to work shortly after giving birth, it had deleterious impact on the children’s development (Clark, 2010). According to Hoffman (as cited by Ruhm, 2004), the stress of maternal employment may result in lesser and lower quality interactions between mother and child. Although maternal employment may give the child a better life in the future, once the prime period of a child’s development is over, it will not return again. To put it simply: money can always be earned again, but time can never be reversed. In addition, Clark (2010) also highlighted that recent research suggests that children can benefit if mothers postpone a return to work for at least a full year.
Due to this it leaves more power in the hands of the employer in the matter. In fact, only 12 percent of U.S. private sector workers have access to paid family leave through their employer, but if the employees within that few percent sometimes don’t take that leave do to the fear of coming back to build up work during time off. The shift of power however, might be coming soon. Obama’s push for paid parental leave is part of a larger agenda to strengthen the middle class by giving families more work-life flexibility (Lunney). As of right now the bill Paid Parental Leave has been introduced to the congress.
...e study found that government aid (e.g. assistance with childcare) was less effective than workplace and family support in reducing this conflict, unless the assistance provided was an extended maternal leave following the birth of the child (Abendroth et al., 2012).
By businesses allowing fathers to take time from work this grants time for a father-child bond to form. Being open to share duties with her significant other and both planning for new responsibilities of parenthood is very important to be prepared for their new child. Having more support from their spouse is a way of allowing both parties to be a part of the child 's life as well as not putting all the responsibilities on one parent. Allowing men to have this option whether to take maternity leave or not is eliminating stereotyping among women and men. Fathers are the primary care providers in a family, with them being off for maternity leave there is no income coming in for the family. However if maternity leave is paid for both mother and father, the income will still be coming in but is decreasing the business income. Businesses would be failing because they would be paying workers that are not
...al period is an extremely stressful period for first time mothers who have to face numerous physical, emotional and social challenges. It is further complicated by the limited support they might get from healthcare providers due to early hospital discharge. For example, in Singapore the only attention provided to the mothers after discharge includes follow-up visits to the hospital from week 1-6 of the postpartum period depending on the maternal needs. Lack of support at home is one of the factor that may contribute to first time mothers having low self-efficacy in their newborn care, which is considered to be the most crucial characteristic for transition to motherhood.Thus, having adequate discharge education and support by family members is crucially important as it aids first time mothers in coping with their post natal period, maternal and newborn well-being.
The requirement for employers to allow maternity leave under United Kingdom law is a disadvantage to woman in the work place