Paid Time Off MattersA (slow) progress report

Reading 'The Moment of Lift', by Melinda Gates.

I just finished reading 'The Moment of Lift, How Empowering Women Changes the World', by Melinda Gates. I'll point out here the parts that I found especially interesting as they relate to paid leave. I know there are many other aspects of the book that are worth taking in and commenting about but I want to focus on what she writes about paid leaves, who are the people (mostly women organizing to obtain changes) and how it relates to my own experience as a temp with a Microsoft's contractor trying to obtain paid leave, as described in 'The Other Microsoft" and this blog.

More details about Pivotal ventures and paid leave

In the Seattle Times, Sandi Doughton gives some details about how Melinda Gates Pivotal Ventures is supporting paid leave projects: she began to think about inequities that persist even in the United States. "It made me realize that there are issues we need to look at"... 

Another cause Gates is tackling through Pivotal Ventures is paid family leave. The Gates Foundation offers its employees up to a year of paid leave to care for new children, and the city of Seattle recently bumped up its benefit to 12 weeks.

Programs like those are common in most other rich countries, but rare in the United States.

Gates said she’s been investing in public policy analyses to identify ways to create and fund family-leave programs.

“Ultimately, it’s up to governments to decide, but what I want to put out there are several different options,” she said.

 

Soon a new team promoting paid leave in the private sector?

Read the ad recently posted by Panorama Global (headed by Gabrielle Fitzgerald) about its new project: Panorama has received funding from a prominent U.S. philanthropist to better understand the private sector and how they make decisions regarding paid leave. Based on our findings, we will test different approaches to influencing those companies and see if we can find the right mix of strategy and tactics to move the needle on paid leave programs in the U.S. Our goal by the end of this project is to have a much deeper understanding of the landscape, and determine a recommended path forward to drive adoption of paid leave programs in the private sector. A concern shared by the recent research published by the Center for American Progress. Who is the mysterious and still anonymous 'prominent US philanthropist" supporting this initiative? Could she be Melinda Gates? She expressed several times her concern about paid family leave.

Melinda in support of paid family leave

At the very end of this interview published on backchannel, on September 28,  Melinda Gates expresses again her concern and support for paid family leave (you can also read this part below). What about convincing Microsoft to do the decent thing by requiring its suppliers to provide paid parental leave (and paid holidays) for all their employees?

Melinda Gates expresses (once again) her support for paid parental leave: will it translate into a change of policy to require Microsoft's suppliers to provide paid parental leave?

In the 2016 Gates Foundation annual letter co-written by Bill and Melissa she states: "studies show that when fathers are able to take time off from paid work when their children are born, they spend more time with their kids and doing other kinds of housework for years to come. As a result, they form a stronger bond with their partners and children. That’s one reason why I think access to paid family and medical leave is so important for families."

It's too bad that despite Melissa's concern, a concern we assume is shared by Bill, Microsoft has done nothing (yet?) to make sure its suppliers provide paid parental leave to their employees. Last year Brad Smith announced an 'at least 15 days of paid time off policy". This is an improvement from not one day but this policy does not take into account the needs of new parents as there is no provision for paid parental leave!!! Bill could do the right thing and convince Microsoft to require a paid parental leave policy for their suppliers employees. Another improvement in terms of paid family leave would be to require the suppliers to offer the same paid public holidays leave as Microsoft does. That would bring 12 additional paid days to the people working for Microsoft who need it the most (as they are usually much less paid). That would be practicing what they preach.

Dear Melinda: can you help us convince Microsoft to do the right thing for our families?

Parental Leave Isn't Just About Parents: Why It Makes a Difference to Our Kids' Health
Let's not forget what parental leave is really about: healthier babies, parents who are able to thrive professionally, and strong and resilient families.
By Melinda Gates

This post first appeared at Parents.com. We could not find the exact date and it apparently did not elicit any comment. It was then reproduced on August 21, on The Huffington Post (72 comments). We discovered it because it was referenced on October 7 by Emily Peck again in The Huffington Post in a post where she explained how Melinda Gates is taking her own advice as the Gates Foundation announced it was now offering to its employees up to one year of paid parental leave.

The question for us: is there any chance that Melinda can convince Microsoft to require that its supplier Lionbridge Technologies provide "some parental leave" instead of nothing. What does she think the standard should be for Microsoft's suppliers?