Is Your Boss Playing Favorites With People Who Have Kids?
According to a recent survey by Career Builder, 21% of workers who’ve never been married believe their company shows favoritism to married co-workers... And 30% claim that married co-workers get more job flexibility than single employees.
A lot of workers also think parents get preferential treatment. For example, one company we read about gives employees with kids 4 hours of personal time off every month, so they can attend plays and other school functions……But single people aren’t given personal time off for any reason.
But, there’s a benefit to giving single and married employees the same options:
Employee productivity and job satisfaction go way up.
At some companies, single workers have successfully lobbied for access to policies designed for married employees. For example, at a media relations company, a single employee who had covered for 3 co-workers who went on maternity or paternity leave decided that he deserved a break too... And he turned his regular vacation time into an extended break.
The result:
He came back refreshed and ready to jump back in.
People had this to say:
- Angela W.: My co-worker got a bigger raise than me because our boss said “He has kids to support.” Just because I don’t have kids doesn’t mean I don’t bills to pay.
- Rebecca F.: I thought parents shouldn’t get breaks… until I had kids. Single people don’t realize that maternity leave isn’t watching TV or sleeping all day. It’s a non-stop cycle of feeding, bathing and changing your baby – and zero time for yourself. I would have been a zombie at the office if I didn’t have those few months of maternity leave.
- Tesha N: I’m a single mom and do take a lot of time off when my kids are sick. But when I’m at the office, I work twice as hard because my family would be on the street if I ever lost my job.
