Re: Hiring Discrimination

Subject: Re: Hiring Discrimination
From: "Bill Swallow" <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "Robotti, Anne (Carlin)" <ARobotti -at- carlingroup -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 10:48:44 -0400

Yabbut... It's rotten, it's illegal, but geez! *Somebody* has to be
there to do the work!

Yes, that's true. But you don't go from fertilization to birth
overnight... unless you're a fly. ;-) Generally you have many months
to plan your leave. The reaction of not hiring young women to the
issue of "somebody has to be there to do the work" is, well, flat out
illegal. We can argue it, but it's pointless. The law says that this
is illegal.

I've taken four maternity leaves in the past eight years (from 3
different companies.) That's a LOT of paid time out of the office! And
while I still think that I was overall a productive member of my teams,
there's really no denying that these companies hired me, I worked for
6-12 months, and then I was OOO for four months.

Would it be fair to kick you to the curb once you start showing?

I have five children. *That's* time out of the office too, for one thing
and another. And I'd have to be blind not to realize that that has some
impact on my team. My office mate can't announce that he's taking a few
hours to go out on his boat, but "school play" is my free pass to a
morning off work. It's *not* fair. And certain types of managers,
certain types of teams, can't absorb that.

Well, this right here is a management issue. Generally, you should be
taking time off for these leaves of absense, or be adjusting your work
schedule to make up the time away. At least that's been the general
policy/guideline where I've worked (several companies).

There's a line there somewhere. As a hiring manager, you *do* have to
think twice about whether to hire someone that's going to take a
maternity leave right when your product is launching. The unfair part is
assuming that any woman between 25 and 40 is that woman.

Well, no, you don't. The fact is, as a hiring manager you generally
don't know whether someone will take a maternity leave once hired. And
if the person you're interviewing is very obviously pregnant, and your
concern is that they will be gone on leave during the product launch,
well, shame on you the manager for staffing at such a critical point
in time. Generally, by the time someone is completely up to speed on
the infrastructure, processes, and product, it'll be ship time anyway.

I'm looking back over this, and I can't tell if I'm communicating what I
want to say clearly. I'm not an advocate of discrimination in the work
place, of course. But I'm not sure that parents or people who intend to
become parents should be a protected class. I don't think it's
reprehensible to know that your team can't absorb a four-month maternity
leave easily. And I've *always* appreciated managers who were up front
with me about the need for face time, a rigid work schedule, etc and let
me make an informed decision on whether that was something I could live
with.

Well, I have just this to say. You work so you can afford to have a
life. Your life should not be your work. I think the laws are written
this way to protect quality of life, not quality of work.

--
Bill Swallow
HATT List Owner
WWP-Users List Owner
Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter
http://techcommdood.blogspot.com
avid homebrewer and proud beer snob
"I see your OOO message and raise you a clue."
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References:
RE: Hiring Discrimination: From: Robotti, Anne \(Carlin\)

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