Parents got more time off, then the backlash started
I think this backlash is a microcosm for why our welfare programs are always under attack and identity politics plays so well in our society.<p>The Balkanization of benefits is _always_ a way to drive a stake through a cohort of people. Any type of increased leave benefit should be available to all. If that means the pace of developing new things for the business slows down, that’s what that means. We’re in an unprecedented time where anxiety and uncertainty is reining. The notion that we have to produce the same amount as before the pandemic is ludicrous and callous.<p>No one should be taking pay cuts, whether they take more vacation or not, if the underlying health of the business remains strong (in Facebook’s case, for example, it is). Arguably, no one’s marginal value of labor should be changing either, it’s just that their working hours may change, and that should be okay.<p>We’re just approaching distributed work, right now, all wrong. Commons hours matters less than good, written communication. If folks need to adjust their schedules significantly (more than two hours, here and there), then so be it. It won’t matter in the long run. Especially if leveraging that flexibility means that they don’t have to take PTO days for other reasons.