Paula Bennett

I wouldn't do that as I'm a responsible person and realise it puts my company out just having one person who is off at the drop of the hat. It's illegal now but for my first few jobs I still remember questions about wether I was single and planned having a family... and the fact is I don't blame employers as hiring someone who takes twice as much time off as anyone else is hard on small companies..

sure someone has to look after kids when they are sick or on holidays but  in this day & age many companies run on tight budgets and have exactly the amount of employees they need to get jobs done. It's one of the reasons that over the years they do second guess hiring females over males as its a fairly realistic expectation that males are less likely to ring up in the morning and say hey I can't come to work today because my kid is throwing up

I don't resent her specifically - I resent any females who do that as truly believe it has made it harder on the rest of us being seen as reliable. Plus lets face it us people without kids are rarely going to be able to say I want 8 or more weeks off work each year even if some of it is unpaid
stealthkiwi2010-03-26 20:55:29

But the employer has to agree to the flexible time as well.  So obviously your employer has no problem with it and doesn't think she is irresponsible.

They're not thrilled with her taking school holidays off but what I'm actually talking about is all the extra sick days she/parents take whn their kids are sick. Or whn school is closed for teachers days etc. I'm not sure about the actual legality but work is hardly going to say no whn a parents says sorry but my kid has flu this week and i'm staying home

Perhaps if men did a more equal share of childcare then it wouldn't be an issue.

Puts hand up.  All about equality.

Well this is a divorced mother with custody and we were talking ion here about woman working whn on the dpb so alas they don't tend to have much sharing of responsability

From personal experience I know potential employers do wonder about hiring someone who might then get pregnant. I sometimes think changing the law made it harder because at least before you cd reassure them at job interviews you were there for the long haul. Not every female has kids these days

Plus lets face it... some children in NZ are concieved through one night stands or non-relationships. sure it takes two to concieve but once its happened males don't often get a choice wether it shd be born or not. it's a womans body and if she takes a guy home frm the pub once the sperm hits the jackpot it's often solely her choice what to do; so there are many kids out there who have genetic fathers who wd never have had them and want no part in raising them
stealthkiwi2010-03-26 21:23:06

In my opinion, that is pretty old school thinking by the employers.  They are ignoring the skills/talents of half the population.  Whereas numerous other employers realised the numerous and significant benefits associated with flexible time etc and have implemented policies to help support parents, both male and female.

Some companies are small and some positions are specalised. It's not always practical for employers to have two people sharing a vital job or have someone in an important position working school hours. And again not everyone does have kids. None of my friends in their thirties have any. It's a choice (or least shd be rather than an accident). It can seem unfair to those of us who work hard and have only 4 weeks off a year when have other people in our company who have double that or more

I wouldn't say being at home with children is having time off.

lol depends on what age & their behavior... personally I'm quite happy just having bunnies and never once regretted choosing not to have kids

And it is not as if those 4 weeks extra you talk of are paid.

Or we could just let more immigrants move here and do the same. Are plenty of people already in this world

But one cd say parents are already paid extra through taxes

Or we could do both

We could do both. But really we were originally discussing woman on the dpb and there is surely a bigger percentage of them who have children through mistake rather than choice or through deliberation of the lifestyle tho I've never actually understood that one

A lot of people are 'paid' extra through taxes.  It's not limited to parents.

lol I'm not disagreeing... but we were specifically talking about comparing me taking extra time off work unpaid to a mother

you guys are always picking on me 
I knew there was a reason not to be on my pc on a friday night other than that its sad

I don't see you point.  You are both taking time of work, which is unpaid.   What you do with that time off is irrelevant.
2ndBest2010-03-26 21:59:43

Junior822010-03-26 22:07:52

a snag?

Sensitive

I'd noticed he was a snag since I first joined tho originally thought he was a she. It's interesting... 2ndbest do you think you work at the Ministry of Woman's Affairs cause are snaggy or are snaggy cause work in an area fairly specific to snaggy topics.

Whn I was growing up my mum was the Labour Dept's equal opportunity employment Director and was fairly hard core feminist but I'm totally the opposite tho not cause of rebellion but because she taught me I cd do anything and shd never rely on anyone govt or else for anything

You're all living in la la land.

If you hire a girl aged between 18 and 24 you know there is virtually a 100% chance that you are going to have to replace her in short order because she will f**k off to get married, then get pregnant, and then give up working to be a mummy.

If you hire a bloke the same age you know you're going to have to give him a few days off to have a stag do and get married, but after that you've got that f**ker by the balls because he's going to have to support his new baby factory.

True in 9 cases out of 10.

18-24?  More like 25-30.

myself and three female friends all in our thirties. none of us have kids and none of us ever will even though all have been in long term stable relationships. I always knew I didn't want them & its not as uncommon as it once was