Maternity Leave/Allowance

Tysonboss1 · 4 October 2008

dutchie said:
Our company has adopted a policy of not employing women from now on. When the current ones leave they will be replaced by males.

Yes,... I can see it's going to be harder for woman of a certain age to find work, imagine what some bosses would be thinking in the following job interveiw.

Boss - "Hi sally, can you tell me alittle about your self"

Sally - " Well I am 29, and I have been married to my longterm partner for nearly a year now and we have just bought our first house together"

Boss - "that sounds lovely, so do you and your partner have children"

Sally - " No, not yet anyway,"

Tysonboss1 · 4 October 2008

Prospector said:
You have pressed my trigger here! I get so worked up when I see families with multiple children, complaining because the Public housing they are living in, only has say, three bedrooms and they need at least six because of all the children they have. Errrrgh, think about the consequences of having multiple children before you produce them! Like, hey, I might need a bigger house, a bigger car, pay more for groceries, education, health......and not go screaming to the Government to pay for them!

Totally agree,

I am also sick of people crying poor about how hard it is to live these days,... If they cut the BS stuff out and get back to basics then life has never been easier,...

Prospector · 4 October 2008

We ran some interviews a few months ago for a Project Co-ordinator; 2/3 time. We had an interview with a 29 year old, who was on maternity leave with an 8 month old bubs. She wrote that in her application. She was blithely unaware that, when asked about where she saw her career going in the next few years, her saying that they planned to have three children within the next five years didn't really excite us and just wasn't the thing to say in an interview.

By the way, you cannot ask someone if they are going to have, or already have, children. They must volunteer it. And you can't comment on it.

I guess people don't see that while maternity leave is a valid and legal requirement, it does make some decisions easier.

Tysonboss1 said:
Totally agree,

I am also sick of people crying poor about how hard it is to live these days,... If they cut the BS stuff out and get back to basics then life has never been easier,...

Yep, the secretary who took maternity leave a couple of years ago, had a huge plasma TV, a home cinema room, triple car garage, full airconditioning, the whole house decked out from the very beginning. Then they wondered why they needed 2 incomes to pay for it.

We had a borrowed TV, no carpets, no paving, no curtains, and no airconditioning.

fimmwolf · 4 October 2008

To some degree economic growth requires population growth. New babies = new working population. Or we could keep raising immigration levels.

Is it an unfair burden on small business? No, I don't believe it is. It's a cost of doing business, just factor it in.

What good is a year off work with 0% of your income and no guarantee you'll keep your job? That's been Australia's model to date.

Code:

http://www.apesma.asn.au/women/maternity_leave_around_the_world.asp

Wysiwyg · 4 October 2008

No, I don't believe it is. It's a cost of doing business, just factor it in.

that looks like another candidate for "walk a mile in someone elses shoes".

Tysonboss1 · 4 October 2008

Prospector said:
By the way, you cannot ask someone if they are going to have, or already have, children. They must volunteer it. And you can't comment on it.

.

Needles to say if some one objects to me asking a question in an interveiw they probally will not get the job.

Staff are a massive factor in business and as part of the interveiw I need to get to know the person as much as possible, and if I can't ask questions about them then I can't get to know them and can't fit them into the business.

I have one girl working for me now who during the interveiw reveiled that she was a single mum, so I was able to organise for her to start at 9.30 and finish at 2.30 which has worked out really well for both of us,

chops_a_must · 4 October 2008

Prospector said:
Picture this - a small business employs a woman who after 12 months, is eligible to take maternity leave. So we then need to go through the costs of replacing her (recruitment process is very $$$) and then there is the lag time when they are learning the new job. Also, potentially a doubling up of salaries for maybe 2 weeks crossover. But because we have to hold the job open for 12 months, in case the original employee wants to return, we can only replace that person through a 12 month contract, which automatically changes the talent pool.

After 12 months, the woman returns from Maternity leave as is her right. So we need to let the contract person go. But wait, the woman returning from maternity leave is four months pregnant again (she doesnt have to tell us this until much later in the pregnancy). Contract person has found other employment, and we start the whole thing all over again. Ad infinitum.

This is under the current system. Now, paying their salary?

We are lucky that we currently have women who are slightly older; they are really focussed and can do the work well. I just cant see this will do younger women a lot of favour if they wanting to seek employment in small businesses where continuity of people is important.

Plus the replacement worker who is more likely to be more productive compared to now parent worker, who you have to legally let go to allow parent to come back.

johenmo · 4 October 2008

Over the years more females in the companies I've worked have moved to part-time than returned to full time. And I understand why. It also made these companies shy of hiring females.

Having children is a personal decision (we have 3 kids). And the cost of this has to be factored into one's own financies/lifestyle. We elected to have one at home FT and we are glad we did, and still do. We don't expect anyone (business, govt or family) to pay for OUR decision. We have made sure our lifestyle matches our income. Didn't buy top of the range house as #1 i.e. we lived within our means. We can now afford to do more as two have grown up and I earn more now.

I support families who want to have children and then return to work. I don't support others paying for it. Unpaid leave is fine.

Baby bonus is a mistake. First home owner's isn't a mistake. The financiers who lend to people who can't afford it are the problem.

Wysiwyg · 4 October 2008

Really need to highlight this sentence for those that have handouts entrenched in their thinking.

We have made sure our lifestyle matches our income.

Quality post there Johenmo.

fimmwolf · 4 October 2008

Wysiwyg said:
that looks like another candidate for "walk a mile in someone elses shoes".

Sure, then let me propose that we all just stop employing the female gender. Problem solved :

Green08 · 4 October 2008

I'm sure I'm not the only female here who has had children when there was no baby bonus or maternity leave.

I held down 2 jobs with one child and pregnant with the other (still married then so 3 jobs). Everything was second hand. We keep our first TV for 17 years. Only recently replacing it with an LCD.

The young ones these days have no idea of a solid work ethic.

I have always opposed the baby Bonus. You may have to increase Australia's workforce though the spin off seems to come with most of the babies being born to people who are not fully educated, or in areas with adequate facilities ie, health, education etc (I read of a mother who had 7 kids at 32 and the house was deplorable and no husband just a stream of boyfriends). The future of these children raised in poor environments does not necessarily equate to a brighter willing workforce, when their essential learning years are surrounded by apathy, poverty, poor diets and little constructive discipline.

Maternity leave should be regulated on employment time and contribution to the business. This may sound tough - To limit Paid Maternity Leave to 1 child. Any children after that your on your own, this may instill in people the need to live within there means and be grateful for what they have.

Wysiwyg · 4 October 2008

While on reproducing I found this wow ...

The highest officially recorded number of children born to one mother is 69, to the first wife of Feodor Vassilyev** (1707-1782) of Shuya, Russia. Between 1725 and 1765, in a total of 27 confinements, she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. 67 of them survived infancy.

Now would you have employed this woman?:

theasxgorilla · 4 October 2008

Tysonboss1 said:
Australian workers already recieve more benefits for every hour of work they do than any other country.

I'd dearly love to see the supporting evidence for that claim Tyson.

No wonder Australians can't compete in the manufacturing our work force is just to expensive.

And the places where they are competitive, I presume you've already researched their standard of living?

theasxgorilla · 4 October 2008

Green08 said:
Maternity leave should be regulated on employment time and contribution to the business. This may sound tough - To limit Paid Maternity Leave to 1 child. Any children after that your on your own, this may instill in people the need to live within there means and be grateful for what they have.

Or it may encourage people to have one child only leading to a declining population.

chops_a_must · 4 October 2008

theasxgorilla said:
Or it may encourage people to have one child only leading to a declining population.

Of course, that is actually good for the environment...

Green08 · 4 October 2008

theasxgorilla said:
Or it may encourage people to have one child only leading to a declining population.

I'd gladly be around one well manner, educated and indefatigable child with integrity anyday than several obnoxious urchins.

1 industrious child can do the work of several on centrelink why should the industrious child pay for the ones in his/her age group on centrelink? When they are already being taxed for the elderly (us) and many other things.

Calliope · 4 October 2008

Green08 said:
I'd gladly be around one well manner, educated and indefatigable child with integrity anyday than several obnoxious urchins.

1 industrious child can do the work of several on centrelink why should the industrious child pay for the ones in his/her age group on centrelink? When they are already being taxed for the elderly (us) and many other things.

I'm pleased to see we are not in dispute on this question, and I am sorry if I upset you on another thread.

I understand that in NZ the baby bonus starts on the second child. If you are going to have it at all this makes sense.

theasxgorilla · 4 October 2008

Green08 said:
I held down 2 jobs with one child and pregnant with the other (still married then so 3 jobs). Everything was second hand. We keep our first TV for 17 years. Only recently replacing it with an LCD.

We don't want you to be a martyr though do we?

Australia is a rich country...should people have to battle through like this to have a family? Oh that's right, it's engrained in our mentality that the more you battle the more genuine you are.

theasxgorilla · 4 October 2008

Green08 said:
I'd gladly be around one well manner, educated and indefatigable child with integrity anyday than several obnoxious urchins.

1 industrious child can do the work of several on centrelink why should the industrious child pay for the ones in his/her age group on centrelink? When they are already being taxed for the elderly (us) and many other things.

I'm not sure how you came to this conclusion...are you saying that providing maternity/paternity leave ie. parents spending free time with their children as they're growing up, is likely to lead to the children being raised into "obnoxious urchins"...but only providing the allowance to one child is going to mean...something else? I don't grasp your reasoning.

theasxgorilla · 4 October 2008

chops_a_must said:
Of course, that is actually good for the environment...

Is that the purpose of the legislation? I thought it was to encourage people to have children and to make it more convenient and secure for them to do so.

Are you suggesting that Australia needs to reduce it's population?

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