Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / SMNTY Classics: Are kids in the workplace good for business?

Transcript

SMNTY Classics: Are kids in the workplace good for business? · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephane
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: never told you production of I Heart Radio. So, Samantha,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: did you ever do like a mentor thing where you
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: shadowed somebody at work when you were a kid, or
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: like a take your daughter to work day or anything
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: like that. No? Oh, no, okay, I know, simple answers. No,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: it's great. I mean, well, I don't know if it's great.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: But was it something you wanted to do? Um, I
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: don't know, because I didn't know it existed. It was
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: not a thing in my world. I assumed as an
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: adult that it was only for sitcom purposes and that
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: it wasn't real. Yes, okay, that's interesting. I did a
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: few and it was, you know, essentially like I went
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: with my dad to work. And then I think when
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I was in high school, there was a program we
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: did where you would choose like one of five professions,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: and looking back to professions were not that wide ranging
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: that you choose one, and they were very gendered also
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: looking back, but you would like get to talk to
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: somebody and ask them questions about their jobs. So that
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: was cool. I was thinking about this because I actually
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: just I was doing research into the history of take
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: your Totder to Work Day because I was having a
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: conversation with someone and she brought it up as a
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: point of contention at her job, and I was just
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: kind of curious about it, and then I looked into
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the history of it and I want to come back
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: and do a Monday mini on it. But um basically,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: it kind of ridgidated in the nineties and it was
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: part of like this at the time, you know, feminist
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: push of you know, showing young girls they could do
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: more stuff, and it's changed a lot since then. This
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: is very like bare bones of it. I do want
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: to come back and talk about it, But I've also
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: been thinking about this in terms of what the conversations
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: we've been having about the Great resignation and women working
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: from home but having children, you know, around them as
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: they're as they're working, and how that conversation is kind
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: of shifting, and I'm just curious about how kids are
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: kind of taking that in. Um So, the episode we're
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: bringing back to you is a classic that Kristen and
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Caroline did about kids are kids good in the workplace?
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: So I think it's going to feel I don't know,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: dated is the right word. Because a lot of the
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: issues they talk about are still things that we're talking
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: about and still things we're talking about in the Great Resignation.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: It just is so different right now because if we're
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: in a pandemic and a lot of people are teleworking.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: But I did I I've just kind of been mulling
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: over these thoughts in my head, and I do want
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: to return to some of them in the future, but
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: in the meantime, please enjoy this classic episode there Welcome
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: to Stuff Mom Never Told You from how Stuff Works
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Caroline
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: and I'm Kristen kristin Take Our Daughters and Sons to
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Work Day, which in and of itself is an excellent
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: opportunity to bring kids to work, obviously judging by the name,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: but to expose them to life's opportunities and what they
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: can do when they grow up, to give them dreams
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: and everything, show them how small your cubicle is. Yeah,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: but it's just a day. You You can't bring your
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: kids to work every day, well at some places, which
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: we all get into, but just a word on Take
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day formerly known as
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Take Our Daughters to Work Day, which was started in
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: I thought it had been around. It was started in
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: though by Miss Glorious Dynham and the Miss Foundation for Women,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: and then in two thousand and three it was expanded
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: to daughters and sons. So bring all, bring all those kids,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: and this year there will be an estimated thirty seven
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: million kids going to three point five million workplaces. Have
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: you ever worked anywhere where people actually brought their kids
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: to work? No, neither of I not for take your
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: daughters and sons to work out. I have are The
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: House of Works office has hosted Halloween trick or treating
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: for kids at the office, which is great because I
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: get candy from it. Um, you mean you take it
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: from the children. No. I buy so much candy that
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: I couldn't possibly give it all away right, therefore have
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: to eat their leftover exact snicker bars, exact twixes. Yeah,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: I have never worked anywhere. I've never been in an
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: office where I mean, like, you know, parents bring your
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: kids in to show them off and stuff because they're
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: so cute. But like, never anywhere where they've brought kids
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: in to show them what they do for a living,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: to inspire them. But I've also never worked anywhere where
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: there's any sort of babysitting, daycare, you know, anything like that. Yeah,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: And we wanted to talk about kids in the workplace
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: a because of take our daughters and sons to work day,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: but also because there has been a lot of discussion
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: around this in the past few years. This is becoming
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: on site childcare is becoming a more common feature, especially
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: among larger businesses, And it was also a point of
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: debate with Yahoo CEO Marissa myers is decision to cut
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: off teleworking for all Yahoo employees a couple of months
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: ago now, and people were like, oh, well, Miss Myers,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: that is a little short sighted for you know, parents
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: who tell a work who are able to care for
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: their younger kids while they work from home. Because you,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: miss Myers, built a nursery for your baby at your workplace,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: what's up with that? So, while we are not here
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: to try to dissect Morrissa Myers is you know, strategy
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: for cutting off teleworking and the whole baby gate over
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: you know her her child who like I can't like.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Has has there been more ink spilled over a child
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: that was not you know Katon Williams over in Britain,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know one of brand Jelina's. Yes, But the
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: fact of the matter is childcare when you are a
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: working parent is a huge cost. Yeah, it is ginormously expensive.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: It's like college. Basically. My friend Jessica who um, I
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: think her son is like one and a half now.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: But anyway, when she was pregnant, she was already worrying
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: about where to send this baby when she went back
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: to work because how expensive it would be. Yeah, because
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: you want to make sure you're putting your child in
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the hands of a you know, someone credible and who
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: will take care of that baby with tender love and
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: care and good care costs. Um. And there was a
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: two thousand twelve report from Childcare Aware of America, and
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: in two thousand eleven they reported that the average annual
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: cost of full time child care for an infant in
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: a center ranged from about forty six hundred dollars in
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Mississippi on the low end, to nearly fifteen thousand dollars
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. And that's the average annual costs. So you know,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the price can vastly wildly, I'm sure. Um. And then
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: in two thousand eleven, for a four year old kid,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: the childcare costs ranged for about dollars in Mississippi to
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: eleven thousand, seven hundred in Massachusetts, which is a chunk
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: of change. Essentially, you know, you were working to pay
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: for your kids to be taken care of, absolutely, and
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: it's really not that much cheaper to put your kid
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: in like a home based childcare center. For an infant,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: it's dred to ten thousand, four hundred, and for a
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: four year old it ranges from so it's still so
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: much money. Well, and and the thing is to the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: conversation that isn't talked about a lot is how this
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: impacts especially low income parents. I mean, the burden there
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: is even bigger because a lot of times these parents
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: might not be working in full time jobs that give
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: sick days or paid time off. And if your kid
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: is sick and you have to call in a number
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: of times, you might lose your job just taking care
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: of them if you're if you don't have any kind
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: of backup childcare. Um, it's a it's a huge burden
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: that can send parents and especially single mothers into temporary
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: poverty if they're if they already aren't, if they aren't
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: on the poverty line to begin with yeah, so to
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: put and perspective, In twenty two states and DC, center
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: based child care fees for an infant exceeded annual median
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: rent payments, and in twenty states and DC center based
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: childcare fees for two children exceeded housing costs. Center based
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: child care fees for two children exceeded housing costs for
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: homeowners with a mortgage. For the majority of the country,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: the average annual cost of center based infant care exceeded
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: ten percent of the states that states median income for
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: a two parent family, and is higher than a year's
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: in state tuition at a public college. In other words,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: having a child is very, very expensive. You know, this
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: is this is a very real challenge for parents and
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: especially for working moms. This was something that NPR reported
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: on in April two thousand and twelve. Two thirds of
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: women with young children now work, and nearly half of
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: them are their families primary breadwinner. Yeah. And in that
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: same story, they cite Kristen Rowe think Miner, head of
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: the advocacy group Mom's Rising, who says that having a
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: baby in this blue my freaking mind, having a baby
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: is the leading cause of temporary poverty many women. She
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: says without maternity leave, end up, like christ And said,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: quitting to care for the baby, and it's hard to
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: get back into the labor for She calls this the
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: quote cascading impact of motherhood because as we know, women
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: tend to make less anyway. So if they don't have
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: that built in maternity leave or any benefits to provide
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: for them to be able to stay home, they end
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: up quitting their jobs. They don't have any money to
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: pay for childcare. It's just it's a whole cycle of awful. Yeah.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: And and there's obviously a government assistance out there for childcare,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: but because of you know, recession era budget cuts, a
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: lot of states have had to slash subsidized childcare programs,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: which impacts a lot of these working mothers very harshly. Right.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: And another aspect to think about is, yes, you have
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: subsidized care, but um, it doesn't necessarily mandate that you
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: have to have a licensed daycare provider. So the government
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: does provide grants to states through the Childcare and Development
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Block Grant, which subsidizes the monthly cost of childcare for
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: low income families, but it doesn't require the use of
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: licensed care. And about one fifth of the children who
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: received this assistance, which is about one point seven million,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: are in unregulated settings. And in Hawaii, Michigan, and Oregon
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: more than half of the children receiving assistance are in
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: unlicensed care. And so that brings up issues of health
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: and safety. I mean, granted, yes, I'm sure there are
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: plenty of unlicensed places that are healthy, safe, you know,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: good for the babies, but but there are a lot
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: that aren't. There's no guarantee. Yeah, and then it leads
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: into the question of are you setting up a cycle
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: where you know, the kids aren't getting off to a
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: good start for a solid future, and they're going to
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: be in the same situation unable to you know, put
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: their children in quality daycare. And this is something you know,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: we're about to straight off into a whole another podcast
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: that we could do on that um. But the question
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: that a lot of you know, larger workplaces are asking
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: is whether or not on site childcare could be you know,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: a real benefit for employees and also improve their bottom
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: line as well. Yeah. One of the benefits, obviously of
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: employer provided or assisted childcare is the idea that you know,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: parents have to miss fewer days if the kid is
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: on site. You know, then then somebody's watching him and
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: you can come to work and everything's fine. And one
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: company that's way ahead of the Carve, way ahead of
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: everybody else in providing childcare is Stride Right. Stride Right Shoes,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: the shoe people, the shoe people, And I have fond
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: memories of Stride Right. On a side note, because I
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: don't know why my mom really liked Stride Right shoes,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: maybe because they were so baby friendly, but those were
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: the first tennis shoes that I ever had that I
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: can remember, and I remember the Stride Right box and everything.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: But yeah, it was the first U S corporation with
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: an on site daycare established in ninety one, and then
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: in New York Times where a story about how they
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: were setting up the first intergenerational daycare center for employees
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: who were caring for not just kids but also seniors.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: That's a you know, a care issue that also doesn't
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: come up very much. You might be caring for babies,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: but what about the growing elder population as well? But
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: it also sounds like maybe the happiest place on earth,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: like because they were talking about how at the time
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: when it got going, there were only a few seniors
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: in the center, but like kids look go over and
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: and read with them, like get read too, And I
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: just think, I'm like, oh my god, I would love
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: to work there. I mean, I don't want to get sick.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Is I feel like kids just make me sick all
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: the time. I'm around a child, and I instantly get sick.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: But it would be keute to watch from like behind
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: disinfected glass. But so okay, So Arnold Hyatt who was
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: the board chairman Force dride Right, this whole thing was
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: his concept and it's so great and they so they
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: said why why are you doing this? He cited increased
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: productivity and decreased turnover, but he still had some reservations
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: because he said, you know, as great as this is,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: I don't believe corporate daycare answers the need of intervening
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: in the lives of twenty million children under five. And
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: that's true. This, this childcare issue, uh is not gonna
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: be solved just with presto everybody gets a daycare center
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: at work. But you know that this is, you know,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: an important benefit for employees. And today companies are seeing
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: real dividends not just on their bottom line, but also
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: just from looking real good for providing on site childcare.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: For instance, one third of Fortune's Best Companies to Work
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: For I believe this was in their two thousand ten
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: or through two thousand eleven lists offered an on site
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: childcare center. Public Supermarkets had the lowest monthly rate for
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: a three year old at just one thirty dollars a month,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: which is a steel that's a bargain. Um. And Cisco
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: is one of the nation's largest providers of on site childcare,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: with eight hundred kids enrolled, and parents at the Cisco
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: headquarters contract their kids via computer, which is it looks
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: like doggie daycare. Well, that's also very Cisco, you know,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: these software developers. UM. In two thousand eleven, the number
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: one Fortune company s A S was allotted for its
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: high quality childcare at four d ten dollars per month.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: And the question then is, you know, we'll just bring
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: kids to work. A good thing for employees and businesses. Obviously,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: it looks good, you know for these companies. You and
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: I are both swooning over stride right, and the idea
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: of an intergenerational daycare center. That must be very sweet.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: But what is the real outcome of this? Well, I
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: mean it's not as bad as we think it'll be.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're you know, jaded, cynical people like me
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: who are like babies at work, babies at work, shot up,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Shut the baby up. But Mary's secret. And not to
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: make myself sound like I'm a monster or anything, uh anyway,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: but Mary's secret. Who's a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: In two thousand five, didn analysis of fifty five baby
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: friendly businesses and found that people often like Caroline Irvin,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: anticipate disaster, but there is rarely a negative effect on
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: coworkers or productivity. And she found having babies around can
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: actually boost morale. And she points out, hey, look, there
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: was never a separation of work and family, so bringing
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: babies to work it's good all around. Yeah. I mean
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: that that morale boost is understandable when you think about
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: this two thousand seven report from the National Conference of
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: State Legislatures which cited childcare as the biggest family related
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: problem in the workplace because it's a huge source of
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: absentee is um and tardiness. And Business Week cited a
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: cost benefit study conducted at the Union Bank in pacaity To, California,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: which showed that the institutions on site daycare programs saved
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: it one hundred thirty eight thousand to two hundred thirty
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: two thousand in annual operations costs due to the reduction
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: in both turnover and absenteeism. And that's just in one place.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: And then that Business Week article also cited the book
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Kids at Work, The Value of Employer sponsored on site
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: childcare Centers, in which they estimated the savings in wages
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: of a hundred fifty thousand to two hundred fifty thousand
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: for just two companies that provided on site childcare. And
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: there's definitely an effect as far as new mothers go
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: to UM. Another Business Week story from October twelve found
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: that it was a good way to get young mothers
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: back to work. I mean, maternity leave isn't cheap, and
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: it's a good way to make sure they don't quit
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: after having children. Well, I mean it shows that as
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: an employer, you are taking the whole person into account,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: not just their life at their cubicle, but what happens
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: outside of the cubicle and how home life impacts, uh,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: you know, the work that they're doing. UM. And one
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: thing too, and all of this is the availability of
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: backup childcare. This isn't just you know, an on site
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: daycare where you can bring, you know, a kid to work,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: but say your child is sick, having backup child care
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: is also a crucial resource. Bright Horizons, which is a
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: company that provides backup childcare, sponsor to survey and not surprisingly,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: they found that, you know, having backup childcare is a
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: really great thing. But nevertheless, even though the results might
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: be a ted biased. Uh, they looked into backup childcare
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: for eight hundred employees and it resulted in a net
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: savings of over twenty five hundred work days because you know,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: you don't have to you don't want to take that
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: time off. Yeah, but it's not totally cut and dry
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: to everybody. Courtney Lee Adams over at Business Week said
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: that the whole taking your kids to work thing having
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: on site daycare is unrealistic, and she says it only
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: benefits a small amount of women. She points out the
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: professional managerial women make up only eight percent of the
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: female workforce, whereas of women hold low wage blue collar jobs.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: So great Cisco wants to have on site daycare, How
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: does that benefit the woman who works as a cashier
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: at the grocery store. Right, yeah, I mean, and and
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: that and that is the problem. Like that I felt
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: like when, for instance, the whole debate about Marissa Meyer
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: at Yahoo cutting off teleworking and impacting those working parents,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: and then her having the you know, the the nursery
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: built in her CEO suite totally missed the point of what,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: you know, the work that really needs to be done
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: from almost the bottom up of looking at these lower
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: income working moms who are the primary breadwinners, who are
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: being sent into temporary poverty or long term poverty because
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: of you know, a pack of access to quality, affordable childcare.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: But I digress, And you know, she says there are
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: bigger issues like families needing flexible work schedules and just
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: playing gender equality, right, I mean that some would argue
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: that it doesn't just having on site daycare is not
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: getting at the heart of the matter, that the childcare
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: burden does still fall largely on women, although a recent
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: survey out of the Pew Research Center has found that
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: that gap is narrowing, but still men's work in a
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: way is valued more highly than women's work because we
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: simply expect for you know, women to to take care
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: of the kids. Yeah, and speaking of taking care of
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: the kids, what about staying at home. You know, we
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: talked about teleworking at Yahoo, but there was a column
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: over it she knows dot com that talked about, well,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: you might not actually be getting as much work done
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: from home as you think you are as you think
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: you will. Um, you might be shooting to stay home
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: and spend time with your family but also get work done.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: But that could lead to like, actually, I have to
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: take care of the kids all day and then stay
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: up until two am working. Oh yeah, I mean if
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: you're working from home and trying to take care of
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: a baby. At the same time, you're taking care of
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: a baby and maybe getting some work done on the side. Yeah.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: So the writer actually encouraged moms who find themselves in
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: that situation to consider like, Okay, well what do you make,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: what do you do, and what's the situation with your kids,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: and is it worth it to bring in an outside
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: person to just be there to supervise while you work. Yeah,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: because a lot of times, like you, you know, you
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: need to be able to pay undivided attention to your
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: work to get it done. Yeah. Imagine if we had
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: a baby In the podcast, studio. That would be kind
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: of fun. Okay, it'd be a weird podcast. Can we
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: just have a puppy? Okay, we're kidding. So the takeaway,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: it seems like from this whole question of childcare at
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: the workplace is that, you know, parenting at work is
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: becoming more common among larger businesses, even down to more
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: mom and pop operations where it's totally fine for someone
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: to bring baby with him or her to work, and
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: telework and flexible options are something that is very desirable
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: for working moms in particular who might need a little
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: more flexibility with their schedules. So it's good that that
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: kind of stuff is being opened up as well. But
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: there is still the you know, these problems of what
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: about for the majority of working moms who might not
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: be working at jobs that would provide such lavish benefits, right,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: And there are you know a lot of moms out
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: there who are in danger if they fall into this
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: temporary poverty of getting caught in a welfare and subsidies
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: cycle and not being able to get out of it
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: because you know, they lose their jobs, they can't pay
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: for childcare. You know, they's it's just a cycle of
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: not being able to get back into the workforce right
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: and considering the fact that the government safety net in
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: a way is not as aunt as it used to
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: be because of recessionaire budget cuts, the situation has gotten
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: even bleaker in terms of that. So, I mean, for
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: for this episode, I really do want to hear from
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: working parents out there who you know are dealing with
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: childcare issues. I mean, you and I obviously don't have kids,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: and when you start to look at the costs of childcare,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't know if it puts it puts
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: not having a child so much more into perspective, because
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: you know, there it is such a huge cost in something.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: You know. I worked at a daycare center when I
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: was in late high school and early college, and um, yeah,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: I mean it was it was so hard to watch
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: the parents for the first time taking their their kids
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: there and then putting their their babies into my arms
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: to take care of it, like this young whipper snapper
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: taking my child away. I promised I did the best
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: I could. Um, but yeah, I mean, it's it's expensive,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: it's time consuming, it is not easy. Um. So I
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: want to hear from parents to whether or not on
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: site childcare really is, you know, a great thing that
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: they could take advantage of. And I should say that
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: how stuff works as parent corporation, Discovery Communications does provide
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: on site childcare at their headquarters. So now that we've
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: given you all this information on childcare, send us your thoughts,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: mom Stuff at Discovery dot com. You know we want
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: to hear from you. What are your opinions? What what
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: have you dealt with? We want to we want to
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: read your mail. Well, I've got an email here from
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Toby about our episode on women in the military fighting
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: in combat positions, and Toby writes, I think the arguments
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: used by proponents of women in combat is actually doing
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: a disservice to future women's soldiers. Unlike other military positions
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: where women simply adapt and learn to work within the
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: confines of an all male environment, this is one situation
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: where the military needs to make concrete steps to formulate
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: viable solutions for the successful incorporation of women into the
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: new role. To simply place one's faith on the professionalism
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: of soldiers, and to make off handed assumptions that the
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: insertion of female soldiers in combat units would not create
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: any tension, sexual or otherwise demonstrates a complete lack of
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: understanding of the realities of war. Unit cohesion and combat
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: readiness would undoubtedly be affected for better or worse, and
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: refusal to recognize this fact is naivety at the highest levels,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: to say the least. Therefore, changes will have to be
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: made to accommodate women and to ensure that women can
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: serve their country in a dignified environment so that they
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: may demonstrate their talent to the full potential. Uh, to
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: which I say, since women have already essentially been fighting
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: in combat positions because the rules of warfare have changed
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: so much in that the front line has largely disappeared,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: I think women have I've been acclimating themselves to those
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: new environments. But yeah, sure, the army you know, should
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: take every step to uh prepare their soldiers and us
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: you know have have them protected as much as possible
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: because you don't want to lose more lives because of
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: women being in combat. And I don't think that's going
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: to happen, So thanks for your perspective on that. Toby
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: so Jack shared a picture with us UH. He said
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: that this is a statue at the Memorial Park in Huntsville, Alabama,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: and it shows a man and a woman, UH bringing
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: their wounded brother in arms off of the battlefield. He
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: just said that it was a great Uh. It was
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: great that women are getting visibility for being in harm's way.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: But he goes on to say that I agree with
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: lifting the band on women in combat. I recognize that
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: the arguments for the band fall into three categories that
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: you mentioned, and all of them are baseless. I've heard
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: all three arguments, and the disruption to unit cohesion is
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: the most common. The U. S Military is a professional
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: armed force. As professionals, the men and women serving in
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: the forest can control their actions and are not distracted
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: from duty by soldiers of the opposite sex. He goes
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: on to say I served in the Air Force from
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: two thousand three. During that time I earned the Combat
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Readiness Medal. It is awarded for twenty four months of
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: service in a combat force. The duty title was Missile
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Combat crew Member. This is the job of being ready
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: to launch nuclear i c b M should we enter
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: into a nuclear conflict. I served alongside women in this
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: role and they too earned the Combat Readiness Medal for
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: this duty. The job involved having two crew members spend
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: twenty four hours in a secure bunker underground, ready to
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: turn keys that would launch our I CBM force in
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: a twenty four hour alert. One crew member had to
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: remain awake, so we split the time into sleep shifts.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Crews were made up of mixed genders. There were no problems.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Everyone in the wing were professionals and acted professionally. So
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: thank you for sharing your story, Jack, and also thank
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: you for the picture of the statue in Huntsville, Alabama.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: And thanks to everyone who has written in Two Moms
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Stuff at Discovery dot com again send us your thoughts
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: on parenting and childcare in the workplace. You can do
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: it there, or you can head over to our Facebook page,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Like us while you're at it, and follow us on
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Twitter at Mom's Stuff podcast, and you can also find
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: us on tumbler as stuff Mom Never Told You dot
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: tumblr dot com. And if you'd like to get smarter
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: this week, you should head to our website It's sow
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: stuff works dot com for more on this and thousands
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: of other topics because it how stuff Works dot com.