I just think we have a “work culture” and most of us don’t expect things like this for free. But I suppose newer generations do. And are willing to make less to get more benefits like this. My generation wasn’t.
i have a hard time believing his boss doesn’t know he’s out on leave right now. It’s also possible he just hasn’t broached yet working part time with his boss.
Also, OP didn’t mention anything about the issue of covering for him while he’s out.
NYS passed a law last year that beginning in 2018 every worker in NYS is eligible for 8 weeks paid family leave after 6 months of employment and doesnt matter the size of the business either. It’s funded by a payroll deduction to State’s insurance fund.
It’s going to be phased in so by 2021 it’ll be 12 weeks as will the amount of payment to employee while on leave.
It’s time for this to be national.
I’m in the glass-half-full phase now. I’m realizing that if my coworker goes part-time, I and the rest of the department will have less exposure to his “You’re doing things unprofessionally” comments. (I hope.)
I think I’m just feeling drained. One year ago, two of my colleagues went to half-time (one from full-time, one from three-quarter time). I took on a disproportionate number of projects. Six months ago, two new people were hired. Relief was in sight. But around the same time, the department head quit and soon after she was replaced by someone from within the department. The new department head’s old spot was filled this week by one of the two new people hired six months ago. And now the other new person is contemplating going down to half-time. I think it’s highly unlikely that the department will get approval to fill the part-time hours left open if my young coworker’s proposal to reduce his hours is approved. So then we’re back almost where we started.
I’ve already done some of my coworker’s work this morning. I also anticipated that he wouldn’t finish on time a project that was due at the beginning of January and so I completed a similar project earlier than necessary so that the two could be switched. And I’ve offered to finalize one project of his and take over another one.
OP, as long as you continue to overperform, others will continue to underperform.
@Youdon’tsay, I’ve discovered in life that underperformers will continue to underperform no matter what I do.
^And the company won’t realize it has a staffing issue. If the company notices, appreciates, and rewards your efforts that is one thing. If not, although your work ethic and commitment is commendable, you might be doing yourself a disservice.
I get glowing performance reviews. Unfortunately, no more $$ are likely to come my way (bonuses are nominal; raises are tiny and capped). Also unfortunately, if the department does not meet its budgetary goals, anyone’s job, including mine, could be on the chopping block. My belief is that we float or sink together, but a few of my colleagues don’t help paddle.
Thank you again for all the comments. At times like this, CC is more effective and less expensive than therapy!
Given the “You’re doing things unprofessionally” comments, it sounds like a personality and a recent-grad thing. That’s not to say “generational” since many of us were recent grads at one point too. I worked with a guy with a Harvard MBA who thought he could come in and change the way everything was done because he “knew better.” And that was when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
I think it’s reasonable to assume that he has approval for paternity leave (no business wants a gender discrimination case). He may have negotiated that before he took the job. His off-hand “I might go part-time” - not so much, unless your office has a habit of rubber-stamping such requests.
In any event, asking your new supervisor what’s going to happen with the work load both with the leave and the potential of part-time is reasonable, and making sure that your supervisor and her supervisor know about your “volunteering” to take on more work. But if you are willing to do it with no additional pay, the department has no incentive to fill any vacancies - why should they if you work for free?
It may also be that he and his wife did not really appreciate the challenges of having a new baby. I know a new family in which the parents thought they could continue to work from home (which they did pre-baby) and not have to get childcare. They quickly discovered that was not workable.
OP: there is a difficult balance between keeping the department running and over-working yourself. It is not clear to me why the bosses would allow so many to go part-time if the work can’t get done? Can they all up their part-time hours to over this guy’s work (if they are 20 hours go to 25 or 30)? Or are they happy to spend less? I understand being the person that gets it all done, but as others said you are under-valuing yourself if you do it all with no reward. Can you mention your concerns to the boss, without throwing anyone under the bus?
I had a co-worker who had a baby ‘three days early’, like this was a big shock to everyone. She did very little to transfer her work to others before she left, and would not take a phone call or question while she was out on leave (for about 8 weeks). I think that was a mistake because she came back to a big mess. The person assigned to do her job was really not the most talented in the department, and she just kept the day to day stuff moving. All big projects were put aside until the new mother came back.
I really think if the mom had taken a few calls or even come to the office (with baby, that would have been fine) once or twice she would have come back to a much better situation. The rest of us weren’t all that ready to jump in to help because she was so snotty about it. Most of us didn’t like her ‘clients’ (we were an in-house service department, but very territorial) either, so if asked we’d do the work but not volunteer for it.
It pays to be nice.
LasMa, I need to embroider your post on a pillow and sleep with it til that message sinks in.
The scenario you describe in post #50, @twoinanddone, and some of the stuff the OP describes sound to me like a problem with management as much as with employees. Management is responsible for overseeing transitions and coverage when employees change their work schedules either temporarily or permanently. I can understand being ticked off at coworkers but to me some of that is misplaced and the chips should fall on the managers who aren’t doing their jobs, IMO.
It was a small group of lawyers, I think there were 6 of us covering for the 7th. It wasn’t the type of job that someone could be hired to do as a temp, and there weren’t any others to do the job. The minimum got done, the company kept running, but she came back to a desk full of stuff that wasn’t urgent, just piling up. If she had said ‘thank you’, we might have done more of her work.
Owning a small business I’m astounded sometimes at employees perceptions of things. We do have an employee handbook, but I doubt many read it. It surprises people that we have to be careful what we do for anyone, what you do for one becomes precedent. I’ve had younger employees shocked that I don’t pay for whatever kind of maternity leave they want. We do the occasional meeting to go over our policies and benefits. The one thing we do is when it’s time to sign up for the 401k either my husband or I will meet with an employee to make sure they understand it. We match 3% whether they contribute at all, then we also do profit sharing. Hubby has actually talked to some of them about compound interest and what will a small pre-tax deduction mean to your take home pay, but how that money can add up over time. Many think they can’t give a nickel to retirement, but we will say, when you get a raise, before you see the money in your paycheck consider putting a little bit away. Then we drop it.
I have a hard time believing cocktail hours, ping pong tournaments, and things like that actually make people more productive at work. Most of my office people are moms who would rather leave a little early and be with their families than hang around the office. Most of the flex time revolves around the school bus.
30 years ago, I started a new job with a boss who gave me that same talk. She explained to me that our firm was very generous (which it was) and that I should take advantage of the match, which I did, although I didn’t really understand. I followed her advice on that and on putting half of my raise in every year, and after a few years, I really got it. She did me one of the best kindnesses anyone has done for me. So bless you and your husband for your foresight and consideration.
I currently have a co-worker on maternity leave. She is a stellar employee, a wonderful colleague and an all-around fabulous person. She is a manager, but not a lawyer, which matters in law firms. She had seen other colleagues who are lawyers go out on maternity leave and assumed she would receive the same. Unfortunately, two weeks before her leave, she went through the manual (which is clear an accessible), and learned that she only gets 9 weeks of paid leave versus the 6 months of paid leave for attorneys. She was devastated. She should have read the manual. However, she was fantastic about the transition, as was the firm, so that went very smoothly. I can’t imagine not being to ask a colleague with whom I share work what the plans are for their absence.
There’s a big gap between expecting people not to miss a minute of work when they have a baby (ie drop em in the field and just keep on working), and doing so much for them that it’s a hardship for the entire office. I think if everyone had integrity and consideration for others (including both the new parents and the coworkers), it would be far easier. Like getting ready for the event, informing your coworkers, making plans to cover your work while you’re gone, or the managers thinking these things out. Not everything should just fall on the coworkers to cover the slack, of course they’d feel resentful, particularly if the new parent seemed ungrateful and demanding.
I had a squadron commander in the military who was just convinced that everybody was trying to get out of work. So when people came back for 2-3 days after a three week trip into the desert during Desert Storm, he’d insist that they come into the office and do menial work instead of spending time with their families. He insisted that I work until the day that I gave birth, even when I was extremely pregnant and the air conditioning failed (at 110 degrees outside). Three hours after I gave birth, he had a couple of officers come to my hospital room and get a debrief on what I was going to be doing that day. I was still in the hospital bed, bleeding, and they were so embarrassed. It was no big deal to me, I was happy to have a healthy baby, but sometimes people are such idiots, thinking women must always be having babies to scam the system. 
If people could work together openly and honestly, it would be far easier.
I don’t think it is generational. I think people’s individual situations may vary as well. Sometimes it is a difficult birth or pregnancy and the mother may not be at her best either right before or after delivery. Other times it is uneventful up to the delivery and even after. I did desk work and took no time off before my daughter was born. After about 2 weeks I was up and running post partum, and I was an older mother. Years ago, a young girl came by to say hello (and goodbye as she was off to med school in another state) about a week after her delivery. She looked so slim and in great shape, the best I have ever seen. She left a few days early as she had gone into labor early, and had gotten into school out of state at the last minute from the waiting list, so she delivered and moved in all of about 2 weeks, and then started med school. I know others who have had bad complications personally, not to say anything about situations where the baby may not be so healthy.
All that said, I think a lawyer being unable to take a single phone call over 8 weeks of leave is a bit unprofessional in my opinion. I wouldn’t have wanted to help her out either.
I think the OP can ask the coworker what arrangements have been made so that she may plan her own work accordingly. She can speak with her manager as well if unclear things are leaving her in the lurch.
I have worked for large companies, and also in a small company, and I am very sensitive to the difference in benefits offered. In the small company, as a manager I have experienced so many people who acted badly. I held a job open for about 6 months (was not required to as it was a very small company) for someone to come back from maternity. leave. The day before she came back she told me that she insisted on a raise. I never should have taken her back because of that. In the long term it did not work out well. I have had employees take a job full time and then insist on schedule changes due to this or that personal matter. I have had people quit and walk out the door with no notice and get unemployment benefits even though I contested them. I was scolded by one employee for calling her on a day that she wasn’t working even though she had left something very important undone and no one else could legally complete it that day. Fortunately we had many good workers who were reliable as well or we never could have run the business. In a small office that depends on people showing up to work, people can not just make their own schedule or take leaves willy nilly.
I am really surprised that any law firms, even the biggest and most profitable in NYC, give 6 months of paid leave to attorneys in this day and age. I would think this is not common outside of those elite firms.
D1’s employer, a very large international bank, gives all employees 6 months paternal leave. I know some consulting firms give 3-4 months off.
What I am surprised at is zoosermom’s law firm gave 6 months to attorneys and less for other employees.
My firm has a policy that when a person is on parental leave they can do absolutely no work at all, and must sign an agreement to that policy.
Really? Why? I’m not aware of any large law firms that don’t have completely separate benefit, leave, and even sick policies for lawyers versus non-lawyers (a class which includes highly-educated professionals, including some who are lawyers working in other departments like HR).