February 1, 2007 |
Posted By Diane Pfadenhauer |
U.S. - Not so Family Friendly
According to a study by Harvard University and McGill University, the United States lags many other countries when it comes to family friendly polcies in its workplaces such as maternity leave, paid sick days and support for breast-feeding. In addition:
"workplace policies for families in the United States are weaker than those of all high-income countries and many middle- and low-income countries. Notably, it says the U.S. is one of only five countries out of 173 in the survey that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave"
Some of the findings also include:
· Unlike the U.S., fathers are granted paid paternity leave or paid parental leave in 65 countries, including 31 offering at least 14 weeks of paid leave.
·At least 107 countries protect working women's right to breast-feed
·At least 145 countries provide paid sick days, with 127 providing a week or more annually.
Sadly, we will most likely resort to legislation instead of innovative policies and procedures in order to accomplish the same results.