I’ve been mulling a system that would allow that but also address what I’d consider to be a somewhat unfair benefit we give parents. Of course parents need maternity/paternity time off but this seems to perversely incentivize having kids for no real reason. Another issue on the opposite side is the unfair career progression slowdown women face for taking a maternity leave.
One possible solution is that we expect mandatory 3 month sabbaticals for every employee every two years (which can also be a maternity leave but that’s your choice). This is on top of regular vacations (which probably should be modest if this option exists). We can give the option of breaking it in two but no further. Such sabbaticals would also make everyone think about processes that they do that are not sustainable during such breaks and work properly around it from the beginning. definitely still a hypothesis that I’m continuing to think through, but would love to know where this can go wrong!
One possible solution is that we expect mandatory 3 month sabbaticals for every employee every two years (which can also be a maternity leave but that’s your choice). This is on top of regular vacations (which probably should be modest if this option exists). We can give the option of breaking it in two but no further. Such sabbaticals would also make everyone think about processes that they do that are not sustainable during such breaks and work properly around it from the beginning. definitely still a hypothesis that I’m continuing to think through, but would love to know where this can go wrong!