Why is leave time for death in the family so short as opposed to 90 days for the birth of a child? Shouldn’t family birth and death be treated equally?
I thought I was done answering such philosophical, existential questions in grad school. I’m not making light of it though, and the subject of bereavement leave has been one I have dealt with throughout my HR career, and it wasn’t long ago when the common practice was to allocate a certain number of days depending on who in the family died. Seriously! If it was an immediate family member you got five days, but an aunt or uncle was only worth three. Insane and insensitive. Fortunately, that practice seems to have suffered a fitting death. The disparity in the amount of paid time off for a birth is easier to explain. A newborn requires care and attention 24/7 (although as a parent of a teen and one in his 20s, that hasn’t ended). That’s not to minimize the grieving process or effort required to get estate affairs in order, but that’s why there’s a longer leave practice for the birth of a child.
I love your column, but you committed a big snafu when you told that one guy who had gone on six interviews with the same company to go on the seventh. Big mistake! It’s a waste of time and money. If they don’t know after the third interview, they shouldn’t be interviewing and don’t know how to make a good decision.
I love your passion, but I don’t love your perspective, unless you think Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and many other large successful companies don’t know how to make a good decision. The interviewing process can often be longer than three interviews, and for good reason, because there’s no more important a decision a company has to make than who it hires. The best way is to bring more people into the process to get multiple perspectives and to meet the candidate several times. And, I’m not sure that walking away after three interviews is in your best interests. You have nothing to lose by respecting each company’s process until it ends one way or another, unless you have another offer elsewhere.
Gregory Giangrande has over 25 years of experience as a chief human resources executive. E-mail your questions to [email protected]. Follow Greg on Twitter: @greggiangrande and at GoToGreg.com, dedicated to helping New Yorkers get back to work.
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