Parents vs. nonparents at work Childless employees left out of virus-leave changes asking: What about us?

OAKLAND, Calif. - When the coronavirus closed schools and child care centers and turned American parenthood into a multitasking nightmare, many tech companies rushed to help their employees. They used their comfortable profit margins to extend workers new benefits, including extra time off for parents to help them care for their children.

It wasn't long before employees without children started to ask: What about us?

At a recent companywide meeting, Facebook employees repeatedly argued that work policies created in response to COVID-19 "have primarily benefited parents."

At Twitter, a fight erupted on an internal message board after a worker who didn't have children at home accused another employee, who was taking a leave to care for a child, of not pulling his weight.

As companies wrestle with how best to support staff during the pandemic, some employees without children say that they feel underappreciated, and that they are being asked to shoulder a heavier workload. And parents are frustrated that their childless co-workers don't understand how hard it is to balance work and child care, especially when day care centers are closed and they are trying to help their children learn at home.

The divide is more pronounced at some technology companies, where workers tend to be younger and have come to expect generous perks and benefits in exchange for letting their jobs take over their lives. Tech companies were among the first to ask employees to work from home at the start of the pandemic, and to offer generous leave and additional time off once it became apparent that children would remain home from school as well.

The tension between parents and nonparents has been most vividly displayed at Facebook.

In March, Facebook offered up to 10 weeks of paid time off for employees if they had to care for a child whose school or day care facility had closed or for an older relative whose nursing home was not open.

Google and Microsoft extended similar paid leave to employees dealing with children at home or a sick relative.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive and a father of two, also said the company would not be scoring employees on job performance for the first half of 2020 because there was "so much change in our lives and our work."

Every Facebook employee would receive bonus amounts usually reserved for very good performance scores, irking some childless employees who felt that those who worked more should be paid more.

With its offices scheduled to remain closed until at least October and schools restarting online in California, Facebook said in August that the leave policy would remain in place through June 2021 and that employees who had already taken some leave this year would be afforded another 10 weeks next year.

That angered some nonparents.

The company, they said, seemed less concerned about their needs.

Facebook said all employees could take up to three days to cope with physical or mental health issues without a doctor's note. It separately offers 30 days of emergency leave for all employees if they need to care for a sick family member. In addition, all Facebook employees receive an unlimited number of sick days and receive at least 21 vacation days a year.

"We've added more support for all of our employees and encourage everyone to have open discussions about the challenges they're facing," said Liz Bourgeois, a company spokeswoman.

Caption: The tension between parents and nonparents has been most vividly displayed at Facebook. Above, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO.

AMY OSBORNE/Getty-AFP 2019