A summary of existing human resource policies female millennials are concerned with, and suggested solutions supported by academic research.

1. Maternity
Leave
Group 2: Arely Gaytan,
Fatima Khansia,
Francesca Pucciarelli,
Paige Austin, Rachel
Spies, Nhi Vo

2. “The only family leave available to Americans
is unpaid, limited to three months, and
covers only about half the labor force.”
-The Three Faces of Work-Family Conflict, Joan C. Williams and Heather Boushey

3. Key Issues
 Career Choices and Limitations
 Pay (in regards to field)
 “Only 12 percent of U.S. private sector workers have access to paid family
leave through their employer”
 Career Advancement
 Lack of formal Federal Maternity Leave options
 Discrimination and Prejudice
 Health of children/family in general

4. The Changes So Far
❖“So far, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut
and several cities have passed paid family and medical leave or earned sick
days laws”.
❖“In 2015, the Department of Labor will award $1 million for a grant program
to help States, municipalities and federally recognized tribes conduct
feasibility studies for paid leave programs”.
❖“This investment is in addition to the $500,000 in grants the Department’s
Women’s Bureau awarded in 2014 to three States and the District of
Columbia”.
❖“The President’s 2016 budget will include more than $2 billion in new funds
to encourage States to develop paid family and medical leave programs”.

5. How can we continue to improve?

6. Potential Solutions
 Mandatory Maternity Leave Across All Sectors - It should be required for all
organizations in the US to offer Maternity Leave in some facet for their
workers.
 For example; allowing 12 weeks off for both men and women, but also giving
the employees the opportunity to:
 Work part-time during those 12 weeks
 Allowing the employees to come back to full-time work earlier. (This
additional labor would be factored in as additional pay, and not part of
their yearly salary.Thus, an employee will not be punished for not
choosing to come back to work earlier.)

7. Improving the Working Environment
 Creating a friendly and encouraging environment for women, that supports
their decision to have paid time off.Where mothers will not be penalized for
leaving (such as having their current position given to someone else, and
upon re-entry, the new mother would have to start off at a lower-ranking
position).
 These sets of new regulations can increase a company’s culture morale, and
also make a company more attractive to work for.
 “Changes in default office rules should not advantage parents over other
workers; indeed, done right, they can improve relations among co-workers
by raising their awareness of each other’s circumstances and instilling a
sense of fairness” (Slaughter, 2012)

8. Working Together to Temporarily Fill
Positions
 Temporary Replacement Plans - Consider how positions can be filled if a
worker goes on maternity leave (use internal workers that are familiar with
that area already).
 Referring back to the initial ‘potential solution’, the mother on maternity
leave can also work part-time with the person who is filling her spot, so she
can pick up where they left off.
 Create a plan similar to succession planning within each company that gives
employees broader knowledge of other departments so they are able to
help.

9. Joining Labor Unions
 Because public policy reform generally takes a long time to initiate, joining
labor unions can be an effective temporary, alternative solution.
 Currently, “labor unions are the only major U.S. institution equipped to help
women overcome barriers in the workplace” (Brofenbrenner, 442).
 Labor Unions provide women the opportunity and the platform to get issues
discussed and (potentially) solved in the interim before their issues are
solved through public policies.

10. Potential Barriers & Reasons to
Follow-Through
Public Policy Models Barriers
While the universal solutions that we’ve provided won’t stop all problems, as they appear to have worked in
Scandinavian Countries, there is reason to follow!
Challenges Why it will work
1) Incompatibility with
Generalized American political
Culture (Individual and Merit
focused Capitalism) and
preferences
1)Women in unions (form of universal solution) benefit from:
“smaller gender and racial/ethnic wage gaps, receive higher wages, and have
longer job tenure than women workers who are not in unions (Spalter-Roth,
Hartmann, and Collins 1994). This increases self-sufficiency, which fosters
individualism and meritocracy
2) Poor fit with the unique needs of
US families
*Week 11 (slides 13-17)
2) “Win rates have been especially high in units with high percentages of
women of color, particularly in health care, hotels, food service, building
services, home care, and light manufacturing. “ Unions have provided a
multitude of benefits in different sectors, which addresses families with
different needs

11. Does Policy Decide Your Family
Structure?
In Response: “A large body of research has failed to find substantial or consistent effects of policy on fertility
outcomes...What appears certain is that generous work/family programs are consistent with high levels of
fertility in conjunction with high rates of maternal employment” (Gornick & Meyers, 266).
Europe:
“Declining fertility and the
possibility that work/family
policies are actually contributing
to falling birthrates”
VS.
United States:
“Generous social welfare policies
could increase fertility and non-
marriage, particularly among non-
employed mothers”. (Gornick &
Meyers, 265)

12. Works Cited
Gornick, Janet C, and Marcia K Meyers. “MoreAlike than Different: Revisiting the Long-Term
Prospects for Developing ‘“European-Style”’Work/Family Policies in the United States.” Journal
of Comparative PolicyAnalysis 6.3 (2004): 251 – 273. Print.
Knight, Keith. “Maternity Leave”.The Knight Life. 20 Aug. 2010.Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.knightlifecomic.com/comic/maternity-leave/>
Slaughter,Anne-Marie. "Why Women Still Can't Have It All."TheAtlantic.Atlantic MediaCompany,
July 2012.Web. 14 Apr. 2016. <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-
women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/>.
Suddath,Claire. "Maternity Leave: U.S. Policies Still FailWorkers." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 27
Jan. 2015.Web. 14 Apr. 2016. <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-01-
28/maternity-leave-u-s-policies-still-fail-workers>.

13. Work Cited Continued
Love,Vicky. "The Benefits of Unionization forWorkers in the Retail Food Industry." Institute for
Women's Policy Research (2002): n. pag.Web. 25Apr. 2016.
Bronfenbrenner, Kate. "OrganizingWomen." Work and Occupations 4th ser. 32.November 2005
(2005): 441-63. Print.
Williams, Joan C., and Heather Boushey. "PerceivedWork-family Conflict."TheThree Faces ofWork-
Family Conflict (2013): n. pag. Cdn.americanprogress.org.Center for American Progress, Jan.
2010.Web. 14 Apr. 2016. <https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-
content/uploads/issues/2010/01/pdf/threefaces_exec_sum.pdf>.
"United States Department of Labor."United States Department of Labor. N.p., n.d.Web. 25Apr.
2016. <http://www.dol.gov/>.