Due to work life imbalance last week, I am just catching up on the news that Yahoo has doubled its paid maternity leave for employees, added eight weeks of paid paternity leave to the company’s benefits package and will reimburse employees for up to $500 worth of “daily habits,” including laundry, house-cleaning and child care. Pardon the pun but, “Yahoo!” This is exciting news because most women who have had a baby will tell you it’s incredibly challenging to return to a work after a mere eight weeks. The one exception, of course, is the policy’s author, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, who infamously returned to work two weeks after giving birth. But most women aren’t like Marissa Mayer, with the flexibility and perks of the corner office (including building an on-premise nursery near her office). In fact, only 42 women are like Mayer. That’s how many women are leading Fortune 1000 companies today. And if we have any hope of getting more women in or near that type of position, we need to do a much better job of making work life more manageable. Extending maternity leave is an excellent move, but only part of what’s great about the company’s [...]
