Silicon Valley was forced to change the way they structured their companies, with a new demand for a remote workforce. The coronavirus pandemic forced smaller establishments to close or operate at a loss, leaving millions of people without work or much to do outside their homes. Among the changes, companies offered flexible schedules and increased time off to help caregivers and employees in their ranks take care of their families.
An approach mant tech companies took was to give priority to partents with children at home, but it is not a sentiment shared among lower-management or peers. Not everyone has a ‘normal’ living or family situation, with some employees living with their parents/grandparents, to some sittign in their aparments all alone.
At Facebook, the pushback has forced COO Sheryl Sandberg, a parent herself, to defend the company’s policies.
“I do believe parents have certain challenges,” Sandberg said in an August meeting, according to a report in The New York Times. “But everyone has challenges, and those challenges are very, very real.”