Employees breed and performance drops- Manager seeks advice

A recent "Ask the Manager" post is regarding a non-profit where half the employed loafed. All but one have had their job performance plummet. No surprise to us, but good to see it being acknowledged and that some of the comments point out that "family friendly" is NOT just for people with loaves.

http://www.askamanager.org/2014/09/ask-the-readers-when-parenthood-changes-work-habits.html

I love how most of the commenters blame the employer for the parunts' disinterest in their work. I can believe that they probably do take advantage of every benefit the company has to offer, and don't put in nearly as much work as they did pre-loafing.

Newsflash: It's not the company policy that has changed, it's the fact that these people have BRED. They have chosen a lifestyle that no longer jives with their work. Should the employer pay the penalty for that? Absolutely not. He/She should just have them all fired and start up fresh.

I am pleasantly surprised the comments on this article. I was always for the concept of "everybody gets an amount of no-work days when you use them up that's it deal with" approach. That way you can use those days off for whatever and mooternity leave is factored in so if you take a month off, your sick days are forfeit, same if you want to go on a book writing trip in Indonesia. Totally fair and noone's getting shafted. And throw in a rewards program for those willing to cover for other people, just for good measure.

catharsist, I'm right with you on the PTO thing. Employers should give their employees a decent amount of time off that can be spent at the employee's discretion. And unless there's extreme circumstances, it should be no questions asked, no notes from doctor/mommy/whatever required. Civic duties like military service, jury duty, etc. would be separate. Want to spend your weeks off in Tahiti? Great! Want to have a kid? Better save that PTO, then.

Of COURSE productivity and focus went in the crapper. Those employees are sleep deprived and can't think any further ahead than the next diaper. No one could pay me enough to endure those infancy to preschool years. Seven layers of fresh hell, I tell you.