Women make up about three-quarters of the Jewish communal work force, but few Jewish organizations have formal policies that guarantee access to paid maternity leave and flexible work arrangements — and fewer still offer paid paternity leave.
Even at organizations with paid parental leave policies, the amount of paid time off is often minimal, leaving new parents who depend on a salary to cobble together a longer leave from their vacation time, sick days and short-term disability benefits.
“It was stressful while I was pregnant — I had to save up my time off, so I would sneak out to my doctors’ appointments — and it was stressful after [my maternity leave], because it meant coming to work even when I had a nasty, nasty flu,” a rabbi and Hillel programming staffer at a large Midwestern state university who asked not to be identified by name told the Forward. “I cried every morning when I put my baby in the bassinet and left for work.”
And she was relatively fortunate, with a few weeks of paid maternity leave. Only 35% of Jewish organizations surveyed offer a new mother time off with pay to care for a newborn — with just 7% offering 12 or more weeks of paid maternity leave.
The statistics on maternity leave, from a new national study on work-life policies at Jewish organizations, showed that 10% of communal employers offer no maternity leave at all, paid or unpaid, and that fewer than 30% of organizations have formal, written policies allowing for flexible work arrangements, such as modified or reduced office hours, compressed workweeks and job sharing.
These findings reflect a disconnect between the community’s oft-stated commitment to Jewish continuity and how communal organizations treat their employees, said Shifra Bronznick, founding president of Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community — the not-for-profit that conducted the study in conjunction with JESNA’s Berman Center for Research and Evaluation. “We’re not cavalier about the strains organizations are under, but it’s time for Jewish organizations to align their values with their behaviors,” said Bronznick, who co-wrote the report with Didi Goldenhar and Rachael Ellison.
The report, “Better Work, Better Life: Policies and Practices in Jewish Organizations,” culls the results of an online survey taken by representatives from 227 Jewish communal employers. Respondents included employees at national organizations, religious institutions, local federations, community centers and social service agencies.
The results show that many American Jewish organizations do not approach work-life policies in a systematic way. While some 90% of employers surveyed grant staffers maternity leave that is mostly unpaid and offer some form of workplace flexibility, only a fraction of them have formal, written guidelines to ensure consistent access to these benefits.
“It’s very important that it does not become about the benevolence, or lack of benevolence, of someone’s supervisor,” Bronznick said. “A lot of women are negatively affected by the perception of their supervisor that they are not serious about their work because they choose to have children and require maternity leave.”
A 38-year-old New Jersey mother of three said that the informal policies at the large, New York-based Jewish organization where she worked for more than a decade felt unpredictable and fostered a culture of secrecy.
“There were quiet negotiations that took place, and they seemed to depend a lot on your relationship with your boss,” said the woman, who recently resigned from the organization but still asked that her name not be published. “If your boss had the power to advocate for you, you might be able to swing working from home a little bit. But you didn’t want to tell your colleagues, ‘I’m allowed to work from home,’ because you were afraid that it could be taken away.”
She also said that her supervisors regularly scheduled meetings outside normal business hours, when she did not have child care, and that although she took a 20% pay cut to work four days a week instead of five, her workload was not reduced.
“It didn’t lend itself to having a large family, and three is not so large,” she said. “There’s a push in the Jewish community to be fruitful and reproduce, but when you do, it’s hard to maintain a job in a rigid environment.”
To encourage organizations to respond to the needs of working parents, the AWP report advocates that parental leave policies ideally be expanded to three months of paid maternity leave and one month of paid leave for partners. While the federal government only requires organizations with 50 or more employees to grant up to 12 weeks of unpaid family or medical leave, AWP calls for Jewish organizations, regardless of size, to meet or exceed that standard.
By contrast, Israel’s national insurance program grants its citizens 14 weeks of fully paid maternity leave, with options for unpaid extensions, tied to the length of employment; some of that paid time off may be taken by a male partner, should the mother wish to return to work before the 14-week period is over. In addition, a recently introduced bill, pending a Knesset vote, would make the three-month extension of unpaid maternity leave standard — and therefore not subject to an employer’s approval.
AWP also recommends formalizing guidelines for securing flexible work arrangements, and rewarding employees for performance rather than for “face time” in the office.
The survey and report mark the first stage of AWP’s Better Work-Life Campaign. The goal of the initiative is “to improve work-life policies at 100 Jewish organizations by the end of 2010,” and AWP will provide consultative services toward that end.
Recently, several large Jewish communal employers, such as UJA-Federation of New York and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, have taken concrete steps to strengthen their family-friendly policies. Over the past year, UJA-Federation moved to a policy in which staffers can take up to three months of paid leave, where it previously had a maternity leave policy composed of accrued sick leave and short-term disability benefits. During roughly the same period, Hillel doubled its paid maternity leave to 10 days from five and modified its sick-leave policy to allow employees to use that time to care for an ailing family member.
Generous maternity leave and flexibility policies can make a big difference, said Vicki Compter, director of capital gifts and special initiatives at UJA-Federation of New York.
Compter, a 38-year-old mother of two, gave birth to her first child two and a half years ago, when the federation’s previous parental leave policy was in place. She took a maternity leave that included paid and unpaid time off as well as vacation and sick time she accrued during her 14 years at the organization. When she gave birth to her second child five months ago, she was entitled, under the new policy, to three months leave, fully paid. “This time around, I didn’t have to worry that if, God forbid, something happens, I would have no sick days left,” she said.
The organization has also allowed Compter, who lives in suburban New Jersey, to cut back to three days a week. “I have a long commute, so I don’t see my children on the days I work,” she said. “I couldn’t bear not to see my children five days a week. This situation makes working manageable for me.”
She said that though her portfolio has not been significantly reduced, she makes good use of her time in the office and works from home when necessary.
There are smaller employers doing their part, too.
Moving Traditions, an organization that develops programming on Judaism and gender, last year upped the paid parental leave for its seven staffers to a maximum of 16 weeks from two, thanks to underwriting from a board member. And American Jewish World Service, which covers 100% of health care premiums for its 98-person staff, put in place a parental leave policy that affords mothers or fathers six weeks of paid leave. AJWS is looking into formalizing its flexibility policies.
Laura Sabattini, director of research at Catalyst, a group dedicated to advancing women in business, said that work-life policies have been shown to increase productivity, innovation and employee loyalty, and reduce likelihood of burnout.
Even so, strengthening such policies can require making difficult choices, and securing funding that is not readily available.
“In any given year, we may have four to six women out on maternity leave,” said Darlene Wolff, Vice President of Human Resources at the Associated, Baltimore’s Jewish community federation. “Paid maternity leave would be a major cost at an organization that is 80% female. With the economy and cutbacks, it gets pushed to the bottom of the list of what we’re trying to offer, because our top priority has to be providing health insurance, retirement benefits, vacation time and sick pay.”
The Associated is among the communal employers that have no formal parental leave or flexibility policies, though staffers said informal flexibility arrangements are widespread throughout the organization. New mothers can use their accrued vacation and sick time, and their short-term disability benefits, following the birth of a child.
AJWS, also faced with limited resources, decided to freeze salaries in order to fund the benefits package that its president, Ruth Messinger, says is consistent with the organization’s values.
“Some organizations, Jewish and non-Jewish, have values they try to live by, but they interpret their mandate as being what they do in the world,” Messinger said. “They don’t remember that it starts at home, and in this case, home is the office.”
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If you want to have a job, you go to work. If you want to stay home with the children, you don't go to work. You don't take a job and then decide that you can't go in, but they have to pay you anyway.
Boy, am I in trouble now!
". . . few Jewish organizations have formal policies that guarantee access to paid maternity leave and flexible work arrangements—and fewer still offer paid paternity leave." Yet they (especially Federations, JCCs and similar outfits) always seem to have enough money to offer the top dogs very generous compensation packages. Is that a Jewish thing?
Our Hazzan just completed her fourth 3-month maternity leave (full pay and benefits) in her ten years at our shul. In the early months of her return to work each of the four times, her baby came to work with her.
I think it was the least we could do.
Did her absence and the needs of the babies create a temporary shift in workloads and priorities for the rest of us in the office? Yes. But so what? We are denizens of the village and these four wonderful Jewish children (and their parents) are part of our responsibility.
I think there is a great difference between the very conservative Jewish trend that celebrates the patriarchy and the liberal, humanistic Jewish trend that celebrates life in all of its diversity. If the only model of Judaism and Jewish culture were the former, I would have dumped my Jewish roots long ago. I fail to see how that rigid, patriarchal crap would appeal to anybody, but clearly it does. That's the nonsense that forbids a man to look at a woman when he's talking to her, makes women ride in the back of the car, and in parts of Israel, the back of the bus. What a horrible, miserable religion! I suspect that Rabbi Moline belongs to a reformed trend.
There is another element that should be instructive to executives in Jewish agencies. Organizations like AJWS, whose generous policies reflect the organization's values, are the ones that are attracting high numbers of talented, passionate, emerging Jewish professionals. There is going to be huge turnover in communal leadership in the next 10 years. Those organizations that cultivate next generation leadership NOW will likely thrive. Those that don't...
An interesting followup, in light of the current debate over health care reform, would be the policies of Jewish organizations and communal institutions with regard to allowing part-time employees to buy group health insurance. I have been a Jewish educator for over 30 years, teaching part-time for day schools, synagogue schools, and now, adult education. While I am paid decently for my time, as a part-timer I have always been ineligible to purchase group health insurance through any of these or our Jewish Federation and its beneficiaries agencies with its dozens (and perhaps hundreds) of employees, even if I paid the entire premium (including employer's share) myself, which I have repeatedly offered to do. Until my husband lost his job last December, I have not really needed to depend upon my Jewish jobs for health insurance. So while lip service is paid to the importance of Jewish education, teachers are revered more in theory than in practice. Full time positions for quality Jewish educators are scarce, while rights and benefits for part-timers--not just maternity leave but access to health insurance--are, in many communities, non-existent.
Let me try and understand this. If I have a child, someone else should pay me to stay home and take care of him/her? It is one thing to say that it would be a very nice thing for an employer to do that; but certainly there is no ethical obligation to do so.
And even if there were a legal obligation on the employer, let's be realistic: those costs would ultimately be borne by all employees in the form of lower overall compensation packages. As the saying goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
This article perfectly demonstrates the typical leftist's rejection of the notion of personal responsibility and how oblivious they are to the most fundamental concepts in economics.
In response to:
"If you want to have a job, you go to work. If you want to stay home with the children, you don't go to work. You don't take a job and then decide that you can't go in, but they have to pay you anyway."
Most people don't have the luxury of deciding whether or not they "want" to have a job. If you aren't independently wealthy, and your spouse doesn't make a salary in the double digits, there is really no choice in the matter. If having a family is something you feel you should do based on the values of the jewish faith, and you have to work to survive, what are your options? Give up on having a family? Why should you have to make that choice? Why shouldn't the the same Jewish institutions that are advocating the family unit in services support their female employees during their pregnancy and thereafter?
How can we advocate for being fruitful if even our very own Jewish institutions don't support their staff?
Girl From Texas:
Here are some suggested answers to your questions/comments:
1. "Most people don't have the luxury of deciding whether or not they "want" to have a job."
There was a time (not very long ago) when most households were supported by a single wage earner. I think that is generally still possible today. The problem is that our appetites have grown larger. Putting that aside, most Jewish institutions likewise don't have the "luxury" of paying wages to people who are not working. This is unfortunate, but it is reality. In fact, in the current environment, many Jewish organizations are having difficulty paying the people who do come into work every day. These are generally charitable organizations with tight budgets, and the donations that they receive are intended to go to those who are truly in need.
2. "If having a family is something you feel you should do based on the values of the jewish faith, and you have to work to survive, what are your options? Give up on having a family?"
I think this is a false choice. Most people in the US can make do with quite a bit less than what is currently deemed a "necessity" in 2009. It is a question of priorities.
Hanoch, I don't know what planet you're on when you write that supporting a household on one parent's earnings is possible today. Easy to say it's a question of priorities, and easy to blame people--oh, so easy--but if a parent's priorities include providing medical care and education to his/her children, then generally it take two incomes to do so. It is unfortunate that working mothers have to leave young children. And it's often inconvenient for people on the receiving end of their services, I believe. Most workplaces are not appropriate for children, and most mothers will not fit their professional role by bringing their children to work, as the chazzan in Rabbi Moline's comment. This is a problem to solve--not by casting parents as irresponsible and materialistic.
Jewish communal agencies must do more for female staffers.
While were on the topic of doing more, the Conservative religious movement must start efforts enabling seniors to meet. The Orthodox rebbetzin Toronto have done so with some success. Why can't Conservative rebbetzin do so?
Charles Abshez(Eibeshitz)
Most, but not all, Americans of the post WWII generation grew up with a mother at home. The job market treated employees far better in those days and a single parent could earn enough to support an entire family. These days only top level management pays itself well enough to insure a stay at home parent. Laborers and low level white collar workers are paid just enough to squeak by in whatever community they are employed. They are rarely provided sufficient income to insure a relatively stress free life. Any and all emergencies quickly rise to the level of catastrophes requiring the employee to neglect family in favor obedience to the employer.
That is one of the joys of a society that thinks its OK to allow a gross concentration of wealth to buy legislation that protects the rich from those nefarious laborers who would dare think that egalitarianism in the workplace is something the powers that be would ever permit.
This is not surprising. As someone who worked at a major Federation for nearly 2 decades, I saw people cancel honeymoons at the insistence of their supervisors, fathers miss births, massive sinus and other infections passed between employees and families because it was considered macho to be at work sick, vacation time unused and lost, events for sundays set up on Shabbat, the mental health of employees compromised by high level executives screaming at them in private and public, tactics used to get support staff to quit during “kill the secretary month", inequitable pay between men and women doing the same job, and between people doing the same job in the same department, etc. The system was and is sick, and there is no doctor in the house to fix things because the top lay leadership tends to treat their own employees in a similar manner.
As the top executive of a small (but mighty) Jewish non-profit organization, I am proud to say that we treat our employees with dignity and respect and pay them a fair wage. Additionally, we provide health insurance to all full-time staff at we pick up the majority of the tab. If part-time staff needed benefits, we’d find a way but all are covered by their significant others at this time. We offer all staff paid time off and I INSIST that the support staff in the office take their time off. We have not yet dealt with maternity leave, but we have had people out for 4-6 weeks PAID time off after surgery or other illnesses. We do have both short-term and long-term disability insurance available and encourage all employees to buy into the plan. (If we paid for it, it would be a taxable benefit and the premiums are relatively inexpensive.) I understand when a child has a school conference, a doctor's appointment, or is too sick to go to school. I also send the staff home when they are sick—we are a small office and it does no good to keep giving each other the same cold over and over. I offer flexible hours in our office as well to accommodate those who work at other institutions (teaching religious school mostly). We close early on Shabbat but do not “make up” the hours earlier in the week. We also close for all Jewish holidays and national holidays. Perhaps because I grew up professionally at a company that was perennially on the top of the Working Mother's magazine top 100 companies to work for, I understand the need for companies--whether profit or non-profit—to treat our employees well. Without our employees, where are we? Having worked in Jewish communal service for the past 10 years, I have not always worked for organizations who foster the environment for which I strive. At a previous organization, we did not offer good benefits or appropriate time off. So, when given the opportunity to make that change and treat my employees how I was treated in corporate America, I jumped at the chance. It’s not all that hard to balance a budget without balancing it on the backs of the lowest paid employees or by cutting benefits. Be creative—even in this economy—there are ways to make ends meet and not be likened to Ebinezer Scrooge. If corporate America can do it and show a profit at the end of the year, we can too.