Today's email fix is about a company that offers "heartbreak leave" to it's employees. These are days off to be used in the event of a bad break up or divorce. Should these be given to American workers?
I'm of 2 minds on this question. Partly, I'm with the lady who said "you have personal days for a reason and this is a perfect use of those days" On the other hand, American workers have next to no time off compared to the rest of the world. We are sadly lacking in everything from vacations to maternity leave. A few extra personal days wouldn't kill anyone.
I think if you title something "heartbreak leave" you leave yourself open to many problems. First of all, what about people like my parents who have been married 30 and likely aren't getting divorced, ever. They lose out on this benefit. Calling it personal days lets anyone have access to it for any reason. "Heartbreak leave" would also have to come with stipulations. How long have they been together? 2 weeks? Doubtful that you are heartbroken, you just want a day off. What was the state of the relationship? Had they been seperated for a year and both had already started dating other people when the divorce was final? Probably already moved on and are just looking for a day off. All of that stuff is so SUBJECTIVE that it would be impossible to say and you would have people trying to get out of work all the time because they were "heartbroken"
It also raises all kinds of questions. What is the limit per year? Do longer relationships get more days? Who determines how long it would take each person to get over something? Too much subjectivity. Add some extra personal or vacation or whatever days each year and call it good.
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2 comments:
Yes it's way too subjective --although you could start with 1)if the person keeps crying uncontrollably and 2) have they lost at least 5 pounds they didn't need to lose.
20 years working for a small company, and I don't get sick days or personal days; I am simply docked a day's pay. I can hardly wrap my mind around heartbreak leave. I can hardly wrap my mind around the fact that I've been here 20 years either. Resume time!
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