US Jewish Organizations Come Up Short on Maternity, Flexibility Benefits - Building Gender Balanced Business

• Three-quarters of employees of US Jewish communal organizations are
  women, but two in three such groups do not offer paid maternity leave and less than a third have established flexible work arrangements.

• Even at those groups with paid parental leave policies, the amount of paid time off is often minimal, The Forward reports in assessing a US survey. 35% of the organizations surveyed had an established paid maternity leave program, with only 7% of the total giving more than 11 weeks of paid time off.

• One in 10 of the organizations not only did not offer unpaid leave but offered absolutely no time off for new mothers.

• “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 Shifra Bronznick, founding president of Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community, which co-conducted the survey, referring to what The Forward called the community’s oft-stated commitment to Jewish continuity and how communal organizations treat their employees.

• In truth, 9 in 10 of the 225 organizations offered staffers some sort of (usually unpaid) maternity leave and workplace flexibility — but few have established policies, making the process ambiguous and arbitrary.

• One mother of three described the unpredictable, ad hoc policies at the large, New York-based Jewish organization where she worked as fostering a culture of secrecy. “There were quiet negotiations that took place, and they seemed to depend a lot on your relationship with your boss.”

• The AWP report backs three months of paid maternity leave and one month of paid leave for partners. It also urges formal guidelines on flexible work arrangements, with employees being rewarded for performance rather than for “face time” in the office.

The Forward article