Jesse Nichols
Aug 28, 2017 · 1 min read

Interesting read… Have you had any employees express concerns about “pay fairness” (for lack of a better term)? It could be argued that an employee that must divide her attention between her job and her baby would be less efficient than one that gives her full attention to her job.

To eliminate the argument of the gender pay gap, let’s say that another woman in the office feels that it is unfair to allow another woman to divide her attention between her job and her baby. She may feel that it is unfair to allow the mother to feed the baby at work (not out of an aversion to public breastfeeding, but as a drain on company resources). She may feel it is unfair for her to leave the office and calm her baby when others are stuck working because they don’t have a crying baby. She may dislike that the mother stops working every few minutes when someone peeks their head in to say “hi” to baby (only a brief moment for the visiting employee, but it would add up for the mother). All of these things could ultimately lead the complaining employee to feel that they deserve to paid better than this “less efficient” employee.

Have you had any pushback like this from other employees? I realize that, to a mother, these types of complaints can seem cold, petty, and ridiculous. But, to someone with no desire to have children (that doesn’t get warm and fuzzy at the sight of babies), these could feel like very legitimate concerns. Thoughts?

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    Jesse Nichols

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    UI/UX Designer. Husband. Minimalist. Childfree. Martial Artist. Popper. Magician. Knife Thrower. Chess Player. Rubik's Cube Enthusiast. Slytherin.