Paid leave for parents is rare find

Paternity leave popped up in the news recently, when Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg announced he would be taking time off when his second daughter is born. He’ll be out the first month and then take another month in December. Facebook, by the way, is one of the few companies to offer fully paid paternity and maternity leave.

Writing that he would always be grateful he got to spend so much time with his eldest in the first months of her life, Zuckerberg posted an endorsement of parental leave “because studies show that when working parents take time to be with their newborns, it’s good for the entire family. And I’m pretty sure the office will still be standing when I get back.”

Zuckerberg is one of the lucky dads. Most can’t afford to take time off without pay. Many must cobble together vacation and sick time in order to help out during those first exhausting days, but others get neither vacation nor sick time.

Moms may not have it any better. Companies that do offer paid leave usually tie it to disability insurance, so women don’t get a full paycheck.

A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management and the Families and Work Institute found that the percentage of U.S. companies paying leave at full salary fell from 17 percent to 10 percent from 2005 to 2016.

For a culture that likes to brag about its commitment to children, we sure have a funny way of showing it.