[tptacek]

It is paid for by businesses as well, in that every person who takes that leave potentially creates another headcount requirement to fill the gap.

Something between the European standard expectation of a year's leave and the American top-end norm of 12/6 primary/secondary is probably the right answer here.

But this is all a tangent. It is totally unreasonable to criticize Basecamp for policies that are on the high side of normal in the market they operate in.

Really, what's happening is that Basecamp has been forthright about something most companies are deliberately opaque about, and people on message boards are beating them up for it. If their policies were bad, I wouldn't care, but their policies on parental leave are in fact quite good for this market, so this is some bullshit.

[fastbeef]

Just to be clear, this isn't some experimental new thing that the Nordic countries are trying, this has been in place for well over 40 years - It. Works.

Does it create a suboptimal situation at the workplace. Sure, sometimes. However, since the management probably have taken long parental leaves themselves they are very understanding and willing to accommodate the next generation of parents.

In short - troublesome in the short run for certain companies, very beneficial for society as a whole in the long run.

[cpach]

”very beneficial for society as a whole in the long run”

Exactly. Low fertility rates is something that most rich countries struggle with, so to me it does seem like a good idea to invest in good childcare policies.

[tptacek]

Family leave policy isn't the only difference between the Nordic tech employment market and the US's.