Engineering teams that are great for parents

About 30% of our team at PicnicHealth has children.

We know that for our team to do its best work, we need to make sure that we have strong support structures in place for the parents on our team. It is a priority that parents are able to have the support to balance work and family needs, which has been especially challenging during the global pandemic. We work hard to maintain open communication and flexibility in regards to parenting. Whether you are taking care of a newborn or a teenager, we understand that balancing work and family is critical and something we want to make sure you are comfortable with and able to do. You won’t get the stink eye if you say you have to jump off to take care of your family!

As a company, we provide 14 weeks of paid leave and full benefits for birthing parents and 8 weeks paid leave and full benefits for non-birthing parents. You can also take an additional 4 weeks of unpaid leave. We also want to make sure you are comfortable as you re-enter the workforce. We come up with a re-entry onboarding plan, an optional parent buddy, and a stipend for you to use (because kids are NOT cheap). We want you to succeed as a parent and as a team member at PicnicHealth.

Enterprise startups like LaunchDarkly need to be built for the long run, and we are building a team that can be healthy and effective for years to come.

That means setting healthy boundaries for work, and ensuring that we all put family and health first. We support people through life transitions and ensure that we balance work and family. Andrea Echstenkamper discussed her transition to becoming a new mom at LaunchDarkly in a recent blog post.

We offer a tremendous amount of flexibility on our teams. We became a remote first company and worked to ensure that you can do your best work from anywhere. Team members have an enormous amount of autonomy with their time. We generally work on Pacific Time, but as long as you are accomplishing your goals and collaborating well with your team, no one will be checking your clock but you. Meetings happen. At LaunchDarkly, we try to make sure they don’t happen too often. We also strike a balance between collaborating and making individual progress. We understand that people need uninterrupted blocks of time to create their best work.

We also support an unlimited vacation policy – and we strongly encourage you to use it. We want everyone to take the time they need to stay healthy for the long run. Burnout is real and we actively work to avoid that here. Our CEO has personally experienced burnout herself, and wants to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else. You can learn more about Edith in this Medium article.

We offer flexibility and resources to support growing families.

We’re proud to say that despite being a small startup, several team members are parents. In addition to our 4-day workweek, working remotely allows for the flexibility to maximize time with loved ones. Need to pick up your child from school or take them to soccer practice? Go for it. We trust that you’ll get your work done and take the time you need to care for your family.

In addition to covering health insurance for employees’ family members, we also have a generous parental leave policy. We offer 12 weeks paid leave so you can bond with your newest addition.

The flexibility, balance, and resources at Carbon Five are great for parents. That’s why there are so many here!

We provide no-cost health insurance and cover premiums not only for people who work at Carbon Five, but also their families. We also have a parental leave policy that provides equal support to parents of all genders who want to be at home when they welcome a new baby into their family. We round that out with a dependent care flexible spending account to help out with the costs that come with kids.

Along with those resources, we just recognize that our families are central to our lives! Our company barbecues are always family-friendly and we encourage everyone to bring their kids. Across our four offices, parents make up a large proportion of the company (maybe about a third), which makes our Slack channel for parents a great place for stories and support. The work/life balance and flexibility we have, along with the resources we provide for people who work here make Carbon Five a great place to work for anyone with a growing family that also likes to have fun with the people they work with.

Working remote also allows those of us with children to maximize our time with them.

This could take the form of being able to take on carpool drop-off rather than an hour long commute in the morning, or the ability to run to a midday event at school without having to take a full day off. It could also mean writing your next bit of code while your child plays next to you. We believe that just as sleep and health are leverage, so too is being able to take care of the things that are most important to you.

In terms of benefits, we offer job-protected Paid Time Off—12 Weeks, Fully Paid—for all parents to bond with a newly born, adopted, or fostered child.

Aptible Team Member, Shah Kader, with his son on a recent All-Hands (via Zoom).