The risk of making an issue out of the current inequities? Companies could respond by cutting back benefits for parents whom they would love to avoid underwriting anyway. That would make it even easier for critics to dismiss Burkett as a selfish, bitter scrooge. In fact, her solution is not cutbacks but a level playing field. Rather than supporting benefits that reach only certain groups, Burkett advocates lump-sum benefits plans, in which employees are given a certain dollar amount that they can allocate for whichever benefits offered by the company best suit their needs. Her solution is choice for everyone, not privilege for a few. "You can't bolster the rights of a single segment of the population by diminishing the rights of another," she explains.
Ironically, the tide may be about to turn Burkett's way. The same baby-boomer parents who have gained the most from family-friendly benefits are about to fall off of the benefits-and-deductions gravy train as their own children reach adulthood. Self-interest is no small motivation, and, in the years ahead, Burkett's fiercest detractors may well become the most impassioned converts to her cause.
Tony Schwartz (tschwartz@fastcompany.com) is the author of What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America (Bantam, 1996).
Email
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Buzz Up!
LinkedIn
