Findings from the Boston Globe family leave committee

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Sorry if you missed The Cohort last week. We took an extra week to prepare something special for you: Instead of a column or Q&A, I dissected exactly how six women at the Boston Globe got a more robust parental leave policy.

It’s not a story of persuasion. It’s one of persistence, prioritization and politics unique to the journalism industry. I hope it provides a realistic roadmap for the next time you’re advocating for change.



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Advice from the Boston Globe family leave committee

By Mel Grau

Though they never heard the word “no,” it took nearly two years for the women on the Boston Globe family leave committee to increase the paper’s paid parental leave from six to 16 weeks. Why was it so hard when everyone was supportive?

That’s the question I sought to explore in my story

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, and it boils down to employee turnover, union negotiations and distractions from the #MeToo movement. While focusing on the barriers to change is instructive, it doesn’t do justice to the six women who ultimately got the job done.

When they first formed the family leave committee, these six women weren’t work wives or best friends. They were just colleagues who felt strongly that for newsrooms to survive and thrive, they needed to create an environment where women could advance in leadership.

Some were done having kids. A few were pregnant or planning to get pregnant soon. One wasn’t sure she even wanted kids. But they were all mid-career journalists with years of experience, including Pulitzer wins.

“Making this happen is one of the highlights of my career and, I would argue, one of the best things we’ve done for journalism in our region,” said Shira Toeplitz Center, a member of the Boston Globe family leave committee and a graduate of Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media. “It keeps women in leadership and parents in a newsroom that should strive to be reflective of who we cover."

Here is the committee’s hard-won advice for others looking to improve their family leave policy.

Meghan Barr

Meghan is the articles editor at the Globe Sunday Magazine. She has three kids: Lucy, 5; Marlowe, 3; and Teddy, 10 months. When she’s not “scrambling to just throw dinner on the table” for her children, she enjoys yoga and writing fiction.

Meghan learned personally what it was like to have children under the old Globe policy. With her daughter, Marlowe, Meghan took two months of unpaid time off on top of the six weeks paid through the policy. She said it still didn't feel like enough, and her family went into credit card debt to pay for her older child’s daycare.

When Meghan was pregnant with her third child, Teddy, the new policy was still being negotiated into her third trimester. But it passed shortly before she gave birth.

“It's not an exaggeration to say that this policy was life-changing in the best way,” Barr said. “I was able to stay home with my son for nearly five months without worrying about how I was going to pay the bills each month, and for that I'm incredibly grateful.”

Meghan's advice:

“Find strength in numbers,” Meghan said. “The six of us truly divided up the work equally, whether it was drafting a PowerPoint, crafting an email or organizing outreach about our mission within the newsroom. We couldn't have done it alone.”

Shira Toeplitz Center

Shira was a politics editor at the Globe. She found out she was pregnant one month before the new Globe policy was implemented and had her daughter, Lillian, in September 2019.

After her maternity leave, Shira got promoted from politics editor to general manager for newsroom initiatives.

“I'm not sure I would have had the wherewithal or energy to do this if I didn't have the paid leave that I had with my daughter,” Shira said. “Instead, when I came back to the newsroom, I was ready to tackle a new challenge.”

Shira’s advice:

“We know that paid parental leave is the right thing to do for employees,” Shira said. “But the key is making the case that this is in your company's interest as well. I thought we did that very effectively by showing our competitors' policies and making the case for employee retention — especially keeping women in the leadership pipeline.”

Maria Cramer

Maira was a criminal justice reporter for the Globe and the vice president of the Boston Newspaper Guild during the intense union negotiations around family leave. Her son Gabriel is 7 and her daughter Josephine is 3. Maria now works at The New York Times.

“I loved working at the Globe,” Maria said. “Management made an agonizing decision that much easier.”

She counts getting the policy passed and working with the family leave committee as major highlights. “The effort had nothing to do with journalism, but it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my entire career,” she said. “I love these women.”

Maria’s advice:

“We went about it the right way. We did the research and didn’t make it about emotion,” Maria said. “But The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times and Google … they all provided the benefit without demanding something in return. Don’t be afraid to ask tough questions of management. Looking back, as a reporter I’m embarrassed I didn’t ask tougher questions.”

Katie Johnston

Katie is a 17-year veteran of the Globe and is the work and income inequality reporter. She likes to garden and wander through the woods on hikes. She has a 4-year-old daughter named Faith.

She agrees the road to getting the family leave policy was long and frustrating.

“Now that it's in place, though, it's so rewarding to talk to expectant moms and dads about how they're going to spend their time with their babies and to see how happy they are to have it,” Katie said.

Katie’s advice:

“Get stories from coworkers about the hardship of having to cobble together time off when their babies were born,” Katie said. “Get the union involved if you have one. Be persistent. Be organized. Don't back down!”

Victoria (Vicki) McGrane

Vicki is a political correspondent for the Globe. She has a 4-year-old, Grace, and 2-year-old, Eleanor. She took Cramer’s place as vice president of the union and is leading the ongoing contract negotiations. “I like to read fiction in my spare time,” she said, “but I haven’t done that recently.”

When the family leave committee formed in the summer of 2017, Vicki was newly pregnant with Eleanor. Eventually, she realized that she would give birth without the new policy in place. She ended up taking six months’ maternity leave, largely unpaid.

“I had retained placenta that they didn't discover until nine weeks after birth, which can be a very serious complication,” Vicki said. “Under the Globe's plan … they were saying I should have been back at work by then. It was hard to find the time to go to the doctor to investigate the cramping I was having as it were, with a newborn baby and an older daughter at home.”

Vicki’s advice:

“You don’t get what you don’t ask (and fight) for,” Vicki said. “Persist.”

Janelle Nanos

Nanos is a business reporter at the Globe and teaches at Boston College. She has two children: a 4-year-old, Leo, and an 18-month-old, Mackenzie. She is known as the go-to mom for advice about what to do in Boston with kids because she’s always exploring.

Like Vicki, Janelle had her daughter under the old Globe policy and took unpaid time off.

“I was not pregnant when this started, but not only did I get pregnant, I had a baby and came back from maternity leave before this had been sorted out,” Janelle said. “Babies actually happened faster than some of these processes.”

The new policy allowed for some retroactive benefits for Globe employees who had children in 2018, including Vicki and Janelle.

Janelle’s advice:

“It's important to remind yourself and your employer that a trend toward more expansive leave policies is happening across industries,” Janelle said. “Newsrooms can and should be leaders on that front. Having children isn't a temporary status, but something that adds value and perspective to your newsroom and its coverage. If you don't accommodate the needs of parents and other caregivers on your staff, you miss the opportunity to have their perspectives reflected in your publication's stories.”





Read the Full Story

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My advice after reporting this story

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? If you think you’ll want a longer paid family leave policy in three years, start working for it now. Despite everyone’s best intentions, it can take time to push through the bureaucracy. But communities like The Cohort will be here to support you for the long haul.

Katherine Goldstein, the author of the Nieman Report article

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that inspired the Boston Globe women, wrote in The Cohort

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last year:

Family leave is not the be-all, end-all discussion point about supportive workplaces for parents, but I think it’s a bellwether issue that is an important starting point in talking holistically about workplaces. You can’t have a “good” workplace for moms if you have paltry family leave.

In our most recent Cohort featuring Emily Ramshaw

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, her new nonprofit’s six-month parental leave policy and four-month caregiver policy generated the most conversation. Anita

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called it “human-friendly.” Emily S. emailed to say it was “next-level.” Ramshaw’s policy also came up last week in this CJR podcast

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about family leave in the UK.

Do you think the tide is changing on this issue? Reply to this email to share your experience with paid family leave or tag me on Twitter

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with your advice!

We’ll be back to our usual schedule moving forward. Look for a column by Meena Thiruvengadam

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on March 10.

Until then,

Mel

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Do you want to sponsor or write for The Cohort? Email Mel Grau at [email protected]

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