PBS高端访谈:为什么Netflix推出全美最棒的1年带薪产假福利?

 　　GWEN IFILL: The decision by Netflix, the video streaming service, to grant up to a year of paid leave for new parents generated big interest among workers today. The new and unusual company policy will apply to mothers and fathers of newborns or newly adopted children.

　　Hari Sreenivasan in our New York studios has more on this story.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Netflix employees will be able to determine their schedules for up to a year after having a baby. A few other tech giants have also set a new standard in recent years. Google provides more than four months of paid leave for biological mothers. Apple offers a similar amount.

　　But for most new parents, it's a very different story. Just 12 percent of private sector¹ employees in this country have access to paid family leave through their job.

　　Some context now on the Netflix policy and whether others will follow suit at all.

　　Sarah Jane Glynn studies these issues and advocates for greater leave as the director for women's economic policy at the Center for American Progress.

　　So, how big of a deal is this Netflix announcement?

　　SARAH JANE GLYNN, Center for American Progress: Well, it's a huge deal, in that this is the most generous policy that I'm aware of any American company offering for new parents that work for them.

　　But you're right to note that only 12 percent of workers currently have these types of voluntary policies through their employers, so while this is a tremendous boon² for people who are lucky enough to work for Netflix, the majority of the work force is not going to be impacted by it.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Netflix is already in a specific category. It's an enormous company. It's in the tech sector, where it's actually pretty competitive to try and recruit people. But what's the ripple³ effect likely to be on an auto⁴ manufacturer or an iron plant somewhere else in the country?

　　SARAH JANE GLYNN: Well, I think there's a couple of really interesting things to keep in mind here.

　　One is, as you noted⁵, tech companies are known for offering these very generous leave policies. And part of the reason why they do that is because they have recognized this is a really effective way to recruit talent and to retain that talent.

　　One of the reasons that Google expanded their parental⁶ leave policy was because they noticed that they were losing so many talented women from their work force. And once they expended⁷ the maternity⁸ leave, their retention⁹ rate increased by 50 percent.

　　It makes really good economic sense for these large companies who can afford to offer these kinds of policies to do so. My fear is that these very big companies that have a lot of money can afford to offer very, very generous policies to their workers, but smaller businesses and businesses that don't have that same kind of bottom line oftentimes struggle to offer voluntary policies like this.

　　So that's part of why we have been arguing that we need to have a national standard and we need to have a large-scale national paid family leave program, like you see in every other advanced economy in the world, so that we're not expecting individual businesses to have the foot the bill entirely¹⁰ on their own.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: And so how would something like that get funded? I can hear small businesses around the country watching this saying, well, OK, where is that money going to come from? If there is a national plan, if it's not coming out of my pocket, it's coming out of whose?

　　SARAH JANE GLYNN: Well, one thing that's great now is that we can look to three states that have already implemented¹¹ these types of policies.

　　California has had a family leave program in place for over a decade now. And they were followed by New Jersey¹² and now most recently Rhode Island. And in those states, employers aren't expected to pay into it. It's a very, very small payroll¹³ tax. You're talking about, in New Jersey, less than $50 a year for the average worker to fund this type of program.

　　And then the wages are there for you when you need them. So like every social insurance program, it requires very, very small premiums¹⁴ to be paid, but the payoff is huge for folks who need to utilize¹⁵ them. And I would also like to note that the policies I mentioned aren't just for new parents. Those also cover other types of family caregiving, which I think is really the next space that we're going to see movement in our country, because certainly new parents need time off to care for babies, but, as our population ages, people also need time off to care for their other family members as well.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: And there seems to be a couple of different distinctions when we talk about family leave. Sometimes, it's just for biological mothers. Other times, it's for mothers only. This seems a bit more broad. Is that reflecting a different trend?

　　SARAH JANE GLYNN: Yes.

　　And I think it's really important to note that what Netflix is offering to their workers is very, very different, in that it offers the same amount of leave to biological birth mothers, to adoptive parents and to fathers. And that's something that's very, very different.

　　And I think it's really important and is definitely responding to a need. One thing that we have seen, particularly among millennial¹⁶ men who are becoming fathers for the first time, they're reporting being involved with their children's lives is incredibly important to them. They're very, very invested in trying to figure out ways to balance work with family and to be there for their children in ways that perhaps their parents weren't able to be there for them.

　　So I think that this is the new face of this movement. It's going to be men who are arguing, dads need this leave, too. It's not just about mothers, but it's about all types of families.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Considering that other countries have been doing this for some time, considering that are a few companies that have some data, what are the outcomes? Do employees — is it actually possible to prove that this retains employees, that they're happier, that they work longer or are more productive?

　　SARAH JANE GLYNN: So, all of the data that we have on paid leave shows that it makes people more likely to return to work. It makes them more likely to return to that same job and that same salary that they held before they had a baby.

　　It makes people more productive and more devoted¹⁷ to their companies, because, frankly¹⁸, they don't have to worry so much about how they're going to make ends meet. So it really is a win-win for employers and for families. You know, there's very, very few arguments that actually fly to argue against this.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, Sarah Jane Glynn from the Center for American Progress, thanks so much.

　　SARAH JANE GLYNN: Thank you.

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

2 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

3 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。

4 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

7 expended   

v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽

参考例句：

• She expended all her efforts on the care of home and children. 她把所有精力都花在料理家务和照顾孩子上。
• The enemy had expended all their ammunition. 敌人已耗尽所有的弹药。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

9 retention   

n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力

参考例句：

• They advocate the retention of our nuclear power plants.他们主张保留我们的核电厂。
• His retention of energy at this hour is really surprising.人们惊叹他在这个时候还能保持如此旺盛的精力。

10 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

11 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

12 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

13 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

14 premiums   

n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价

参考例句：

• He paid premiums on his life insurance last year. 他去年付了人寿保险费。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Moves are afoot to increase car insurance premiums. 现正在酝酿提高汽车的保险费。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

16 millennial   

一千年的，千福年的

参考例句：

• Both Russia and America looked to the future to fulfill their millennial expectations. 俄国和美国都把实现他们黄金时代的希望寄托于未来。
• The millennial generation is celebrating the global commons every day, apparently unmindful of Hardin's warning. 千禧一代显然对哈丁的警告不以为然，每天都在颂扬全球“公地”。

17 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

18 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。