Years after it happened, Patagonia's approach to the "family-friendly workplace" is a whole new level that still deserves our attention - and praise.
The outdoor clothing and gear company has made a name for itself by putting its money where its mouth is. From creating backpacks out of 100% recycled materials to donating their $10 million tax cut to fight climate change to refusing to sell to clients who harm the environment, Patagonia leads by example.
That dedication to principle is clear in its policies for parents who work for them, as evidenced by a 2019 viral post from Holly Morisette, a recruiter at Patagonia.
Morisette wrote on LinkedIn:
"While nursing my baby during a morning meeting the other day after a recent return from maternity leave, our VP (Dean Carter) turned to me and said...'There is no way to measure the ROI on that. But I know it's huge.'
It got me thinking...with the immense gratitude that I have for on-site childcare at Patagonia comes a responsibility to share a 'call to action'. A PSA to tout the extraordinary benefits that come along with not asking employees to make the gut wrenching decision to either leave their jobs or leave their babies. TO HAVE TO LEAVE THEIR JOBS OR LEAVE THEIR BABIES. That perhaps just one person will brave the subject with their employer (big or small) in the hopes that it gets the wheels turning to think differently about how to truly support working families.
That with a bit of creativity, and a whole lot of guts, companies can create a workplace where mothers aren't hiding in broom closets pumping milk, but rather visiting their babies for large doses of love and serotonin before returning to their work and kicking ass.
It's no wonder that Patagonia has 100% retention of moms. Keeping them close to their babies keeps them engaged. And engaged mothers (and fathers!) get stuff done. Thank you, Patagonia, for leading the way. "
Just the first eight words of Morisette's post are extraordinary. "While nursing my baby during a morning meeting..."
As if that's totally normal. As if everyone understands that working moms can be much more engaged and efficient in their jobs if they can feed their baby while they go over sales figures. As if the long-held belief that life and work must be completely separate is a construct that deserves to be challenged.
And then the comment from her male colleague about the ROI (Return on Investment) of breastfeeding—witty, considering the time and place, and yet so supportive.
On-site childcare so that parents don't have to choose between leaving their jobs or leaving their babies. Letting life integrate with work so that working families don't have to constantly feel torn in two different directions. Flexibility in meetings and schedules. Allowing for the natural rhythms and needs of breastfeeders. Making childcare as easy and accessible as possible so that employees can be more effective in their jobs.
All of this seems so profoundly logical, it's a wonder that more companies have not figured this out sooner. Clearly, it works. I mean, who has ever heard of a 100% retention rate for mothers?
Patagonia's got it goin' on. Let's hope more companies take their lead.
This article originally appeared on 8.16.19
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I took a long Amtrak train trip from Atlanta to Baltimore with my 9-year-old daughter this summer.
As far as I could tell, there was no way to reserve specific seats in coach on our particular train ahead of time. But we arrived as early as we could and, to our delight, were treated to a near empty train. We sat together in a two-person row and had a really nice trip up to Baltimore.
On the way back? We boarded at Union Station and the train, having arrived from New York, was already packed. The conductor told me he would try his best to seat us together but couldn't guarantee it. You should have seen the terror in my daughter's eyes.
It would be a 14-hour overnight train ride. Sitting her next to some stranger that whole time? Absolutely not. No way.
They eventually found us seats across an aisle from each other, which kind of worked, but wasn't ideal. Luckily, the guy I was supposed to sit next on the other side flew into a rage that he wouldn't have a row to himself and stormed off to sit elsewhere, freeing up the row for us.
But for a few horrible minutes, I had become "that dad" desperately asking anyone in the area if they'd be willing to move so we could sit together.
I had become the dreaded entitled parent from all the viral travel stories.
Stories of "entitled parents" desperately trying to get other passengers to switch seats go viral all the time. But a recent thread on Reddit shows why we don't always get the full story.
Reddit
User u/takeme2themtns recently shared a nightmare travel story in the r/Delta subreddit:
"In typical Delta fashion, they just switched up our seats and placed my toddler in a row away from us," they wrote. "Booked three seats ... in comfort plus months ago. Now, several hours before the flight we get notifications that our seats have changed. They put wife and me in exit row seats and the toddler in a window seat a row away."
With no way to fix the seating snafu digitally, the OP would have to rely on the Gate Attendant or even Flight Attendant to make a last-minute change — which would force someone else on the plane to move.
"I’m confident the GA (gate attendant) will take care of it," they wrote, "but it’s still so frustrating that we have to worry about it. I know we see posts like this all the time, but that’s because it happens all the time to people. Delta needs to fix this trashy system."
Another user in the comments wrote to share a similar story:
"I had this happen to me. The check-in person said to talk to the gate.
The gate said to talk to the flight attendant.
The flight attendant told me to ask people to trade seats.
I asked people. People said no. Other passengers started berating me for not planning ahead and saying my lack of planning isn’t their responsibility.
I defended myself by saying I reserved seats months ago and Delta moved me at the last minute. Then passengers started yelling at each other about my situation.
The FA had someone move and I got to sit with my daughter."
The user noted that the situation was chaotic and traumatizing.
These stories are far from rare.
Photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash
I found another story just like this from a few months ago on the r/United subreddit. The user's family booked seats together only for the system to separate them right before the flight, leaving an 8-year-old to fly seated alone. The flight crew's only solution was to ask other passengers to switch, causing the OP's family to get lots of dirty looks for the duration of the flight.
Having a young child or toddler seated away from you while traveling is just a complete No-Go, for many reasons. But as a dad, leaving a kid of nearly any age to sit alone — even if they're 8 or 10 or 14 — is not acceptable.
It's not just about convenience, it's a huge safety issue. There are plenty of horrifying news stories that support why a parent would do absolutely anything to avoid it.
When we hear these stories, they're almost always framed as the parents being unprepared, lazy, and entitled. But maybe we're missing the point.
Photo by Hanson Lu on Unsplash
A story from January of this year praises a passenger who refused to switch seats with an "entitled dad" as a "hero."
People are fed up with parents asking them to switch out of airline or train seats that they paid good money for. And I don't blame them!
But we need to stop beating each other up and start holding the airlines and other travel companies accountability for putting parents and non-parents into this mess in the first place.
There needs to be a better system for families booking plane and train tickets. When you buy tickets, you have to enter in the ages of the children you're traveling with — so it stands to reason that these mix-ups flat out shouldn't happen!
Families shouldn't have to panic at the gate or on board about this! Other paying passengers shouldn't have to give up their seats!
The good news is that the Department of Transportation has recently gotten involved with a dashboard of which airlines guarantee family seating at no additional cost.
The DOT is looking to even make it illegal to for airlines to charge parents and children fees to sit together. Parents and children under 13 would be required to be seated side by side or immediately adjacent, and if not, they'd get a full refund or free rebooking — it's known as the Families Fly Together Act.
Traveling in 2024 is stressful enough, from seat changes to unruly passengers to high numbers of cancelled flights.
Seating kids and parents together seems like one small problem we should be able to solve.
Think like a predator.
Look, I get it. You’re there minding your own business, relaxing in the cool ocean waters, when out of nowhere—like, without even the common courtesy of the “Jaws” theme song to offer a fair warning—you find yourself right next to a shark.
Your immediate response? SWIM AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN.
Though this survival instinct is completely understandable, sit back and allow two experts to explain why that’s a bad idea.
Kayleigh Grant and Andriana Fragola are both trained scuba divers who have had their fair amount of dealings with all sorts of aquatic creatures, including sharks.
A recent video clip of theirs has been swimming around the internet because it perfectly demonstrates how to safely avoid a shark attack—using a real-life shark.
A group of sharks swimming in the oceanPhoto by Alexey Komissarov on UnsplashOn camera we see Fragola being approached by a tiger shark while in Oahu, Hawaii.
Meanwhile Grant’s voice can be heard saying, “Andy is demonstrating why we do not want to splash and swim away from sharks.”
She continued, “Splashing and swimming away imitates what prey does. When we’re dealing with top predators like sharks we want to also act like a predator.”
So, instead of trying to swim away, we see Fragola calmly turn around and face the creature while maintaining eye contact.
She even manages the bravest snoot boop of all time—reaching out and pushing the tiger shark’s nose to redirect it. Apparently this is strictly a “tiger shark” thing, so please don’t go trying this technique with a great white.
And in case it’s not obvious: While it’s great that these two pros can offer tips for interacting safely with apex predators, it’s still maybe not the best idea to go seeking out these types of encounters. In fact, both divers repeatedly use the “do not attempt” disclaimer on many of their videos.
a shark swimming in an aquarium with its mouth openPhoto by Efe Yağız Soysal on UnsplashThis hack does come at an opportune time, considering the supposed recent uptick in recorded shark interactions along the United States East Coast, for reasons that are still under debate.
However, Grant did advise in her caption that "just like bears and other predators,” sharks "typically want nothing to do with humans" and are "not the man-eating monsters the media portrays.”
Both Grant and Fragola are passionate about shark conservation. Fragola makes handcrafted jewelry using removed fishing lines, and Grant offers underwater safari tours exploring reefs and sea caves.
Plus, both their TikTok channels are full of breathtaking footage that’ll make you love and respect these toothy beasts.
Check these out:
@mermaid.kayleigh *I am a trained professional DO NOT ATTEMPT* One of my favorite ways for a #tigershark to approach is vertically. Every situation & approach from a #shark is different so you need to keep looking all around & anticipating a shark from any direction. ⚡️ 🎥 @andriana_marine #savesharks #sharkdiver #sharkdiving #sharkdive #nikkithetigershark #hawaii #ocean ♬ solitude - favsoundds
@andriana_marine Replying to @maddie karis #ocean #shark #sharkdiver #thalassophobia ♬ Lofi - Domknowz
Plus there's some bite-sized education:
@mermaid.kayleigh Such a cruel & evil practice to torture & kill an animal without the intent to eat it! This must stop #hawaii 😭 #oceanicwhitetip #sharks #savesharks #sharkdiving #sharkdive #sharkdiver #diving #freediving #freedive #ocean ♬ Love You So - The King Khan & BBQ Show
@andriana_marine Replying to @Ekp #shark #tigershark #sharkdiver #cuteshark ♬ Moon - Fernan Birdy
And of course—it’s not all shark-oriented. Grant and Fragola’s channels are veritable treasure troves of aquatic gems.
@andriana_marine #ocean #mermaid #siren #deepwater #thalassophobia #dive #mermaidmagic ♬ Siren - Filip Lackovic
@mermaid.kayleigh Always so crazy to think about how much below me is #darkness 😳 the light rays are so beautiful at the surface though 😍 #ocean #deepwater #hawaii #bluewater ♬ Stranger Things - Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein
Bless these gals for not only passing on valuable safety tips, but for sharing the ocean’s wonders with the rest of the world.
This article originally appeared on 8.29.22