What I find short sighted about these policies are they don't realize that people without children can also feel stressed and need more time off.
e.g. if you're single during this time, you are completely isolated from the world, and your colleagues. This can be extremely difficult mentally and on an individual level can be much harder than just someone with a kid. These policies shouldn't be "oh if you have kids you can take this time off" and more "this is an unprecedented time, please take time off if you need it for any reason."
Trying to make judgement calls on who needs the time off and who doesn't is the major cause of this issue.
I've been encouraging my team (parents or not) to just take time off. The singles are suffering from essentially cabin fever given their typically smaller living accommodations and now missing social support. The parents are distracted, yes, but the singles/childless seem to be burning out way faster.
I was definitely in this camp earlier this year. I had traveled solo to La Palma in the Canary Islands (part of Spain) in March to enjoy some of the most scenic outdoors anywhere during the day, and work remotely in the evenings. When lockdown occurred, I was boxed up all alone in an apartment with a nice view of the beach 25m from my window, but I was unable to go outside for exercise. [1] I got grumpy and irritated and anxious from being so isolated very quickly.
> if you're single during this time, you are completely isolated from the world, and your colleagues. This can be extremely difficult mentall
100% this. Especially for the single folks who were living in big cities (E.g. NYC) and had gotten used to the "I can step out of my apartment building and it's ALL. RIGHT. THERE!"
At least when you have children the "kid train" never stops which leaves little time to worry about a lot of things so you just keep going. Granted, there are pros and cons to this but from an isolation perspective, it can definitely be a pro.
Taking care of a child isn't time off, it's work. And it's not even time away from work because you're still getting pinged on Slack, still expected to review Google docs or leave people blocked, still missing meetings or dialing in (poorly) because they can't be rescheduled, and generally feeling guilty that you can't get enough done.
All while trying to handle a baby, or monitor a first grader attending live school on a computer, or trying to re-create preschool at home... whatever. Oh, and prep meals, plan after-school isolated activities, etc. All while feeling guilty because your kids are suffering and miss their friends.
We're all isolated. As a parent, I'd love more time off [to myself, as you imply]. But that's not what I'm getting. I work more than ever yet do everything (work, parenting, life) worse than before.
Time off would allow people to relax, work on a hobby, exercise, etc. If you are feeling run down after working from a crappy, crammed apartment for 3 months, it can be refreshing to get an extra week or so off work with no questions asked.
Being single, you have time for all that in a normal week anyway. And if you don't you wouldn't have had the time for social interaction in the first place.
e.g. if you're single during this time, you are completely isolated from the world, and your colleagues. This can be extremely difficult mentally and on an individual level can be much harder than just someone with a kid. These policies shouldn't be "oh if you have kids you can take this time off" and more "this is an unprecedented time, please take time off if you need it for any reason."
Trying to make judgement calls on who needs the time off and who doesn't is the major cause of this issue.