Engineering teams that are great for parents

About 30% of our team at PicnicHealth has children.

We know that for our team to do its best work, we need to make sure that we have strong support structures in place for the parents on our team. It is a priority that parents are able to have the support to balance work and family needs, which has been especially challenging during the global pandemic. We work hard to maintain open communication and flexibility in regards to parenting. Whether you are taking care of a newborn or a teenager, we understand that balancing work and family is critical and something we want to make sure you are comfortable with and able to do. You won’t get the stink eye if you say you have to jump off to take care of your family!

As a company, we provide 14 weeks of paid leave and full benefits for birthing parents and 8 weeks paid leave and full benefits for non-birthing parents. You can also take an additional 4 weeks of unpaid leave. We also want to make sure you are comfortable as you re-enter the workforce. We come up with a re-entry onboarding plan, an optional parent buddy, and a stipend for you to use (because kids are NOT cheap). We want you to succeed as a parent and as a team member at PicnicHealth.

Enterprise startups like LaunchDarkly need to be built for the long run, and we are building a team that can be healthy and effective for years to come.

That means setting healthy boundaries for work, and ensuring that we all put family and health first. We support people through life transitions and ensure that we balance work and family.

We offer a tremendous amount of flexibility on our teams. We became a remote first company and worked to ensure that you can do your best work from anywhere. Team members have an enormous amount of autonomy with their time. We generally work on Pacific Time, but as long as you are accomplishing your goals and collaborating well with your team, no one will be checking your clock but you.

Meetings happen. At LaunchDarkly, we try to make sure they don’t happen too often. We also strike a balance between collaborating and making individual progress. We understand that people need uninterrupted blocks of time to create their best work.

We also support an unlimited vacation policy – and we strongly encourage you to use it. We want everyone to take the time they need to stay healthy for the long run. Burnout is real and we actively work to avoid that here. Our co-founder and former CEO, Edith Harbaugh, (who was recognized as one of just eight female CEOs in the Forbes Cloud 100 list for 2022) experienced burnout firsthand and is passionate about making time for hobbies. After growing the business to $100M ARR and reaching over 4,000 customers, she passed the baton to Dan Rogers to lead as CEO as we continue to scale.

Several team members are parents and we understand that family comes first.

Over 10 members on the ReadMe team are parents and we make it a priority to ensure we’re as supportive as possible. Whether you need to take the day off to care for a sick child or need to adjust your work hours so you can pick the kids up from school, we’re flexible and have an incredibly understanding culture. Most engineers only have a few meetings per week, so parents are able to organize their workdays in a way that works best for their families. All of our team events and off-sites are family-friendly and we offer childcare stipends so parents can attend. We also offer 12 weeks of paid parental leave (regardless of gender or sexual identity), which can be taken within a year after the birth or adoption of a child.

The flexibility, balance, and resources at Carbon Five are great for parents. That’s why there are so many here!

We provide no-cost health insurance and cover premiums not only for people who work at Carbon Five, but also their families. We also have a parental leave policy that provides equal support to parents of all genders who want to be at home when they welcome a new baby into their family. We round that out with a dependent care flexible spending account to help out with the costs that come with kids.

Along with those resources, we just recognize that our families are central to our lives! Our company barbecues are always family-friendly and we encourage everyone to bring their kids. Across our four offices, parents make up a large proportion of the company (maybe about a third), which makes our Slack channel for parents a great place for stories and support. The work/life balance and flexibility we have, along with the resources we provide for people who work here make Carbon Five a great place to work for anyone with a growing family that also likes to have fun with the people they work with.

Working remotely also allows those of us with children to maximize our time with them.

This could mean being able to take on carpool drop-off rather than an hour-long commute in the morning, or the ability to run to a midday event at school without having to take a full day off. We believe that just as sleep and health are leverage, so too is being able to take care of the things that are most important to you.

In terms of benefits, we offer job-protected Paid Time Off (14 weeks, fully paid) for all parents to bond with a newly born, adopted, or fostered child. We want to make sure you can take full advantage of this benefit, which is why Paid Leave can be taken as one continuous session or in multiple. You may also choose to take Paid Leave within one year after the child joins your family. Building a family is something we fully support and we believe you should never have to take leave with the fear that doing so could negatively impact your career.

Aptible Team Member, Henry Hund, with his son.

Two thirds of our team are parents.

While many early-stage startups aren’t known for being ideal for parents, we’re an exception. Sphinx is a great place for anyone who needs to work asynchronous or non-contiguous hours. Most of our team members have kids and our flexible work arrangements make it much easier to balance work and family responsibilities. If you need to pick up your kids from school or want to take an afternoon off to attend an away game, we won’t ask questions. If your kid is home sick, we totally understand (and have been there before…). In fact, we fully cover medical, dental, and vision benefits for both employees and their dependents.

At the end of the day, we pride ourselves on balancing freedom and independence with collaboration and responsibility. If this resonates with you and you’re excited about building a cutting-edge communications platform for U.S. government satellites, we encourage you to reach out.

Roughly one third of our employees are parents or caregivers.

Zapier is a great place to work if you have kids, are thinking about growing your family, or are a caregiver. You’ll often see colleagues’ kids pop up on Zoom during meetings. We understand that parents need more flexibility, especially given the challenges during the pandemic with school closures and lack of childcare. At many companies, if you miss a meeting important decisions are often made without you. That’s not the case here. Managers make sure to work with team members to ensure they’re able to attend important meetings, and if not, they’ll hold off on making a decision until all of the stakeholders can weigh in.

We never want you to feel guilty about taking the day off to care for a sick child or carving time out of your day to do school pick-ups or attend a music recital. Our offsites are also family-friendly. Last but not least, we know that complex, full-day take-homes can deter parents from applying, which is why we revised our take-home assignment to be shorter and less technical.

Whether you’re a parent of a newborn (we offer 14 weeks of paid leave), college student, a pet parent, a plant parent, or none of the above, don’t hesitate to check out our open roles!

CareMessage is a great place to grow your career, while managing a full life outside of it.

At CareMessage, we know that part of having a rich and rewarding life is caring for others – kids, parents, pets, gardens, and the people in your community. We offer flexibility that our employees value. Whether it’s taking some time to care for a sick family member, leaving early to carpool to after-school activities, or taking a midday stroll to the dog park, we get it. For instance, Marco walks to pick up his daughter from school and we’re happy to accommodate so that he signs on a little later to the engineering standup.

We offer eight weeks paid parental leave for all teammates welcoming biological or adopted children, as well as access to concierge support for childcare and family planning services. Regardless of if you’re a parent to a human, pet, plant (or none of the above), if joining a quickly growing, mission-driven tech startup speaks to you, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Tatiane (Software Engineer) having some fun in the sun with loved ones and her dog.