Kid-Friendly Policies Don't Help Singles

She went on the schedule when she was still an associate. "A few people told me I was crazy and would not be able to advance if I did this," she said. But Heard, a litigator, is now a partner. She is also a new mother. When she returns to work, she will return to her four-day-a-week schedule. "But my priorities for my Fridays will change."

"My philosophy from the beginning was that you really want to be balanced in what you do," said Pandit Wright, senior executive vice president of human resources at Discovery Communications Inc., who noted she is a single-no-kids.

She attended a meeting on her first day 11 years ago where several parents said they wanted on-site child care. But there were few people with children then, she said. And she was more interested in building a culture that "was not just family-friendly." She said, "We wanted a flexible culture."

The first thing she did was give three personal days off a year for anyone. That's on top of a minimum of 10 days of vacation leave and 10 days of sick leave. The company calls the personal days "balance days."

Michael Hunston, manager of administration at Discovery, uses those days to volunteer with an organization in the District. He also benefits from Discovery's health-care coverage for domestic partners. When his partner was moving between jobs, Hunston was able to cover both of them. "I never even thought of the benefits package at Discovery being family-friendly or not family-friendly -- just employee-friendly."

Other services, such as a concierge for people to get dry cleaning done on site, a wellness center, and flex-time and telework options are available to everyone on a case-by-case basis, Wright added.

But, Wright said, some things are available to parents that aren't available to those who don't have children. "I don't believe a person should think in terms of tit for tat," she said. "Like it or not, the next generation is someone you're going to have to deal with. It behooves all of us to have an environment where parents can do what they do."

There is still no on-site day care center at Discovery, but Wright said the company is looking into having a site near the headquarters. At the same time, the company is looking into a sabbatical program for all of its employees.

The fact that she is single with no kids "helped to always keep in mind you didn't want the backlash," she said. "I didn't want to be the person who just has things for people with kids."

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