United States Chamber of Commerce

"I worked at this organization for 16 months as a junior staffer. Although I received constant praise for going above and beyond my responsibilities, I was not publicly acknowledged for having done so an, more importantly, not given a bonus for the first 12 months. Under appreciation of junior staff was not limited to women, though. From a woman's perspective, the organization has very few women in senior management positions. Because of grant applications, I was able to know individuals' salaries and learned that women make significantly less than their male counterparts at the organization. Pay and incentives seem arbitrary - based more on personal connections or forcefulness rather than an employee's performance. This has likely affected women disproportionately as women tend not to ask (or demand) the same compensation as men. I did take maternity leave and found that I was lucky to have 6 weeks of paid short term disability for a vaginal delivery (8 weeks for Cesarean, only open to mothers who get medical note from their OBGYN) followed by 2 weeks for "baby bonding time" (open to fathers and adoptive parents as well). I realize this is "generous" for the United States, but the HR handling of my leave was less than satisfactory. The policy was not clear -- it is an amalgamation of several policies, nothing specifically written for maternity leave -- and the HR personnel was not careful when explaining my benefits to me."