Michael Moritz messed with the wrong baby daddy.

Oliver Russell, an agency that builds brands for purpose-driven companies, has launched a campaign to advance paid parental leave policies in the wake of venture capitalist Michael Moritz denigrating paternity leave in his Financial Times op-ed last week.

Moritz, a partner at Sequoia Capital, praised the 24/7 work ethic of China, singling out paternity leave and work-life balance in the United States as particular concern, writing: “These seem like the concerns of a society that has come unhinged.”

Oliver Russell’s campaign, called “Unhinged: Parental Leave is Good Business,” will offer digital resources to advocate for parental leave polices at work, regardless of employer size. The 11-person boutique creative agency has offered paid maternity leave since 2011, adding paternity leave in 2014. Agency founder and president Russ Stoddard said its clear that parental leave is good for business, and that the new website, LetsGetUnhinged.com, features a toolkit for how to develop similar policies.

In the days since Moritz’s made his views known, several multinational corporations, including Starbucks, have expanded parental leave policies. The Family Medical Leave Act covers only workplaces with more than 50 employees and doesn’t mandate that parental leave be paid. Of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, the U.S. joins just New Guinea, Suriname, and a few South Pacific islands in not having a national paid parental leave law. A 2016 study by the Center for American Progress shows that paid leave benefits even small businesses by boosting recruitment, retention, productivity, and overall performance and productivity.

“I find Moritz to be horribly out of step with the times – and the facts,” Stoddard said. “His take on human capital reminds me of the old-school approach: People are an asset to be mined and wrung out, their professional value to be extracted as quickly as possible.”

ABOUT RUSS STODDARD
Russ Stoddard is the author of Rise Up: How to Build a Socially Conscious Business. A serial entrepreneur, he is the founder and president of Oliver Russell, a creative agency and consultancy that builds brands for purpose-driven companies. He lives on an urban farm in Boise, Idaho. 

ABOUT OLIVER RUSSELL
Founded in 1991, Boise-based creative agency Oliver Russell builds brands for purpose-driven companies. The agency is Idaho’s first legal Public Benefit Corporation and a Certified B Corporation, part of a growing movement of companies that use the power of business to solve social and environmental issues. Its clients include HP Inc., Allegro Coffee/Whole Foods Market, Mountain Health CO-OP, and social enterprise startups around the globe. To date, the company has donated nearly $2 million in cash and resources via social impact grants to nonprofit causes and social enterprises. Learn more at www.oliverrussell.com.

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Oliver Russell

Oliver Russell

Oliver Russell, a Boise-based brand-marketing firm founded in 1991, builds brands for purpose-driven companies and causes. The company counts Hewlett-Packard, Allegro Coffee/Whole Foods Market, and Mountain Health Co-op among its clients. It is a certified B Corporation, part of a growing movement of companies that believe in using the power of business to help solve social and environmental issues.

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