Money money money

I received my first Federal Canadian Government parental leave top-up today. I haven’t checked the amount yet but combined with the money I received from the Quebec government I should be getting 93% of my pre-parental leave salary. That’s pretty good. Amazingly good actually, and is one of the big reasons that I wanted to work for the Government. It was also a factor in my decision to take parental leave (as Jen generally only received 70% or so of her pre-maternity leave salary while she was on leave).

If I were to view it from the perspective of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs I would say that having that kind of stable income means the bottom layers of his famous pyramid (psychological and safety) are pretty well satisfied in my case.  Anecdotally, it is my experience that not having money can be the source for a lot of tension. 

Not everyone gets the kind of support I get from their employer. I am pretty sure my parents had to survive on only one income – with three kids! That blows me away.