Abstract
We examined penalties against individuals who temporarily de‐prioritize their employee or parenting role. Experiment 1 (N = 488) utilized vignettes depicting a mother/father who briefly left their child with a babysitter to engage in work/self‐care/did not leave (control). Both mothers and fathers were viewed as less parentally competent, likeable, dedicated to their family (and putting their child at greater risk) when they very briefly de‐prioritized their caregiving role by leaving their child for either reason, relative to controls. Experiment 2 (N = 494) utilized vignettes depicting a female/male employee who briefly left work to engage in childcare/self‐care/did not leave (control). Both male and female employees were rated as less professionally competent, likeable, dedicated to their work and deserving of organizational rewards (and more deserving of organizational penalties, and putting their organization at greater risk) when they very briefly de‐prioritized their employee role by leaving work for either reason, compared to controls. However, employees who left for self‐care were viewed more negatively than those who left to engage in childcare. Unexpectedly, results did not reveal target gender differences; they were also largely unaffected by participant gender. This suggests that parents and employees face penalties when they must de‐prioritize either of these important roles for even very short periods. Implications for well‐being, work‐life balance, and productivity are discussed.