to think I can get by without childcare in August because work is quiet?

Anyone who has looked after kids during the school holidays knows that’s not true

@Passportparanoia shock horror I also sometimes go to the gym during the working day so expect anyone with or without kids to be treated the same. So what, some people are paid for their brain not their number of keystrokes or minutes in front of a laptop.

That is unbelievable.

I work in HR

Would your employer be ok if they knew this? In my experience most employers understand the juggle of summer holidays but would expect you to have childcare arranged.

Personally I think the odd day or half day is fine but not whole weeks. For me for example I’ve managed to agree to WFH so my DS can go to a camp 9-3, he can then watch his IPad for a couple hours til I finish. I’ve also bought extra annual leave so I can take the time off to spend with him. Will your children have to be home all the time or can you take them out and about. They’ll get sooo bored!

Thanks for this - this is why I'm really intrigued to see what role/industry OP has! Also to see what other workplaces expectations are as I feel my past role has lead to me easily feeling micromanaged, when I'm just being...managed.

In my old workplace the culture was so flexible for certain roles, not all, that if the work was done we wouldn't need to know or expect to be told where staff were. If I saw someone out and they hadn't replied to my emails in a week, only then would there be an issue. This would be totally different during terms time or core business need periods (enrolment week, etc).

OP has asked now and it's been approved straight away. I can imagine they have very little work as her manager AND her manager's manager are both off for the whole of August. I imagine she does work somewhere with a very laid back approach during these down periods and probably somewhere where they need someone to work for enquiries coming in, but where the majority of their business is closed. If both managers are off, it is also probably quite difficult to make too many improvements there without things being signed off.

I think at 10 and 8 it’s absolutely fine. I have camps for my kids for 2 weeks 8am-6pm every day. Then a week with my partner looking after them, a week where we’re all off the. 2 other weeks where I’m planning on taking half days annual leave and half days wfh with the kids. We don’t have a garden and I can have a fair amount of meetings so keeping the kids cooped up all day feels a bit like child abuse and for my sanity we need to get out. But actually at 7 and 9 years old they mostly play nicely and I think time at home is good for them as usually they’re heavily scheduled. I try not to allow tv or screens tho as then behaviour plummets.

Interestingly I had a performance review with my senior leader today where I was asking for a big promotion in a FTSE 100 co. Video on. My kids came into me twice during the call… just came in, saw themselves on the screen, waved to my boss and walked out of the room again. I didn’t even break my chain of thought and carried on. I think the boss should recognise the room from other holidays that I’m at my parents house therefore he knows my mum is technically looking after the kids but I didn’t feel the need to explain. He trusts me to do my job. And in the past that has also included calls after 5pm so he sees my kids then anyway. Flexibility works both ways.

It sounds as though your quiet August offsets other much busier periods during the rest of year.
Sounds as though you very much just need to be on call during that time, rather than tied to your desk. My DH's work is a bit like that too over the summer - he often finds bits and bobs to do and usually have a really good tidy up of his home office!! But there is a limit to what he can find to do - he's no slacker and always goes the extra mile.....

It feels like this is taking flexibility a bit too far to me. I understand adapting your hours to deal with things that arise. I understand taking time during quieter periods knowing you perhaps might do more than required during busy ones. I understand picking up emails in your phone if you need to pop out. But having children around at home will inevitably be a distraction at times, and trips out are choosing prioritising your personal life above work when you are being paid to work. How would it sound if a colleague who had no kids decided to just take days out and about because they wanted to and felt it was quiet enough. I think if you want to do this and feel it’s acceptable then you would discuss it with your manager. I feel from your messages you don’t want to do that, and suspect that means you are not actually sure they would be ok with it.

Or do you holiday while wfh?

Why don’t you take leave in the school hols and take your children on holiday instead of having a break on your own in September?

That’s wonderful!

Seems like a good outcome then, and now you don’t need to worry.

There is a reason why so many employers are starting to call people back into the office. This is a clear example of why. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Obviously she is doing her job. Not all jobs are measured in how many hours are spent at a desk.

My job requires to get a certain number of projects over the line on time, on budget and to a certain standard. It’s not something that’s measured in regular 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. Some weeks are chocka,
others deadly quiet. I spent damn near 7 hours sat at my desk today doing bugger all. Because I have an employer like you. It’s really soul destroying.

I love when I get the chance to take time off for just me. The vast majority of my leave is spread over school holidays throughout the year and I save some in case of strikes as well. If I don't need to use them for strikes, I take them for myself when she's at school. It's brilliant.

It’s the dishonesty that would be the issue.

If someone was not getting all their work done, and was caught doing what OP proposes, it would be very clear cut as fraud.

If they were getting their work done and were caught doing the same it would be more complicated, but ultimately we don’t have any roles that can be covered in a few minutes per day, even in very quiet periods. People might flex to eg 20-25 hours per week (against a 60 hour week in busy periods) but they are still expected to be proactively working, prepping, making improvements. So in that scenario it might be more likely they would be managed out on the basis of their complete lack of understanding of the job requirements. If they argued they had understood their responsibilities and job requirements, then it would be fraud.

And yes, people can work from coffee shops etc if they respect confidentiality (phone conversations, screen visibility etc), but if they were doing it all day we’d check to see if there was a wellbeing issue.

I often work on the train, take calls from the car etc. I’m completely open about if e.g. I need to drop a kid off at a friends house or a club or whatever, or if I’m taking a few hours to go somewhere with them and will be working in the evening.

I am lucky to be in a senior position so I try to normalise the transparency that goes along with that flexibility. It’s just about being professional (which is probably why OP’s complete lack of professionalism bothers me so much).

It sounds like the best of both worlds to me.
Days with the kids without having to use annual leave, then annual leave without having to entertain kids.
I don't subscribe to the modern martyrdom of motherhood. It is good for kids to get a bit bored sometimes, and have to use their imaginations, not having endless exciting activities planned. I have done very similar in the past, everyone always knew my kids were at home.

Unrelated, but I have also been through fallow periods where I have had very little work and no meetings for weeks on end. I used to go for long bike rides or dog walks, did my gardening or housework. I also have periods where I work 12+ hour days without time to pause for breath. It all balances out in the end.

I have also received top performer awards and out of cycle bonuses for my work.

Agreed.

I also think op was never in a million years going to come back and say her boss had said no after her numerous posts justifying doing this.

All I can say is if it is true is that I wish I had such an amazing job with endless free time in the summer and a boss who is happy to pay me full time hours to take my kids to the zoo or theme park for the day.

This.
It's not just a respect for employers but a self respect issue.

So many people nowadays are dishonest, false, liars, What example are we setting our children. do as little as you can. no wonder so many young people end up out of work and on beneifts with terrible role models or parents who cba to work

That's all that matters here. I was wondering what their expectations are of you when it's quiet - I assume the reason your manager and her manager are both away for the whole of August is because of this quiet period. I love a flexible employer.

If she wasn't taking the piss, she would have just cleared it with her employer upfront rather than asking mumsnet.

My employer has taken the decision based on significant changes in turnaround times in some departments, not being able to reach dome departments on phones for hours, new joiners finding it really difficult to get the people responsible to train them to actually do it etc.

We had an extremely flexible employer and instead people being satisfied with the advantage that was, a significant portion of people felt that wasn't enough and ruined it for everyone by taking more.