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

I haven’t seen one other poster say that they only have a few minutes per day to do for a month so could spend all day every day out with their kids. The one example that comes anywhere close is the barrister’s clerk. Or possibly the teacher, but that’s quite different to what you have outlined.

I have seen plenty (like me) saying yes sure, plenty of industries have quiet times and I might only work 20ish hours per week in August compared to 50+ in busy periods.

So I guess I’d add:

(c) you are quite aggressive to any poster who challenges your own perspective. (Typical AIBU thread to be fair).

And (d) some people might be a little sceptical of the veracity of some of your later updates.

Op I have said before that I am ok with this if your business is, but you have to remember that when you started this thread you were planning on doing this without saying anything. You said “I am not planning to mention it to anyone” and “They are unlikely to find out”. The fact that you booked your leave for September and were only now considering whether this is ok a few days before August, makes it seem like you had already decided to do it. You even mentioned in a post it’s too late to book clubs. So whilst you are now in a position where it’s all ok please don’t forget that impression that was originally given, and can be seen by anyone who reads all your posts. You are now emphasising how it’s an accepted way of working, and how you are not hiding anything, but that’s only because so many people suggested you spoke to your manager. It feels a little like you are lucky it’s all worked out. But that’s definitely a situation that you might as well make the most of. I hope you have an enjoyable August. It’s nice you have a job that allows it, and I am jealous you get to do it.

I don’t agree. I posted about my own flexibility upthread, and have done on a number of other threads in the past, and have nothing but positive reactions to it.

I think the majority of negative comments have been:

(a) because of the very extreme nature of the down time in your industry. People just can’t relate to it. It is practically unique to have just a few minutes of work to do per day for 2 months of the year without there being a shutdown. It’s undoubtedly due to industry, as you have said, but you won’t share the industry to help illustrate, so people still can’t picture it. Probably if you said e.g. its Events and we have intense periods prepping for the Chelsea Flower Show and then Winter Wonderland, people would have an “Ah!” moment. Without that, they can’t relate.

(b) because you were initially actively planning on lying about it. I think you would have had positive reactions from the start if your question had been “shall I ask my employer about this?”

It's a weird MN thing.

They want to say MN is a site for witty, wise, sophisticated women who simultaneously apparently can't understand people having other jobs different to their own or even thoughts or opinions.

Which is essentially, very close-minded and unsophisticated.

Quite.

I'm not sure why people keep going on about how unacceptable it would be in their workplaces

I don't think people understand some industries work differently.

Just as an example, most courts close in August and so most barristers take August off. They also take off time over Xmas and into Jan fairly often for the same reason. Not all courts for obvious reasons, and not all barristers, but certainly most.

If you're eg a barristers' clerk (handling lots of barristers) you still need to handle inquiries and book diaries and manage the admin, but the vast bulk of your work falls away completely.

That doesn't stop clerks through the rest of the year from being astonishingly busy, organised, meticulous and frankly (thinking of the one I know) superhumanly detail-oriented professionals. I've been blown away by the one I deal with; I joke that she's the world's most charming robot, she's so scarily efficient and seamlessly organised despite massive demands on her time, and plural barristers and clients to juggle. Which presumably makes their days in August feel empty in a way they wouldn't, to a mere human like me! And almost none of their inquiries then will be urgent, either. I hope she DOES chill out like this in August. God knows she deserves to. (She has no kids, either. I do not suspect this of being her!)

Not saying this has any relevance to the OP - no clue what industry she's in. Just saying that there are careers where things can't operate differently to her description. The work is cyclical. You might as well say the tourist trade shouldn't have down periods and that it's bad management for it to do so. If courts aren't in session and barristers aren't working, what are clerks meant to do? And given the level of skill, experience, training and intelligence needed, nobody's going to suggest losing talent by employing only when there's work, either.

If her professional area is akin to this, then it's completely plausible that the work falls away next month and she has to be around to answer what little comes in (someone must be) but that it's so fallow, it's almost dead.

I'm.workong about half my contracted hours over the summer holidays and my boss is fine with that, because he knows come September I'll be working way more than my 30 hours without complaint because I'm implementing a big project. It's give and take at my place and although we have some absolute piss takers they are dealt with on an individual basis.

If your manager is fine with it I'd go for it.

Do you work for the OPs organisation?

No it don't think you do so you can step down.

Is it written into your contract?

No.

So your manager saying it is fine means feck all.

I'd personally be concerned about how safe my job is, if I can be spared for the whole summer with no consequences.

I am not chained to my desk. I'm free to manage my time as I please and often do. I've recently left 2 hours early for parents evening, had an early lunch to attend a musical concert and there has been plenty of other stuff I've been able to work into my schedule. I'm not suggesting anyone needs to be at their desk every moment. But your proposal is extreme and is definitely CF territory for me.

It might be a job doing nothing in some cases but most of the time it's a job involving responsibility but less actual labour or time.

So for example- IT. You might not have a lot to do day to day other than tell people to turn it off and on again but if the system crashes or there's a hack, that person's role becomes vital to an entire organisation.

At that point, that's the person propping up an entire system and if that's the person who can solve it, they're worth the money even if they're not busy most of the time.

It's skills and expertise. Not time and labour

I would love to know what these jobs are that require so little input from the people who do them.

🙂

Mind you, I once had a holiday job in a canning factory and the supervisor put me on the end of the line loading the empty cans onto the belt. Nothing was happening so I eventually followed the line through the factory and found there was nothing happening at the other end. She had put me on the wrong line. I went back to my post and waited until my shift ended. I have never been so bored in my life!

I'd love to have one of these jobs where you get paid to do nothing.

I assume you don't shout this about and your seniors don't realise they are paying you for nothing?

(Cue you saying you worked a 20 hour day on Wednesday or some other reason to justify your stance)

FWIW I don't have am issue with the occasional day like you outline. Planning to do it for a whole month is an absolute piss take.

Flexibility is one thing and the OP is not asking for flexibility, she's planning not to do much work at all and then take her AL on top of this. I don't see how anyone can argue this isn't taking absolute liberties.

Nope.

But I could.

Which doesn't mean I would but I could do it.

I don't have DC so don't have to make those decisions.

People who think every job is the same as their own will ruin it. Unfortunately that includes a lot of jobsworth middle managers, many whom seem to lurk on MN.

I’ll repeat to you what my day looked like on Thursday (I work for an org with your kind of mindset). I had literally nothing to do with all my projects being out with external suppliers. I sat by my desk for 7 hours waiting for 3 emails to arrive. 2 never showed, the 3rd did just as I was closing down.

I was paid to sit there doing nothing. If I’d gone out with DD for the day, checking my email regularly, I would still have been paid to do nothing.

But I wouldn’t have had such a soul-destroying day.

Is that better?

And are you caring for two pre-teens in your hours WFH providing clinical care for the NHS?

DD works hard from home and when everyone was told they needed to go in for three days she was told that she need not do this as they know that she is always available. BUT her children are in summer clubs for most of the holidays (apart from her two weeks AL) so she is free to actually work 9-3.30 without hindrance. Outside these hours she does what the OP says she does and keeps an eye on her phone. I live close to her and sometimes have the children at short notice if somebody calls an online meeting at a time she can't manage (school collection or when they are at home). I do the same if she needs to go into work for any reason as occasionally happens.
Obviously DD's employers are aware that many do take the piss whilst WFH, hence the three day edict and the large number of redundancies that have been made in her company recently.
It's always risky to think you can get away with what suits you, it may not suit your employer. If redundancies are in the pipeline will they keep the employee who toes the line and is always available or the one who has told them that they have children at home all day during the holidays? And (unless you have a partner who is genuinely free over the summer to take them out some of the time) it makes for a pretty boring holiday for the DC.

Well said

WFH = how to make women work and look after children simultaneously.

Limits career progression.

Limits the activities/interactions/development of children.

Do not diminish the importance of your children and their needs and your work ethic and career by doing both simultaneously.

No man would do this

Quite.

I WFH as an NHS employee with a high level of clinical expertise and responsibility.

I can't count the number of times on MN people have told me i can't possibly be in a clinical role WFH. Including from people working in the NHS.

COVID changed things a lot in terms of the NHS recognising how many roles can be WFH but it also exposed how many people seem to think you don't really work for the NHS or not in a clinical role unless you work on wards.