School run comments in work

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In a meeting last month I said I wasn't available for Monday meetings at 3:00. I could do any other time before or after.

The most senior person in the meeting said "that sounds like a school run" I didn't really confirm or deny what it was.

It was said in a meeting full of men I was the only female if it makes a difference and I just feel off about it and I can't work out why but I don't think he should of said it.

Am I just being over sensitive as I have form for this.

@Meraleine that was laughing with you by the way…the idea of lunch as this huge, immovable feast that must be held sacred and meeting-free 😂

And God forbid that anyone manages both lunch and the school run..! And congrats over that promotion.

You've just instructed people to stop engaging with the likes of me yet are now tagging me. You seem a bit defensive, if your colleagues support your breaks plus school runs then fine, or perhaps you're worried that isn't the case?

"I have never known meetings being avoided between 12-2pm. We don’t have set lunch times so it doesn’t happen. We just look at calendars and find available time."

So if you have a meeting from 12 to 1 and then another from 1 to 2, are you eating during your meeting? You don't get a lunch break? Seems like terrible workers' rights.

My work ban meetings before 9.30am after 4pm and between 12 and 1 to ensure a work life balance

I have 12 on my team. We engage with other companies at scheduled meetings like a lot of you it seems. If there is an ongoing meeting scheduled for 3pm on a Monday every week and that suits 11 of my team because they are ALL going to be working at time and it suits the people we are having the meeting with at that time because they are ALL going to be working, I will be damned if I am going to disrupt numerous people by rescheduling because one woman has to pick up her kids. Not a hope in hell.

If I have a meeting at 12-1, then another put in at 1-2 in either a) eat during the meeting and take a break afterwards, b) having my food and break before or after or c) if really needed, I decline and ask for the meeting to be pushed back by half hour.

It’s really not that hard and is just how flexible working is.

My team starts anywhere between 7am - 11am, so quite frankly a mandated 12-2 lunch time would be ridiculous.

I will also say..sick child, no problem, sick parents, no problem, illness no problem but an employee that cannot ever work at 3pm on a Monday....No.

I’m actually really surprised that there are so posters who can’t manage their own diaries or lunches without work dictating it for them.

What about a part time member of staff who ends their working day at 3 or doesn't work Mondays?

And obviously go with what works for the majority in that earlier scenario. School run mum can catch up through the minutes or a 1-2-1, if not a key member of the meeting. Also, if the meeting's recurring, maybe schedule it at different times on different weeks so she doesn't always miss it. There are ways round these things....

They would not be scheduled into that particular meeting because they don’t work those hours.

I absolutely will not reschedule it at a different time each week when the time chosen suits everyone else! Ohh hang on now Guys, Next week can we push the meeting till 4 because Mandy needs to pick up her kids.

OP sounds like she is a key member since she was asked to be at the meetings in the first place… but she can do any time but 3 coz like .. the kids.

Equal number of males and females us our flexi to do school run. Flexi used to be to start early / finish early or vice versa. But now it feels like it's used by a lot to avoid using breakfast / afterschool clubs. It's often 45 mins to get child / feed them etc etc It's hard now to schedule all mtgs between 10-12 and 2-3

I know right! I cannot imagine having when my lunch break is actually written into my contract, no way would I work somewhere like that.

And if I’m not available at three and I have it blocked out in my calendar because one day I might have school run, another I might have a different meeting scheduled, another day I am finishing early then just tough frankly, whoever wants that three o clock meeting can either have it without me or reschedule it to a free time in my diary.

I can only imagine the outrage some of the posters on this thread would have when I block out half days in my diary with Busy - No Meetings so I can catch get some actual work done without constant meetings and random calls because it doesn’t actually specify in my bloody contract that I can do that (even though it’s accepted practice and everyone does it).

Would you have the same day blocked out every week at 3pm?

Why would it matter if the poster did? Just book the meeting for a time that’s free in her calendar.

I mean I have 4 reoccurring meetings each week so those are always blocked out. I work compressed hours 3x days so I can do a half day another - so a whole afternoon is always blocked out.

Unless it’s a one off, why would you deliberately book a weekly appointment at a time someone required clearly has another commitment in their calendar?

I think the sooner people wise up and realise a workplace with a good work/life balance putting employees at the centre, is the better kind of employer that will attract the hardest workers, the better

Emmm because it suits the 11 other people on the team that actually can work at 3 and don’t need to leave work to collects kids.

another commitment? Childcare?

ok then.

Imagine the outrage if they knew I got my nails done during the day when working from home on occasion! And no it’s not an issue and nor would I hide it from anyone - my manager (one of our partners) also does this. If you work flexibly it has to benefit the employee as well as the company. I am quite surprised at the archaic talk of set lunchtimes etc on this thread and am very thankful I don’t work somewhere that operates like this!

If a meeting’s that important you find another time.

I think you must be really junior in a very old-fashioned organisation, or just very old-fashioned yourself not to be able to imagine grown-ups managing their own diaries and finding a time to meet.

The only time I have ever had a fixed lunchtime at work was when I was a student and working on a reception. Someone had to cover me so we had to decide when to hand over etc. Even then, my cover and I worked it out between us.

What is this obsession with putting people down?

I appreciate you mean really junior as an insult. I’m not really junior - I have a PA who manages my diary. There are meetings that can be moved and meetings that simply can’t!

it depends on the workplace and the type of meetings - informal catch up meetings can be easily moved. Board meetings cannot.

I would counter argue that is every meeting a person has can be easily moved around nail appointments and school pick ups then the meetings aren’t that important. Or are all with a very small number of people who don’t have very full diaries.

No I didn’t mean junior as an insult. But junior people in old-fashioned organisations have less agency than senior people and it was the only way I could account for your inability to accept that it is OK to build flexibility into the working day. You and a few others seem oddly offended that other people — that you don’t work with and don’t know — are able to arrange their lives differently from you.

If you’ve got a PA managing your diary, though, you probably have no idea of the times your colleagues and clients have blocked out of their diaries. But I’m sure she or he competently works round them.

Why are you insinuating that picking children up from school is as trivial as a nail appointment?

Something screwy with your thinking.

Are you a bloke? I suspect misogyny at play here.

Not outraged. Going by some comments on this thread I'm not actually surprised. The work ethic of some seems completely at odds with what I'm used to.

Flexi time/part time great. However booking things within your working day that is not work related, that means you are then unavailable is not how I'd expect anyone in a team to do things.

I teach my dc time management and organisational skills. I don't think they'd be getting their nails done whilst supposed to be at work. Unless on a lunch break of course..

The company I’m working at is great at flexible working. Most of us work from home, and are quite upfront about our other responsibilities. If you want a meeting after 2.45 you have to account for some who do the school run, some will be taking their calls from the sports centre while their kids are swimming, some who have regular medical appointments, and suchlike. It all works fine. We just block out that time in our diaries, and meetings are scheduled around it. usually it just means taking a coffee break for 20 minutes.