To think I can work from home with a 1yo

[Pollypanda]

I am currently on maternity leave, returning to work in November when DS will be 1. Work have allowed me to work from home 1 day a week to help alleviate nursery costs which I’m grateful for. However, general consensus amongst family and friends is that I’m mad to think I’ll get any work done whilst trying to look after DS.

I am office based, managing a small team without much direct client contact. Most of my communication in done via email due to the nature of my industry. So I won’t be juggling client calls, meetings, etc. Any calls I do get will be from my team.

AIBU to think I can do this no problem?

It could work if your dh is going to take over at 4pm and you have somewhere to work in peace.
That gives you just an hour and a half while you have your toddler on your own and I would think you could do half hour of tv at least and hopefully at least an hour of nap time.
From the sounds of it you role is possibly not to demanding - I think it could work if so. I'm sure there is a stat somewhere that in an office you'd lose time chatting, distracted by non work related stuff etc but you will need somewhere to work in peace at home
My work would never allow this though

We are a predominantly home based workforce.
Our homework is policy is clear that you are working at home and there needs to be arrangements in place to care for dependents during that time. Of course, if it’s an unwell child or granny has fallen over there is flexibility but usually we’d expect people working at home to be free to provide the same work as if they we’re in the office. The benefits are greater flexibility and reduced travel time/ costs not caring for your child.

OP, YANBU , you know your own child and how much attention it will need. I worked from home when DC was little, they had nap times during the day until they were nearly 3yo, they were happy to play in their playpen on their own so I didn't need to watch them all the time.

DC wasn't the sort of child who had to be entertained 24/7 and I am not the sort of person who could/would do that anyway as there are other things to do, hence the playpen.

You know your child and you know your job/employer. The best thing that you can do is to give it a go and see how you get on. Good luck.

I can't see it working to be honest. My son is 4 now and I would still struggle to do a days work when he's around. He will occupy himself for a while but certainly not all day.

Thinking back to when he was a year old I would have got nothing done!

I did it - five hours a day everyday from when my son was 3 months old. If you are organised and don't mind working when the baby was asleep or catching up in the evenings it is doable. I had my second DD three years later and carried it on - I can't thank my boss enough - I am still working from home 16 years later, have managed it through 2 kids and it has enabled me to be a full part of their lives. I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out - do it!

My kids are 3 and 5 and I wouldn't stand a chance of being able to do any work in a day, let alone with a 1 YO!

Unless you're going to be parking your DC in the play pen with ceebeebies on for extended periods of time, you're going to be struggling to get any work done.

Again - a non-walking baby of 11 months, or even 12 months, is very different to a walking 14 month old. And again, different to an 18 month old who doesn't want to sleep for 2 hours , wants to talk and bored stuck in the house all day.

Don't make a plan you can't change without it being a hassle at short notice.

If the nursery you use has a wait lists for the morning you will be working from home, I'd put the baby down for a half day from 18 months old.

A toddler is different level of care to a baby. Don't make plans based on having a baby.

It's also worth noting if your dc will be at nursery for the other 4 days a week, they will get used to adult attention and not having to quietly play by themselves.

It might work, but if it doesn't, will you look shit at your job?

Going against the grain, it works for us. I am self employed and work from home most days. Sometimes it's harder, and I work during naptime and after bedtime, but most of the time it's fine. I think it depends on your child.

No it’s not unreasonable. I know many people at my company and our clients companies that allow this with small children. It’s obviously with the understanding that you won’t be online completely in that time, but won’t be lounging around at home either.

In my experience its possible but very very difficult and you will come to dread that day. I work Monday and Tuesday from home, with DS (2.5) on Monday and DH looks after him on Tuesday. My work is mostly email based, reporting and document writing/review; if I plonk him in front of Mr Tumble I can get 15 mins, and I can work during his nap, but it's very challenging when he's up and about and I end up working like a mad woman on Tuesdays. Since he turned 2 my mum's been able to take over a few Mondays, and I take all leave on Mondays and buy extra. It was easier when he was littler and slept more but still not easy.

In short, I wouldn't recommend but yours might be more amenable than mine! Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss 😊

From a purely commercial perspective, this is bad business for the employer, as productivity will inevitably go down.

Actually, I think they will expect her to get everything done by working evenings and weekends.

No way.

You would not be allowed to work from home at my firm, unless you have childcare sorted for your WFH day.

You can absolutely NOT look after a 1 y.o. adequately. and work a full day adequately.

YABU - and to be honest people like you are the reason many employers don't like people working from
home. There are 2 realistic scenarios:

1. you'll get about 2 hours of work done during the day and work the other 5 during weekend/evenings. doable but very very hard and exhausting, reqiring a lot of self discipline
2. you'll get about 2 hours done, and take the piss. Work from home to reduce childcare costs usually means reducing commuting time, so about 2 hours less childcare than overwise required.

you can't get up early as hours need to be between 9-8.30pm

your partner comes in at 4pm so you can work 4-8.30 so you need to find another 1.5 hours; at age 1 they will probably nap after lunch so early lunch baby to bed work 1-2.30 have a snack before returning to work at 4pm and then late dinner at 9pm, your problems start when they no longer nap,

the alternative is a babysitter for just 2 hours in morning then
you do a further 1.5 hours when baby naps after lunch and the another 2.5 hours after DH arrives home

Still really want to know what actual job OP does

I work from home exclusively. I also have child care. Sure I manage the occasional meeting or task by handing my child a screen, but that is no more than any other parent who occasionally brings home work to be done outside of child care hours.

I would suggest a mother’s help type person. When I was younger, I got paid a small sum for babysitting various children while mum or dad worked from home. It was obviously much cheaper than formal childcare.

My 18 month old was recently ill and (although I took it as holiday) I also pretty much worked from home as I was going on holiday and needed to get things cleared beforehand. It was so much more difficult than I expected (it was only 2 days!) and my poor DD now has a massive CBeebies addiction! She also had an old laptop of mine to pretend work on and bash the keys of. Trying to type an email whist on the sofa with a small chubby hand reaching in to press keys repeatedly takes ages! I have a very reactive job though, where I get tasks that have to be done immediately. The above suggestion of a mothers help is a good one if you really want to make it work. You could always see how it goes and change plans if needed! Childcare is so expensive I'd imagine it's worth a short trial period.

Apart from the nap times, what are you proposing the toddler does while you are working? That doesn’t require your input for hours on end?

I don’t get it.

I'm shocked an employer would offer WFH knowing you will have a child in your care!

Biggest issue with me working from home is DCat constantly walking over my keyboard.

I had team member once demanding working from home a day a week with no laptop and no remote access

My initial view was no you can’t do this, not fair on other employees however, If your employer is offering it you and others snatch it from their hands.

It might annoy other employees but with this approach I’m assuming they give other staff perks. I’m sometimes in that important meeting off site on a Fri afternoon

No chance of wfh and having responsibility for a 1 yo!!! I'd see if there is a local au pair who can come in to help on the days you are wfh.

You might get a few hours done during nap time, but otherwise no way in my opinion. I have a 2 year old and a 3.5 year old and I wouldn’t consider attempting a full day”s work for a second.

It's not fair on you or your child. I have worked from home at various times as my children were growing up and it is far harder than you think. This afternoon I brought work home and had loads of interruptions and mine are teenagers! That said i don't blame you for wanting to try it.