To think you can’t work from home with a 1 year old baby

[HipHopTheHippieToTheHipHipHop]

My company is recruiting for a sales exec and I overheard a call from a recruitment agent pushing a candidate currently on maternity leave somewhere else and about to go back to work but wants a new job.

She wants to work 3 days in the office and 2 days at home. For those 2 days she’d be looking after her 1 year old while she’s “working”.

AIBU to think this is taking the piss? There might be some jobs where you can juggle work and looking after a baby, but not while you’re dealing with clients (who work office hours). Hardly fair on the baby either.

Wow. Sounds like that poor woman had a lucky escape. Who'd want to work in an office full of judgy bitches and and a narrow-minded director? Anyway OP, looks like you and your boss had your answer already so what was the point of coming on here to AIBU?

I could comfortably do it if it was the sort of work I could do during the nap and in the evenings but if it needed office hours during the day no chance

I have my own business so didn't have any maternity leave, I was able to work part time from home up until DS was 7 months. After that he became mobile and more demanding and therefore he started nursery so I could continue working. I'd say WFH with a one year old is pretty impossible tbh.

Wfh isn't a childcare solution. Not when the child is a preschooler who needs lots of attention. Yanbu.

If you make a request to WFH the subject of childcare should not come up

IME as an employer it simply wasn't necessary to bring this up; those seeking WFH arrangements were usually loud in their insistence that things would work brilliantly, they'd be far more motivated, they had excellent childcare in place and all the rest

I happen to believe that work-life balance is important, so would agree to this wherever it seemed reasonable. Unfortunately, far too many quickly "discovered" that the childminder no longer worked, grandma needed an operation, partner needed to increase their hours or whatever else ... all of which is why I had to cut back massively on WFH

As PP said, "mothers trying to take the piss at work don’t help anyone"

No you can't. I WFH one day a week and my MIL takes care of my baby (in the same house).

I worked from home one day a week as a consultant a couple of years ago (after my mum told me it was a terrible idea) and my 18 month old pulled every single key off my laptop while I went to the loo.

Unless you have a nanny, don't do it!

I could not have done this at any point. DD1 in particular screamed, fed for an hour and cat napped for half an hour usually in my arms if I was lucky before the cycle repeated.
I was too sleep deprived to manage anything until about 9 months by which time she was mobile and into everything.

I actually thing I work harder from home with my kids around as I don't want my colleagues thinking I'm a slacker...

I've had to do it in the past, just a random day here and there, when my son was ill and I couldn't afford to lose pay.

The role was customer support but luckily didn't involve phone calls.

My son switched off my pc when I was in the middle of writing a long email back to a client 😂 I laugh about it now but I nearly cried at the time. I wouldn't do it again!

I definitely didn't get much work done. I was lucky that I had worked for the company for a while and my manager was really understanding.

If my 2yo throws up at nursery or has a fever and gets sent home (seems to happen all the f*ing time), I will work from home. He gets chucked in his bedroom with Paw Patrol on, a bottle of water and some snacks (depending on vommyness) and I work with the baby monitor on in front of me, dashing between my work (finance based) and him when necessary, and catching up on work in the evening if I've not managed to do enough. It is terrible terrible parenting on my part, but needs must - it's for one (sometimes 2) days. There is no way I would do it regularly or by choice; if he's genuinely sick and needs me or is sick for more than 2 days, I book annual leave and take care of him properly.

IME, you can get maybe 4-5 hours work done in a 9-5 day if you ignore your child as much as possible and they are happy being left alone or are sick so sleeping most of the day.

I occasionally work from home in the school holidays but my children are 9 and 10 and I hardly see them when I am home! No way could you work effectively at home and still care for a 1 year old.

Who'd want to work in an office full of judgy bitches and and a narrow-minded director?

I don't think it's judgy or bitchy to worry about how much work would get done, which others may need to pick up the slack for. Or how much care a child would be receiving (or not), when the company would be implicit in the lack of care.

The OP said the candidate would be working while looking after her DC. That is not the same as getting up early staying up late, which is no different to parents doing early and evening shifts out of the home.

However you can’t do both at the same time, you can’t give your full attention to a child and your job at the same time. (Unless you are a child minder)

Who'd want to work in an office full of judgy bitches and and a narrow-minded director

Workplaces are not childcare, unless you are a nursery worker or child minder. When you work from home, your home is your workplace, therefore it is nit appropriate to have a child around unless they are being looked after.

This is a job that requires interaction with clients and so it is incredibly unprofessional to have the risk of screaming, demanding children in the background whilst talking to a client on the phone.

I have a very family friendly workplace and often have my e,players children there. However, they are only allowed in the staff room and open plan part of the office which is separate to mine and my business partners offices. When my staff are visiting clients they cannot take their children along.