Why is there such a huge discrepancy between the school day/school hols and the majority of workplaces

[Lifeisbeaut]

Just returning to work after a career break and trying to work out the logistics of school pick ups, how to manage school holidays whilst minimising the children being passed from pillar to post without routine. It’s not manageable or affordable.
I wish more employers offered term time only or proper part time options. I feel like what’s the point in going back to work when I will barely see my children and I’m barely bringing much more money in. Whoever said we could have it all was lying (unless I am missing something?)

Who actually said you can have it all?

School is for education, not childcare. If you need childcare during work hours then, like everyone else, you need before/after school clubs, or a childminder, or some other arrangement.

I agree that more employers could offer proper flexible working, but I don’t agree at all that you can expect employers to just have term time workers, unless they’re a school. The work still needs to be done, and companies can’t just lose half their staff over summer holidays because they have kids.

I went to a private, all girls school and was told I could ‘have it all’ by all the staff there for the entire 6 years I was there.

I still sort of believed it all through university and ended up in a professional job. Then I had kids and realised it’s a load of shit .

Clearly I shouldn’t have believed it but I certainly don’t lie to my daughters or anyone who asks me for careers advice. You can’t have it all, at least not all at the same time anyway.

Honestly, because term time working anywhere other than in an education based job is a complete PITA for employers. I've both worked with and managed term time only people, and all it means is that everyone else is more restricted as to when they can take leave, and as the work still needs to be done, everyone else feels like they're picking up the slack. Other part time options are generally easier to manage as they're a regular pattern and so workloads can be adjusted accordingly. At the end of the day, an employer has to prioritise business needs and only accommodate adjustments to working patterns if it doesn't impact the business

Because we use an archaic model of timin for education based on the needs of farming communities several hundred years ago (both in terms of holiday and school day)
Because we place undue importance as a society on work, but spend most of our day unproductive.

If the entire economy only operated in term time school hours, it would collapse. Not just financially but how would all the goods and services be there at weekends and evenings without people working? What would you get up to with your children on a Saturday if nothing was open and there was nothing to buy?

You are trying to connect two unconnected parts of life. Work and having children are not mutually compatible, and do not happen to everybody at the same time and in the same way. For some people they don't work, have children, do both or some, and more or less than others.

It never fails to amaze me how many people post on here in total shock when their kids start school. It's as if they didn't know about school holidays when they decided to procreate.

Because work happens 52 weeks a year.

I'm in your position, I get it - it's a nightmare juggling everything.

I suppose one option would be to offer salary sacrifice so that employees could take a lot more holiday, so ten weeks holiday rather than five. But even then the logistics of covering that person's leave and workload is probably too much.

What we also need is more supportive and accessible childcare

Our school offers 7.30am breakfast club drop off, and up to 6pm after school club collection. We also offer holiday clubs. We try to help parents where ever we can, but there's only so much we can do.

I think it would be good if we could combine term time only with students looking for temporary summer jobs in some cases. I always worked during the summer holidays at uni and there is a demand for such jobs.

I wish more employers offered term time only or proper part time options.

How do you really see that working in an environment that runs for the entire year? The employers would need staff to cover the school holiday period when the parents don't want to work. The need for childcare surely can't have come as a surprise.

I think it would be good if we could combine term time only with students looking for temporary summer jobs in some cases. I always worked during the summer holidays at uni and there is a demand for such jobs.

Surely they are all low paid low skill jobs though? How can a business run with skilled, experienced staff swapping with students every holiday?

The need for childcare surely can't have come as a surprise.

The wish to spend the school holidays with one's children might have, though!

Well if a job is too skilled for a temp to provide cover it should be paying enough for the parent to pay for decent holiday childcare. A lot of people I know who struggle with this are in the sort of jobs where a temp could manage with some supervision.

A business is there to provide a service/manufacture products and make a profit for the employer/shareholders. They employ the best workers they can. That model will never change (I have a team of 90 employees over three countries as a part of a global consultancy company). Childcare arrangements are not the responsibility of the employer.

Because we use an archaic model of timin for education based on the needs of farming communities several hundred years ago

Our school day and holidays across the year aren't any different really to other countries across the world. How they are broken up varies and compared to lots of countries we actually have a week or two less in all.

School is for education and should be aimed of the needs of children, not working parents.

What is needed for working parents is better wrap around child care options for before and after school hours, and holiday clubs. Whether or not that option is best for children is up for debate really though.

Trouble is the working businesses want employees who can be flexible and work all hours ideally, not employees who can only be there for a fraction of the day and year.

Before and after school clubs, child minders, holiday clubs. I really don't understand how people can not realise these issues about having children or have you never worked with anyone with a child?!?

Its probably easier to adjust education than business. But i do think business should move away from one person working 70 hours a week and have 2 working 35.

Employers would have you do 60 hour weeks for a bowl of rice if they could. We have restrictions on what employers can do for a reason. I think on a societal level we need to look at all these different systems, work, education, benefits, housing and if we could get them to work better together.

Because schools are there to provide education, not childcare. If you work more hours than your child is in school then you need to pay out for childcare.

The vast, vast majority of businesses couldn't operate if every single parent wanted school hours, term-time only. It's just not possible. It would be nice - but it just doesn't work like that!

Holiday clubs and other childcare options are the answer. I am sure the OP would not like it if in school holidays shops had fewer staff, museums and other attractions closed or had reduced hours, or you could not get a holiday hotel because employees worked term-time only.

Because we use an archaic model of timin for education based on the needs of farming communities several hundred years ago (both in terms of holiday and school day)

How is it different to any other country?

Most children around the world are in school 5-6 hours a day at some point between around 8am and 4pm. Some start early and finish at 2, some later and finish at 4. Some have two hour lunches but generally the model is very similar no matter what part of the world you're in.

I'm sure with a decent system for matching up holiday temps a lot of employers would cope

I have gone back to work full time, but am on flexi time so work 4 long days and 1 short day. dd is in nursery 5 mornings a week, nan does 3 pick ups and me and dp do 1 each.

I think it is hard if you don't have family around