To insist my staff have childcare in place?

[willandgrace]

Several of the staff I manage have young kids, we've supported them all year to WFH with kids at home. We are still primarily working from home but as schools/childcare are now open I have said that people need to have appropriate childcare in place while working from home, the same as they would have if they were office based (as they all were previously) - some of the staff are not happy about this but AIBU?

I would get a policy in place for after the Easter holidays to review at the end of the summer term.

Only because my holiday club is not available at the moment over Easter and I am not sure if it would be available for summer and if the restrictions are in place still with regards to how many people in a bubble, then it can be really tough.

I would also make sure you have something in place for when children have to isolate, in DS' school before the Easter holidays, 3 years went off. making it close to 400 kids off, with no notice.

YANBU in principle, however it’s important to recognise that supply of childcare hasn’t returned to normal and you should cut some slack for those genuinely struggling to source it.

Flexible working is in place, we deal with clients though so much has to be done in 'core' hours. It is difficult when meetings etc are being interrupted by kids - it's understandable that's not meant as a criticism but it can't go on
In terms of what age, our office is open but staff aren't required to attend yet, the age limit is 'if you can leave them alone if you are required to attend the office you don't need childcare', the same as if they were office based
When I spoke to one staff member who was struggling to manage her workload she said she didn't think it was fair that she had to use her annual leave for example as it's not her fault there's a pandemic.

I think that if you go along this route you need to have a robust provision in place for the still frequently occurring bubble popping going on, when the child is at home for ten days to isolate. You cannot claim employees must have childcare in place as they can’t work productively without it whilst simultaneously expecting them to look after isolating children and work. For the next few months, you are likely to see it backfire so bear that in mind.

I’d probably start the policy from September to allow time to find childcare (no local wraparound care exists here at the moment) and take into account many grandparents may refuse which means when wraparound care/holiday clubs start up again they might be in greater demand.

@womanity

I despair, so many women doing the patriarchy’s work for it. 😞

What about women running businesses having the piss taken out of them? Where does that fit in with the "patriarchy"

When I spoke to one staff member who was struggling to manage her workload she said she didn't think it was fair that she had to use her annual leave for example as it's not her fault there's a pandemic.

You just need to be firm and tell her that her children are not your responsibility; she needs to find childcare for them.

When I spoke to one staff member who was struggling to manage her workload she said she didn't think it was fair that she had to use her annual leave for example as it's not her fault there's a pandemic.

Many companies have given employers an additional couple of weeks of annual leave to support them in the pandemic. What have you done to help your staff?

@ivfbeenbusy

Lots of employees are using WFH to save money on childcare...... no one is productive with primary age and younger Children at home

I'd be staring all employees return to the office

Grandparents are largely vaccinated now and childcare bubbles have always been in place so there really is no excuse

Ah yes because we all have grandparents on tap ffs.

I think you need to approach it from the opposite direction. Rather than saying "you must have childcare" you should be saying "you are expected to be working between 9am and 5.30 pm (or whenever) unless there are particular circumstances where this is not possible which you need to discuss with your line manager".

Then you could cater for situations where there is genuinely no childcare available (but the employer might have to accept that they have to take annual leave to cover or work longer hours to make up for time not working or take unpaid leave). If you're a flexible employer you might feel it's fine for things like an employee to take 15 minutes out to pick up a 10 year old from school (who then amuses themselves). But less ok for an employee to have 2 toddlers underfoot all day.

Also, presumably many of the staff have two parents/adults currently at home so how do you plan to enforce this when your employee tells you that their spouse is responsible of childcare?

I'm in HR and my view is that you should focus on productivity. Either they can do the work, kids around or not, or they can't. If they can't then, kids or not, manage them appropriately. It's up to them if they have childcare.

Overall, YANBU. There is no way with a child under about 10 an adult can concentrate properly on work for an extended period of time unless another adult is supervising (and even 10 is pushing it unless they are pretty self-sufficient and mature, probably 12 is more realistic). Even half an hour of extra time having the child in the house will impact their work, as they'll be very interrupted by having to go pick up the child then go back to work for an extra half hour or whatever. And I think the point about childcare being expensive is irrelevant - that's not the company's problem, it's very unprofessional to use WFH as an excuse to save money at your company's expense.

I do think people's points here about availability of childcare not being back to normal may be fair, the trouble is, you can't look at each employee's school individually and assess if it has sufficient wraparound care etc. Certainly if they're in nursery they should be in nursery to allow a full 9-5 (or whatever) working day, not being picked up at 3 just because the parents are WFH.

they play beautifully and don't interrupt me much

But they still interrupt you. That's the whole point, if you were in the office you'd not get interrupted.

Yanbu op. I've worked from home for years and when my dc were young they always went to childminders or after-school clubs.

I think some people are seeing this as an opportunity to save money on childcare and expecting employers to continue to allow staff to take time away from their desks to look after dc. It was fine during lockdown but employers can't continue to pay people to look after their own dc

YABU. Manage your staff by their output and not by putting rules in place that try to get more out of the lazy fuckers (who will still be lazy) but penalise those that will still deliver (who will get demoralised that their hard work isn’t getting recognised).

I think this is spot on. Manage staff if they are not being productive, rather than making arbitrary rules about childcare and when this is required.

I have my 8 and 9yos at home as I have no childcare options beyond a part time cm (which I use as much as possible). They are fairly self-reliant, and I start early and work late to account for time spent with them. My employer has bought a huge amount of goodwill from me by showing some flexibility.

When I spoke to one staff member who was struggling to manage her workload she said she didn't think it was fair that she had to use her annual leave for example as it's not her fault there's a pandemic.

Then you need to deal with the performance issues. I would hope most have tried to find childcare (I did and explained ahead to my manager when I couldn’t). I would say as the company are flexible with me in this I flex back and will work on my day off and over my hours as required.

Maybe when you make your decision consider if you’d like to face a tribunal where you’re accused of indirect sex discrimination.

During term time, YANBU. Schools and nurseries are open. However, breakfast and after school clubs are more limited, so you may have to reach a compromise around that.

School holidays, there are very few holiday clubs available at the moment, you may be able to insist they take holiday for this reason, but can you really accommodate everyone with school aged children being off at the same time.

You'll definitely need to find ways to be flexible if bubbles burst and children are sent home to isolate.

If staff are actively avoiding using available childcare to save money though, that is not on.

If you are having client facing meetings interrupted then I think that's unacceptable in the longer term. People have been very understanding but once childcare is fully open then it's not really appropriately to have toddlers popping up mid zoom call.

But they still interrupt you. That's the whole point, if you were in the office you'd not get interrupted

Lol. Have you ever worked in an office? There are constant interruptions!

I can absolutely work from home and be fully productive with my 6 and 9yrs old in the house. I would not be that efficient with my 4yrs old around but if my husband was Wfh too we probably could manage without any issue as we both have flexible roles and are pretty efficient. I certainly wouldn't WFH with my 1yr old around.

Many companies have given employers an additional couple of weeks of annual leave to support them in the pandemic

Any evidence for this? The business press is reporting that most companies have issues with so much leave carried over from the various lockdowns that it's going to be difficult returning to normal.

And in some issues you need a "blanket" policy because there has to be fairness in how people are treated.

Productivity has fallen across the economy (and we were not great anyway!). It's disruptive to everyone when you're on a conference call and someone has their kids demanding snacks/attention/a shot on the 'puter. And yes it's women who bear the brunt of this. As an employer, should I compromise the jobs of many women because a few refuse to take holidays/reduce hours/convince the other parent to do their share of childcare?

I despair, so many women doing the patriarchy’s work for it
The school gates now have as many dads and granddads and actually a lot of people I know the woman is the primary breadwinner and not in low paid jobs either. Don't despair!!

The problem here is that there's very little childcare available after school/outside term time at the moment. Things are very much not back to normal in that respect. Not everyone has a childcare bubbie/grandparents available. Also other posters have raised a good point on if a child is sent home to SI for 10 days. Childcare on short notice is like gold dust these days.

@OllyBJolly

Many companies have given employers an additional couple of weeks of annual leave to support them in the pandemic

Any evidence for this? The business press is reporting that most companies have issues with so much leave carried over from the various lockdowns that it's going to be difficult returning to normal.

And in some issues you need a "blanket" policy because there has to be fairness in how people are treated.

Productivity has fallen across the economy (and we were not great anyway!). It's disruptive to everyone when you're on a conference call and someone has their kids demanding snacks/attention/a shot on the 'puter. And yes it's women who bear the brunt of this. As an employer, should I compromise the jobs of many women because a few refuse to take holidays/reduce hours/convince the other parent to do their share of childcare?

My employer has, DH’s and a number of my friends have the same offered. All big companies and this was offered from March of last year. Perhaps it’s a reason why so much leave is being carried over.

Yes and no.
Yes because some childcare is still disrupted, I know of childminder who reduced the number of mindees or closed alltogehter. So some of your employees may struggle finding care outside school hours and also in the holidays as the issue with indoor holiday clubs is still not sorted.

Also, you need to draw up a proper policy with some leeway for those case to accomodate staff who struggle.

You are definitely not unreasonable to put a policy in place.

We had one years before the pandemic and it was clear that the odd WFM is not to replace childcare issues or care of an ill child. You got paid emergency leave for that (2 days a year) and then it was up to you how you organised it. Most staff managed well with taking turns with partners, grandparents and annual leave. The odd times where there were issues like longer sickness etc was dealt on a 121 basis.

My HO has a policy in place for flexi-working and you had to show what childcare you had in place before you changed contracts.

Most companies I know pay for a set amount of working hours and I would expect staff to be reachable and accountable during these. Unless you have a total flexible working approach and don't mind total independ working with no care when your staff works you need to sort this out official with your HR department.