People looking after children while wfh

[paws732]

My company operates mainly remotely, so we mostly work from home with occasional office days. We have a lot of Teams meetings for connectivity.

With the summer holidays, I have had meeting with a lot of colleagues who have their children sitting on their laps during the meetings. These children range from 5-8, and they are not behaving themselves either. One child kept putting things on their mum's head, and another was having a tantrum about being bored.

AIBU to think they shouldn't be looking after children while wfh, even if it's the school holidays? I feel it will eventually spoil wfh arrangements for everyone, as employers will not tolerate this is many companies.

I don’t think it’s fair on the kids or the employer, apart from the odd day if necessary.

If your colleagues are anything like me then these 6 weeks are a stressful cobbled patchwork of childcare arrangements that means that sometimes there might be an hour or two a day where my child is in the house whilst I work. Just like how they are in the house when I'm still doing zooms at 8pm. It works both ways. Give them a break.

Oh and through lockdown when I was averaging a 50 hour week wfh all of my team got used to my daughter sitting on my lap during calls. Fortunately I have an employer who is slightly more supportive of working parents than the majority of women on this thread.

Same here. I dislike dogs in the office. Utter distraction, running up and down the corridors growling, barking. Women have to hide their shoes which they keep under the desks for fear of them getting chewed up. Cannot eat at your desk because the dog tries to reach up. Doggie toys in the corridor to trip you up. Dog bowls in the dishwasher. If I see a doggie poo, that will be the end.

There is no place for dogs in the office.

Maybe i should quit my job and claim UC instead......wfh with my 7yo is my only option in hols....can't afford childcare for that amount of time.....

Employers / managers cannot have it all their own way, many people work well in excess of their contracted time because of understaffing or poor management. I don't see it as a problem for employees to flex their workload for an hour or so a day.

The same way we all had to before lockdown when hybrid working was not the norm for many of us 🤷‍♀️

I had an employee who was WFH with a 4 year old. She would stop mid sentence on a zoom meeting and speak to the child about all kinds of crap. What did you say Chloe? Bluey did what on the tv? You have a poo? You want toast?
So unprofessional and I couldn't have her in on meetings. She often asked the child to wave hello because she thought it was "cute". Nobody else thought it was cute, it was tiresome. She had childcare before lockdown but then realised she could save herself money so kept her child at home without asking and when I told her it was not acceptable she refused to do anything about it even though she could. Pity though, she was really good at her job but a lot of what she did was meeting clients virtually and it was never going to work.

DS4 I wouldn’t do this as he would need lots of attention and I’d be too distracted - I’ve done the odd day with him home poorly when I’ve had no other option.

DD8 is currently having 1 day per week at home through the summer holidays, while I wfh. It’s generally an admin day but maybe the odd internal meeting which it doesn’t matter if she’s pottering about.

I told DD that if she finds it too boring doing this day at home each week that I’ll book holiday club instead but she says she’s happy to have a chill out day.

Totally unacceptable - totally unprofessional, bad for the job and for the kids

No it’s not acceptable. I work hybrid and get childcare for my kids whether in office or WFH. The odd time is different, like once where my childminder was poorly, and I made time up in the evening as it was tricky to get things done.

As someone who cannot wfh, I'm finding my feelings are growing more and more bitter towards those who wfh!
Sorry! Not having to deal with the commute, being able to stick a wash on, or start the dinner, and not having to pay for childcare... it's not fair! I know not all those wfh have this set up but it seems many do.

Totally agree. I work hybrid but my team do not, its so frustrating when other hybrid colleagues assume everyone has the same freedoms they do.

Occasionally when a child is sick and can't go to childcare it may be better than the parent taking the day off last minute, but it shouldn't be the default position.

Whinging “it’s not fair” is totally pointless. If you want the perks of wfh then get a new job.
There are different perks do every job, some have full mat pay, some have unlimited annual leave, some have private insurance, some pay for the commute, some earn mega bucks.

I think it's overrated personally, a lot of companies and government organisations are creeping back to the office anyway- even zoom employees are going back ffs.

I don’t think it’s suitable at all with children so young as to be sitting on laps and disrupting meetings.

Thats not working from home - if you’re working from home you should be able to give full attention to meetings and to whatever work you need to do at other times, not cram it in between your children’s needs.

If they’re so young as to be putting things on their parents heads they’re far too young for this.

It’s all not fair on the children, and I agree is bad for employee well being, because it’s hugely stressful.

Again, wfh is a brilliant thing for a lot of people, but it’s not childcare and shouldn’t be used as such. A few people are in danger of ruining it for everyone if they carry on like this.

So do I and my youngest (the one who needs it) is 9. Because it’s rubbish for him to be stuck at home and ignored all day. Yes I can get a day’s work done with him sitting watching tv all day, but what kind of summer holiday is that? My exh and I both find good quality summer camps/ activities that he enjoys.

Yes it’s cost, but it’s not a cost that anyone was ever told would not apply when they chose to have children. None of us were told - oh your employer must allow you to just look after your kids in the holidays and let you just mess about doing little bits of work when you can.

Im not fully wfh though which works for me as I quite like seeing others some of the time.

I agree with the OP, it really isn't possible to do a full day's work with small children about. I feel that you'd be short-changing your employer and your children could be bored and tetchy. I look after my grandchildren when there is no summer club and just can't see how you'd keep them occupied if you were genuinely working.

Yes, the same way that millions of mothers like me did before working from home was a thing. If you want to be paid for doing a job you need to be actually doing it.
My DD, DIL and others I know do WFH at least some of the time, but ALL of them have proper childcare in place or available if the DC are sick.

Totally agree, I'm whinging! But the issue is that many jobs changed during lockdown and some people have ended up with a better deal as a result. Not because they carefully planned to get a wfh job.

It's not allowed at my work. I have an understanding manager who turns a blind eye for emergencies (though as I'm part time I usually shuffle hours around instead as it's not fair on the kids either) but would never expect that to include the whole school holidays.

Those of you who think it's ok/have kids in the room while on calls. What do you do if your work is of a confidential nature?

It depends on the ages of the children, really. If the kids are old enough to keep themselves occupied in another room I don't see the problem. Employers who enforce blanket rules forbidding situations where kids are at home due to illness or gaps in childcare etc need to accomodate that or employees will simply find companies that do.

If the kids are young enough to require constant supervision then obviously that's not on, however, although enough of us had to bumble through during covid with arrangements like that.

This is where I find it ridiculous that children under school age only get their 30 free hours during term time! Do they honestly think working parents only work term time?? Those that work should get it during the school holidays too… at least then they’d have a few days of WFH to cram in as much work as possible.

But no I don’t agree with parents WFH with young kids demanding their attention. Having kids sat on your lap during meetings is very unprofessional even if that meeting is only with your colleagues ! Hopefully she had her mic off?? I think it’s fine to ‘oversee’ older kids who can entertain themselves, but under about 7/8- no! Under that age there’s no way people can do either or both properly and need to at least need to have someone else present to entertain the kids so they can work. Maybe she could employ someone m during the holidays that’s on break from Uni? Someone doing a childcare diploma for example. Who would be glad of the reference on her CV