Asking employer to cover childcare costs

[Totupthenumberspls]

I’ve been asked to go on a business trip for a week, is it unreasonable to ask the company to pay the incremental childcare costs?

people do realise that the term asking people to work for unlimited hours, travel and required is not actually legal or enforceable?

Yes employer doesn't have to pay for what decisions the employee made in their personal life, similarly they can't expect their employees not to have any personal life and drop every thing in their personal life for 10 days which they essentially are asking the OP to do.

You guys really need to start asking for more and your employer will give it if you are worth it. OP's employer clearly seems she is worth it.

This query only needed to be raised with your employer, as you've now clearly done, and you received a response that you are happy with. I'm confused as to what you hoped mumsnetters would be able to give you, aside from affirmatory opinions around the audacity of your employer expecting you to pay for your own childcare. As it happens, additional childcare costs incurred by the employee when undertaking their job is completely normal (and most importantly, legally compliant) from the business perspective. Without detailed information pertaining to the context of your role, as well as the specifics around your contract of employment, a copy of your terms and conditions, the expenses policies and procedures etc nobody could have feasibly answered this question "correctly". Pointless.

I don’t think the question was pointless, this isn’t a contractual issue about particular circumstances, it’s a wider one that affects career progression.

Brava OP. You are quite right and I’m glad your employer is decent. Ignore the haters. 1 - many of them don’t work. 2. you are not being paid overtime for all this time away. I know some people get all this time back in their jobs in the public sector.

Sorry I think people here are missing the point.

Just back from a working trip. I'm female. My husband arranged with his company to WFH afternoons while I was away. And he minded his own children. As I would if he was away.

We are in 2024. And people are saying here well done OP, you got your company to pay for the extra childcare because your partner can't cope.

Is this what we are aiming for as women?

People like OP are the ones who hold back the careers of all women of childbearing age, including the infertile and childfree ones.

By the same token, do you think I can get my dog boarding costs covered? Thought not.

Well you don't know much about the public sector do you?

Overtime is a long forgotten phenomenon in most of the public sector!!!

I guess next time a work trip is required, they will just send a man...

Yep agree

My work doesn’t expect anyone with young children to do over night travel. They do ask but it is usually only the men who agree to go.

You've summed up my feelings perfectly.
Quite frankly I'd be embarrassed to admit to my employer that my husband couldn't cope with some additional childcare in order to facilitate a work trip.

Tbh I think there’s a few questions I have.

Does your company have access to any free (external) legal help? One of the benefits of my husbands job is we’re given so many hours of free legal advice a year to ask any questions we like. If you do, is it worth asking them about this? Companies get employees to do all sorts of things that they shouldn’t so might be worth seeing if there’s anything that they suggest.

I don’t think you’re unreasonable in asking, but I would be wary about what their response may be if you ask. Could they suddenly make your job unbearable? Could it affect future promotions? If so, it would probably make me pause and think about whether it was worth asking. I know it shouldn’t happen, but it does, so you’d need to think about it.

ultimately I think it’s fine to ask, you might just need to be prepared for any potential consequences of asking and decide whether you’re ok with those consequences.

Yes my company would cover your dog boarding costs in this scenario.

Why are you all so against additional employer support to sustain your personal responsibilities for a work commitment?

Another pp said her husband arranged to wfh if she was away - so it's ok for dh work place to make allowances for him as a man. But not for your employer to make allowances for you as a woman?.That's fucked up part here.

This is about equity for both parents to be successful in the workplace.

What are the extra childcare costs for? are you part time and being asked to travel on your non working days? If so, I think it’s reasonable to decline due to childcare.

Could your partner take some annual leave to cover the gap? That’s what my husband does on the odd occasion that I need to work on days our daughter isn’t at nursery x

Another pp said her husband arranged to wfh if she was away - so it's ok for dh work place to make allowances for him as a man. But not for your employer to make allowances for you as a woman?.That's fucked up part here.

How is it fucked up to expect a child's parent to make changes to their working pattern to facilitate childcare?
Why is it only the OPs responsibility to ensure there is childcare available?

I'm currently on an international trip and my DH has had to make arrangements this last week to ensure he's available for drop offs and pick ups. Why wouldn't that be a reasonable expectation? He is their parent after all and I do the same when he is away.

This is about equity for both parents to be successful in the workplace.

Unfortunately the OPs husband doesn't appear to have got the memo......

Ignore my previous comment 😂

I’m so pleased they agreed to cover it! I really don’t understand the comments about OP damaging women’s progress in the workplace.

expenses when travelling are generally higher than you’d need to spend on an average day because there’s the understanding that you should be compensated for being away from your family. When my husband travels for work, he’s given a daily budget and he’s not expected to scrimp and save for each meal, he’s given enough money that he can have a reasonable meal somewhere nice to eat. The hotels he stays in tend to also be quite nice (ie not the cheapest budget hotels). When my dad used to fly often with work, he travelled business class as a minimum because his company thought this was a reasonable expense to cover.

the only reason this isn’t a normal expense to cover is because traditionally wives didn’t work or worked hours where it wouldn’t be affected by the husband going on a business trip. My dad would regularly travel with work (minimum once a month for a week at a time), and if my mum had been working too it would have made his very well paid job not very well paid if he’d had to pay that amount of childcare.
employees shouldn’t be in a worse financial position because their employer wants them to travel. If employers cover taxis, flights, hotels, food, insurance and in some cases security (again, when my dad travelled there were times he needed a full security team at all times), and there are many company’s that pay for their employee to have more than the bare minimum, then I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect for childcare to be one of those expenses.
It’s not an expense the employee would have if they were not away with work, therefore it should be covered by the company.

The thing is, international travel is ALWAYS likely to involve travel/work which falls out of your standard working hours.
If it's part of your job then you have to accept it. Typically you get that time back.
I'm coming to the end of a 10 day trip to China and Hong Kong. I will have been away for two weekends when I get home. I couldn't do a trip like this by sticking purely to my working days /hours.

What are you asking them to cover is it nursery costs? I can imagine that you normally take your children to their childcare and by that time I assume your partner is at work? Could they move their hours around at all hen you could only ask and say " I'm going to need x number of hour childcare at x cost, partner has moved their hours around but can't do both ends of the day" I suppose it all depends on your contract.

expenses when travelling are generally higher than you’d need to spend on an average day because there’s the understanding that you should be compensated for being away from your family. When my husband travels for work, he’s given a daily budget and he’s not expected to scrimp and save for each meal, he’s given enough money that he can have a reasonable meal somewhere nice to eat. The hotels he stays in tend to also be quite nice (ie not the cheapest budget hotels). When my dad used to fly often with work, he travelled business class as a minimum because his company thought this was a reasonable expense to cover.

Unless you work for a university like I do 😂😂
I have strict limits for meals which I can't go over ( Iceland was fun .... chips and a coke was over budget!) and I have to travel economy and stay in hotels within a specified budget.

Maybe read every post in future...

🙄

Maybe you should?

Posters said they would expect to be reimbursed for concert tickets or pet sitting fees - not that they had.

Now off you go to read every post. 🫤

To the person who said it was your choice to have kids and you are ruining it for others. I disagree I think that attitude is ruining it for others. 10 days is a long time to be away. If also wonder from what you’ve said whether this trip is at all necessary. My older generation should never have normalised self-sacrifice for corporates. What we should normalise is working hard within standard business hours.

The fact that people are back to business trips post-Covid really pisses me off. Training can be done via video call very effectively. The planet is burning up and people are flying to Africa to train people. It’s utterly insane.

I am the poster who said my husband arranged with his company to WFH the afternoons in order to facilitate my work trip and mind his own children. I also said that what I would do exactly the same if he needed to travel for work.

It wouldn't cross my mind to ask for extra money to cover for child care while I am away as I consider my husband and father of our children responsible for that.

I would say that fits the definition of equality.

No because it’s an animal, not a child. Dogs are property, not people.

Afraid so, because that's the choice we make when we decide to become parents and work.

I'm a lone parent. My contract is similar. I have to flexi board my DD14 to accommodate the travel asks.

I have no other choice.

If as a lone parent I asked for them to cover it I guess they would start discriminating against single parents.

Sorry OP it's shit but it's life.

I’m a univ lecturer and when I worked 0.6 but was asked to take on an additional responsibility for a very short time - one month, I think, I was told there was capacity within my contracted hours so no extra salary or overtime money, but my line manager did say I could have an extra day childcare a week for that month and claim it back as an expense.