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?

Are you doing longer hours as a result of the travel? Are you at risk of being below minimum wage as a result of longer hours? I think you could highlight that at the moment it would be financially challenging due to the extra childcare and that you would be quite happy if someone else had the opportunity.

I think though it depends on how much you enjoy your current role, how flexible they usually are, whether travel like this is going to become part of the role. Maybe have an open discussion with your manager.

I think it also depends what else you are giving up. If the £300 means you can't go on a date night because of it then I would go, if the £300 is your food budget for the month and it will make it hard to afford food/ heating/ shelter then the employer needs to be more aware.

No, I wouldn't be allowed to cover childcare costs because my contract is like yours, travel as necessary. Same for male and female employees.

I only claim if they need me to be away overnight on Fridays or any time on Saturdays/Sundays as I don't work weekends.

You can discuss it with HR but don't be surprised when they say no.

OMG

Some actually do.

My DP's employer covered our then 3 year olds childcare costs a couple of times as he was working on a scheduled day off as they had no one else who could cover those days.

However if he was in a role which meant he had to travel out of the local area they wouldn't cover it.

They also don't cover when he works late due to something over running. We have a system where one parent covers certain days of pick ups, so we just talk to each other if we want the other parent to cover it. (We do have a couple of people who will randomly provide emergency childcare.)

He has a generic contract as well.

No, any other expense isn’t covered. Let’s say you cook every night usually, a company would not fund take away / frozen meals / a chef for your partner because your cooking service is taken away. Ditto cleaner.

Men wouldn’t ask because their wives would be expected to cover …. and this is why your attitude does women no favours.

You shouldn’t ask because your partner should be expected to cover it. There’s the equality. Your joint children are both of your responsibility. When he’s not able to cover childcare you’re the one expected to take responsibility for it, when you’re not able to cover childcare he’s not able to take responsibility for it.

The travel abroad aside you need to look at how much of a part your partner is actively playing here considering that you’re concerned about your employer paying childcare rather than telling their father that he’s responsible for ten days because for once you can’t be.

Jealous of your trip.

First time I went I asked if they'd cover extra costs. No, but they didn't for anyone.

I was the oldest woman there, and most senior. The younger ones thought my request outrageous. They also laughed at me working through lunch so I could try to leave at 6 (an hour later than I should) and had to bring my DCs in if we had wwwkend work (month end closing)

Then they started having children and expected me to fight their corner for childcare costs when travelling... (which I did. Because I'm a feminist) it was also denied.

Processing expenses claims are part of my work as a lot of our employees travel. Honestly i don't think it's that outrageous to ask to ask for the costs to be covered IF the OP didn't have travel in their contract. If her OH won't be out of pocket to cover hours of the childcare then I think he should do it.

@MayThe4th i don’t see why my partner should be expected to cover it. Man or woman, in this day and age…if incremental costs are incurred for business purposes why is is so outrageous to ask the organisation to pay?

Definitely ask! I used to travel for work and could claim for child care and pet care. I didn't have either at the time so I never used it, but I had a good employer who actually thought about these things. Its not the same as paying general day to day costs is it? The extra costs should be reimbursed for anyone who has to travel outside the norm, not just female staff. You might not get it, but worth asking!

Yeah, on page 1 at 05:43 "I stand up against any discrimination against women in my role".

They're not discriminating against you they're treating you the same as the men. And yes I think you're doing women a disservice because it reinforces with some employers why they prefer to not recruit women. It would be different if you were a single parent.

I think it's definitely worth asking about support with childcare costs since travel has not been part of your daily role for the past 8 years. It might be in your contract but, like expected and regular overtime, your contract can be overridden if it appears to have been adjusted consistently over a long time period. It might be that you ask for this to be adjusted permanently/request a flexible working change whereby you aren't expected to travel, if you can justify that there will be little/no impact to the company (and with it not being a feature of your daily role so far even I can't see how they would disagree) then they might agree. This way you won't end up in this position again.

This really isn't an issue of making things difficult for women in the workplace. It's about making it better for women in the workplace. A change in expectation really isn't reasonable - for anyone.

Ordinarily I would say no, they wouldn’t cover childcare costs. The only time I had mine covered was for a temporary nanny when I was called away unexpectedly for a meeting and DH was also away. Basically I told them I certainly wasn’t leaving my children on their own for a week and if that was a problem then they could expect my resignation. They were pretty quick to offer a solution!

@2Old2Tango so you believe we should disclose marital status now?

I'm sure your partner can cope for a week.

There are millions of women who take annual leave or who work shorter hours so that their male partner can do work trips like this. Your DP needs to take a few days annual leave or call in favours. I do get it's annoying ..I'm a Single parent teacher. About a dozen times over a year I have to find childcare for parents evenings, open evenings etc and if I didn't have a great network it would probably cost me £30-50 every time. There's no way I could ask for childcare costs as it's in the contract.

Because he's their parent.......

Most people would expect the other parent to cover extra childcare if they travel for work, whether male or female. It's what I did when my kids were young and I've never asked my employer to cover childcare costs. I think they'd think it was a bizarre request.

I would ask. There's no harm in it us there? Employers do generally cover the cost of yiu travelling and give you time back in lieu for additional hours travelling etc. So there's a reasonable argument to make for them covering this cost. That said I wouldn't expect them to agree. In my job this could be raised as a diversity and inclusion issue ie I as a woman am being forced to pay out £££ because I have caring responsibilities. My employer would usually be expected to try to manage that to support me as best as possible.

I disagree with a lot of the posters above. It is not about whether travel is in your contract it is about whether it is in your benefits/expense policy at work and it is always better to ask and be refused (or at least read the expense policy before travel) than assume all cost related to travel are yours.

Twice I have been caught out and felt like a fool because I wasn’t aware I could claim the expense of a taxi to the airport as part of business travel (so used to pay for this myself, this was early days of my career) and also I was unaware we had a ten days childcare coverage to cover emergencies or childcare outside of normal hours so paid for the same holiday club up front when I could have claimed it through the benefits process (and began doing so once I was aware).

Whether someone has children or not is nothing to them and it’s unfair on childfree children if you get that extra, they may have other responsibilities they have to get sorted too, someone they may have to get help with for example

Also where does it end.
Some of the people on my current trip are paying a fortune in pet care while they're away. Should an employer cover that?

Ask but be careful how you word it.

Don't accuse them of discrimination as it isn't. I also work in a make dominated profession and I have worked with plenty of men throughout the years who have had to leave work in an emergency or at a particular time to collect their children.

It's in your contact that travel is expected. So if no one else can go then you need to and the other parent needs to accommodate you, as some companies are good about finding contract clauses to push people out.

@BibbleandSqwauk but isn’t that kind of my point…..why should we use up annual leave. If an employer requests extra hours then they should know to cover the costs

If you child goes full time then why are there extra costs? Is it £60 a day for earlier starts and finishing? Surely if you’ve covered this for the entirety of your child’s time there your partner could step up for one week!
I would let work know that this has had to happen though so they don’t now constantly send you away.