“Most employers won’t let you WFH and look after children”

[choochoowah]

Is this actually the case? I know some must have this policy but my husbands certainly doesn’t: they don’t know or care what he does in the day as long as the work gets done (he works from home twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays.)

WFH isn’t an option in my job so I don’t know. I’m just wondering how common this is as an actual policy.

It really depends on the job and age of the child. I did it out of necessity during lockdown my child was 4/5 I was not a good employee or parent in working hours I don't know how anyone could give their job and young children the attention needed. However if it was now my 9 yo would be able to occupy themselves

My NDN works in disaster recovery for a utilities provider. Not sure when he does any work as he is either diying, going shopping, dropping the kids off. I assume at some point he does ‘something’ for his company but it’s hard to see when he would fit it in!

Do you think people are running around at the park or taking their child to soft play and the shops while they’re off sick from school or something?

We do have a policy that children primary school age and below must have childcare arranged to cover contractual office hours. If you had a sick child that would be waved through as ok the odd day but when mine were little and throwing up or similar I'd take a half day annual leave as i could only manage to get half a day of work done!

In covid it all went out the window as we all had our kids at home. Then when things went back to normal but with hybrid working/more WFH days a lot of colleagues decided not to bother with wraparound care/holiday club. HR reminded them it wasn't allowed and they would just shrug.

It was a real slap in the face to those of us paying for holiday club so we could do a full day's work and come into the office on our appointed hub days and the pisstakers would bleat "oh its the Easter holidays so I can't come into the office for 2 weeks as I've got no childcare" and duck out of stuff like doing online witness interviews (for confidentiality reasons no one else is allowed in the room so they "couldn't" do them as their kids were milling around), which made workload worse for others.

The partnership has finally done something about this and listed the various policies (including the childcare one and compulsory office attendance days) which must be adhered to otherwise you won't be eligible for a pay rise or bonus.

I'm fully remote (with very occasional meetings)
While my work are quite lax and it's not a rule as such, it's expected you have childcare.

They don't mind if you need to go pick up your kids from school and finish the hours later for example, but a full day with them at home? Nope. If they are sick they don't mind as much but otherwise not.

Eg my child had chicken pox a few weeks ago. Manager was totally cool about it and working around him. But 100% full time? Nope.

I’ve not seen this in any written policy but assumed that’s because it’s so bloomin’ obvious! That said, my company are quite relaxed about school runs, illness and the like.

Depends on your work schedule obviously. Not everyone works until 5 or 6pm.
I finish at 4pm so on my DH’s regular wfh days he will be collecting our young primary child and they will be at home colouring, or watching a show with a snack while DH works for around 45 mins until I get home.
3pm is not the middle of my day at all.

Depends on ages. I WFH full time. My employers know my boys are home during the school holidays and they couldn’t care less.

However my boys are both at high school so it’s not like they require constant supervision.

Yeahhh bit mean...

I rarely stop working at 5.30. Usually go pick up my son (15 mins max, its around the corner) work another hour, make dinner then work until about 10pm.

Work a little at the weekend clearing emails etc..

Massively work over my hours.

Sounds depressing.

“WORK from home” the clue is on the name. Some people mistake it for “toss it off at home”, “babysit at home”, etc etc.

Thats why employers are getting tough.

Yes, employers have a right to expect you devote your working hours to actual work, and most defend that right. I don't know why anyone imagines they can effectively do both.

I think it's one of those things which is totally dependent on whether you have a 'results' based expectation or a 'time' based expectation.

Lots of the best jobs for WFH have results based work loads so you have a set number of quantifiable tasks or deliverables which need to be done by a deadline and as long as those get done it doesn't really matter how you are managing your own time.

If you have to be sitting down for set hours, and have regular meetings and phone calls then it's probably nearly impossible.

I did it when my DD was a baby and it only worked because we did all our communications by online messaging and emails so noone else could hear her if she was crying or fussing.

I had a call with a prospective client a few years ago (post covid) and her toddler repeatedly interrupted our call. She ended up saying "I'll be back in a minute" - well she never came back to the call, leaving me waiting like an idiot. I sent a message in teams and a follow up email asking if she wanted to reschedule. Never heard from her again - no apology, no rescheduling, nothing.

WFH is not for childcare, its for work. If emergencies arise regarding childcare, health etc, take unpaid dependents leave. Some employers have flexible working where you can eg catch up with work when the child is napping or in bed for the night, but if you have set hours or an expectation to be online 9-5, you should devote your time entirely to work. If your manager or a client tries to contact you and you dont answer, or you're distracted, its unprofessional.

Its people who treat WFH like this that are making companies move back to office based. And that creates problems for other people who need remote working like those of use who are disabled. It makes me angry when people take the piss.

Yes, it's a very common/normal expectation. I'd say your husband's set up is the exception, rather than the rule. I'd compare it to taking your child to the office with you. If you wouldn't do that, then you shouldn't do it at home either.

I WFH we’re not allowed anyone in the room with us so I don’t see how anyone could/would do childcare at the same time it’s neither safe nor practical. We have a 2 yr old DP takes care of him while I work

There are jobs where you have a lot of down time because you are needed in emergencies for your expertise so you do a lot of hanging around waiting for incidents to happen. Very common in IT jobs.

I once had a job where I was needed for two intense hours twice a shift but still had to be available for a ten-hour shift 'just in case' - but that one had to be on-site so I caught up on a lot of TV and read a lot of books.

My work couldn’t care less as long as the work is done. Most days I work from 8ish until 3pm when it’s school pick up, do another hour or so with DS pottering about, then pick anything else back up once he has gone to bed.

When I look at it they are probably getting more work out of me than if I was doing a standard 8-4 in the office and just logging off to go home at 4, but I also appreciate the flexibility and the trust to manage my time around home life too.

You wouldn’t expect to take your toddlers into the office., why should you work from home whilst caring for them.

Ours didn't allow work from home 'as a childcare solution' pre-COVID. They didn't have any problem during lockdown though which was very tricky as I was expected to work at home with two tiny kids and my husband was a key worker so wasn't home. Now the lines seem a bit blurred. It isn't a sustainable childcare solution but nobody bats an eyelid if you work from home when your kid is poorly or has a half day off or something. There is a lot more flexibility and probably a lot fewer people using emergency leave.

Childcare is a full time job
Your job is another full time job.

Doing 2 jobs at once … not permitted.

Kids 10+ it’s ok but not all school hold as that’s not fair on the kids. Dh work don’t mind the odd hour (if I have to nip my 2 year old to the drs etc for 30 mins I’ll leave the 5 year old watching tv with dad at home) but you have to be reasonable and for long periods and young kids it’s not ok

My workplace don’t give a shit as long as the work gets done. The CEO often has his DD in the background on calls and he’ll bend over backwards to help working parents which in turn means employees are respectful and don’t take the piss. Sadly I think this is incredibly rare.

I never really understand why anyone wants to do this anyway. It is horribly stressful - based on COVID experience - and you feel like nothing is being done well.

Much happier with my kids running around with their friends at after school club than stuck on a screen while I finish up work

There are also jobs where you have enough down time that you can fit another whole job in there. Childcare for many of the child stages also has plenty of down time.

I managed to work shifts at home while caring for my DD at home until she went to Kindergarten.

Lots of 'full time' jobs are not on the go for the whole 8 hour shift. When I worked in an office people were always going to get a cup of tea, chatting with collegues in other departments, buying stuff on Amazon etc and still managing to meet all performance goals. Someone I know planned her whole wedding at work.