to think I can get by without childcare in August because work is quiet?

[isitPeri1]

Every August, work slows down massively. It has always been this way. There is barely anything coming in, hardly any meetings or deadlines, and most of my team is off. My manager and her manager are both away for the whole of August, so it is very unlikely anything urgent will come up.

I have primary school-aged kids and I am thinking I might skip childcare this year. I usually only have about one to two hours of work a day in August, and some days there is literally nothing to do at all. Anything that does come up, I can usually fit around the kids early in the morning or after they have gone to bed. I have proper annual leave booked for September when they are back at school, so I will get a proper break then.

Has anyone else done this? Just managed without childcare when work was super quiet?

I think there are actually quite a few of us in the same position. Those who have never experienced it will never understand or believe that it is possible. They base their assumptions on their limited world view and are unable to see beyond that.

Give it a rest. Being a parent does not mean I lose the right to have time to myself. I don’t need to prove my love for my kids by burning myself out. I show up for them day in, day out. I juggle work, school holidays, and everything in between. Taking a week to myself after all that does not make me a bad parent.

My annual leave is mine. I’ll use it how I see fit. I don’t need anyone’s permission to take a break without the kids. It doesn’t mean I see them as an inconvenience.

You don’t get to dictate how other people parent. Just because you’ve decided that your leave is no longer about you doesn’t mean the rest of us have to follow.

The OP wont be told what is fatally wrong with this work method. Now January is a very quiet time too. There is something very wrong with all of this.

Has anyone not noticed what is going on for years and years? That is why I am thinking HE where no one leaves as they know they are on a gravy train so everyone is at it.

If the OP's boss and their boss is off officially in August I wonder what they think about OP doing very little in August and then taking her 'real' annual leave in Sept.

A boss wont want someone having effectively August off whilst pretending to be here without them having a bit of that too! Why are the bosses taking AL and letting the OP save her annual leave until a busier time?

OP - you are definitely not burning yourself out!

There is nothing fatally wrong with how we work. What you are describing as a scandal is actually just a predictable quiet period in a particular kind of industry.

Things slow down in August and yes, again briefly in January. That is not a sign of failure or laziness. It is simply how the cycle runs. Workload is not evenly distributed throughout the year in many sectors. That does not mean the system is broken.

No one is pretending to be here. I am working when needed, staying available, and responding to anything that comes in. My leave has been agreed with management. Everyone is aware of what is happening. There is nothing sneaky or underhanded about it.

It sounds like you have absolutely no idea how some industries work. It’s very, very normal for some industries to practically shut down for several weeks, just with skeleton staff around for answering basic queries and doing minor admin.

I totally understand this way of working but it seems like the OP is the only one doing it in their place of work. If everyone can be in holiday in August but not take leave so long as they take their work phone then there is no issue. But that clearly isn't the case, or the OP wouldn't be posting. She wants to take her children out all August but also keep her leave for September, while others are booking their leave in August. Don't think that would go down well with colleagues.

Yep, it’s very predictable. Happens all the time on these threads!

You're contradicting yourself. You've already said that August is dead and there is no work to do, which is your justification for not needing childcare. But here you're saying "taking time off when there is less to do, and being fully available when it matters most, is a logical and agreed way of working." But you're not actually doing this because you're NOT taking your leave at the quiet time. You're choosing to take it in September. It sounds like your colleagues do it the logical way and make themselves available when it's busier, but that's not what you're doing. You want time off in September when it's busier. So your colleagues are taking up your slack then.

This will all be noticed by people. Let's face it, there are plenty of people we've all come across at work who technically aren't doing anything wrong (hence your line manager saying it's fine, because there's probably nothing in your contract to say otherwise, so what choice do they have but to say that to you), but whose actions when compared against others raises an eyebrow.

Exactly this.

Usually people are expected to take leave during the shut down, and the skeleton staff work on rotation. It's not just one person taking the easy option of being the only skeleton staff the whole of the quiet time.

That’s really not what’s happening. I’m not the only one working like this. August is quiet for everyone in our team, which is why so many people, including both my manager and their manager, take leave then. It’s not just me making it up as I go. This is how the whole department tends to work during this time of year.

I haven’t taken annual leave in August. I’m still working, just flexibly, because there’s not much coming in and what does come in is easy to manage around the kids. That’s been agreed with my manager, and it’s not affecting anyone else.

I booked my actual leave for September because I’ll get a proper break then, and the team will be back to normal. It’s not about getting out of anything or leaving others to pick up the slack. No one at work has a problem with it.

There’s no contradiction at all. August is quiet, which is exactly why I don’t need childcare and can work around the kids. I’m still working. I haven’t taken annual leave. I’m just managing the small amount of work that comes in flexibly, which my manager is completely fine with.

I’m taking my leave in September because that’s when I can actually switch off properly and get a real break. That doesn’t mean I’m dumping work on anyone. I plan my leave carefully, I meet my deadlines, and I don’t just disappear when things get busy. Everyone in the team does what works best for them. This is what works best for me, and it’s been agreed.

There’s no scandal here. No one’s raising eyebrows because there’s nothing wrong with what I’m doing. I’m trusted to manage my time, and I do. Just because it doesn’t fit your idea of how things should be done doesn’t mean it’s unfair or sneaky.

Why not? The OP is clearly fine not to take any holiday in August so she’s the skeleton staff while everyone else enjoys their holidays.

When when everyone else returns in September she gets to take her holiday.

I don’t understand why so many people are finding this so hard to grasp.

Yep.

Many people don't understand being paid for quality, not quantity.

For projects delivered, not hours chained to the desk.

Actually, often the bosses want August off, so want someone like OP around to just keep an eye on things.

I’ve had zero work for 2 weeks already. The clients are not sending through work so there is no work to send to me.

Give it four weeks or so and I won’t have time to fart let alone anything else. I’ll be sat at 2am making sure the deadline is reached but until there is work I can’t get ahead and there is nothing to catch up on as once the jobs done it’s done.

Exactly.

They always take August off. I keep an eye on things if anything crops up. Usually it doesn't.

Don't you think it's quite a lazy attitude to deliberately plan to be at work when you know it's quiet because no-one's in to reply to you and you'll have an easy time of it? The European way seems sensible in lots of ways to me, it means that organisations can be more efficient; when people are all back at work together they can actually get stuff done as they are not sitting round having to wait for people to come back from leave to respond to their emails/have a meeting with them.

You've currently got work building up, projects not moving forwards, presumably, because of all your out of office replies to the emails that you've sent. So I assume some of your work is stuck until you've heard back from some of them. But you also say that when you will take leave in September your work will also build up then and it's just there to come back to. That's a lot of time with stuff just building up and not moving forwards, isnt' it? Hardly the best way for an organisation to work. No wonder the UK is less productive than many other European countries.

If that's the case when do you take your leave then?

Why are you posting then? If your manager has agreed they are happy for you to take days out in August with your children so long as you take your phone, and that is what everyone else does, what is the issue? Your children are old enough to do an activity while you are on the phone.

Exactly - the total lack of thought and imagination is quite impressive 🫣

Newsflash: not all industries are the same and many practically shut down in the quieter months with just a few skeleton staff to answer emails. It’s very, very normal.

If everyone in the company was able to skeleton staff in the way the OP wants to they wouldn't be posting here. That is what people are querying. Is everyone else able to have days out through August so long as they have their phone? If so there would be no issue.

When I want but most of our trips tend to be long weekends with only one actual week long trip, we just never have the whole team on actual holidays at the same time and I use the word team loosely we just do the same job but we don’t work together. I’ll have my assignments and they have theirs we don’t share or jointly do a job. If you cannot do the task the other person gets the whole task.

A family member has an even better job, they might only work 2 days a month but they are basically on call 24/7. If it needs fixing 2pm Christmas Day they are in. If nothings broken they are not needed just sat on a hefty retainer. They still get to go on leave as well just not Christmas Day or new years.

@isitPeri1 Well if our understanding of your organisation is so misguided, you could help us out by telling us something about what it is and how it is run. But in the absence of that info, it is really hard not to draw the conclusion that a company/organisation that is paying not just one but several employees for a whole month to have outings with their kids... could improve its workflow and efficiencies.