AIBU to think parents should not “work from home” on Sports Day

[OxfordMum2020]

Some parents are going to WFH from the athletics stands on sports day? Is this normal?

Surely you either take the day off as annual leave/unpaid leave or you don’t attend Sports Day?

OP "manages" them.

Well apparently she's the manager and she just stood there and said nothing when the colleague told her of this plan and then decided to post on MN asking for advice whilst omitting the very important key detail that she is the manager...

The whole thread is ridiculously daft in it's premise.

Exactly, they may have any set of arrangements in place with their employer, all of which are none of your business!

I worked from home today so I could attend my daughter's sports day for 2 hours. My job is flexible with flexi time so I'll just do a shorter day, or worst case scenario, a longer day to make my hours up. My work gets done, my daughter had the support of her parents and I had the support of my manager.

We have an agile working policy, so in my team, parents attending sports days and the like just block out the time. No annual leave or sneaking off required.

If being unavailable is going to affect the team negatively and it's not normally allowed them surely it's your job as their manager to deal with that.
So if it affects the team deal with it.
If it doesn't, be a human about it as long as the work is getting done

They’re taking the p.ss. If they’re unable to do teams meetings, they’re not exactly working. They should take annual leave, and you need to enforce this. Ie. Manage them

Yeah, same for me. This would be no big deal.

Depends where you work I guess. I can't do my job from home, but for dh his work would be absolutely fine as they know how much extra work he puts in when it is needed.

Completely agree… Those who do this are probably working hours outside of 9-5 anyway. My work is quite flexible, but it works both ways… sometimes I have to work early/late.

I booked a few hours leave but still popped back home to take a call and came back early for another. Maybe I should get a ribbon?

I also telecommute full time, have done for years. I can see taking your work phone and laptop so you're reachable in an emergency and perhaps checking and responding to emails and doing some routine tasks during downtime. This could be done by blocking out the time if the schedule's firm. I'd feel unacceptably rude to be visibly "working" from the stands while actual sports events are happening, though, and I'm not sure in the stands at sports day would be a great place for my company-owned laptop as it's a hassle if anything happens to it. I may be overcautious, though.

If they won't be available at all from 8:30 - 4, though, surely they need to take the day off, even if they're planning to make up the hours? A lot depends on the relevant company/department rules about working hours, telecommuting, and advance notice for time off. As you're the manager, tell her if she's not following them.

This! most parents work around it. I work from home on sports day. Clock out for the time I am actually at sports day at then clock back in. Only respond to urgent emails if required. This is most likely to avoid the commute. If they aren’t good workers and conscientious about their time their employer will soon catch on. Give working parents a break.

Why would you not put that pertinent information in your OP?

OP IS the employer 😉

My kids sports day was probably just over an hour so I’d work from home and use that hour as my lunch break and make up the time either starting a bit earlier or working later. I always end up doing more hours at home anyway as I can find it hard to switch off.

Bit of a drip feed… There’s a big difference between managing your workload and appointments so you can spend a couple of hours at your children’s sports day, and taking the whole day and not being able to do key aspects of your job.

As a manager, you shouldn’t let your staff dictate this to you. You’re being very weak.

What if they need the money/leave days. I’m a contractor and only get paid when I work. My ideal would be to totally focus on the day, but heaven forbid if I’m ever in a situation where I can’t forgo that day rate, I would come, still work and focus on my child’s events. Not the most ideal, but you never know peoples situations.

That's between them and their manager

Maybe I should use you when I next need something in which to have a cup of tea.

I was going to my nephew’s sports day (now cancelled due to the heat) and I offered to take a half day but it would’ve been acceptable for me to make up the time too. A whole day for it is taking the piss and it should be taken as annual leave.

OMG. Deal with them. It's your job.

@OxfordMum2020 Can't believe your'e a manager- why didn't you just tell them no?

But the manager doesn't know how to manage and therefore complains about them here.

Funny how she didn’t say that in the OP. The OP obviously wanted to get everyone saying negative things about working from home but that didn’t really work, so suddenly she manages this woman. Only now, that’s actually sounds worse, because why the hell is she not managing this woman and being unprofessional talking about her on mumsnet.

All very unbelievable.