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?

99% will not be working. They'll be poking their phone laptop to give the illusion and replying to messages if that. Its one thing to allow a bit of flexibility ie working the hours then taking toil, but really its a piss take. Annual leave is appropriate for this.

If I was a kid I'm pretty sure I would prefer my parents to not be there at all if they were going to work while attending. How ridiculous, the world has gone mad!

If they get their work done on time it doesn’t matter.

Apparently, OP WAS notified first or they wouldn’t be complaining.

I made a mistake. OP was not told in advance. If, as a parent, I was going to “WFH” while I attended Sports Day, I would absolutely notify my manager in advance and probably work extra hours just to be sure things went smoothly. But as long as I met my deadlines, I would not expect my manager to object. I do not expect anyone to agree with me. But I will not change my mind.

They're saying that they've chosen to spend the day somewhere where they can't meet the requirements of their job. This is quite simple, they should have booked leave and provided as much notice as possible if they knew they were going to attend the sports day.

I encouraged someone in my team to wfh on sports day. She was going to take leave and i didn’t see the point. It’s what an hour, two hours max? So an extended lunch break. They put the hours and work in other days enough to do this. Guess it depends on your job and culture though, we’re quite flexible. I go to the hairdressers in work time 😁

It sounds like they can't do their job as they're attending sports day and it's all day so I agree it not acceptable.

Your OP wasn't very clear.

Op if you’re a manager, i’m surprised you needed to post on here instead of it being clear to you that this isn’t acceptable and that you should have told them straight away they would need to book it as annual leave.

I mean obviously a whole uncontactable day at a sports day is not appropriate. But absolutely you will find me at the school gates, at school events and at the hairdressers. Becuase I work from home, I can start at 6, I can finish late. I am very flexible to the company’s needs and in turn I expect them to be with mine

I think this is where you need to manage the staff member. If sports day was an hour long then blocking out a diary for 1 hour and then making the time up or using their lunch hour to cover sounds more reasonable. If it is a full day and the staff member won't attend any meetings I would challenge what work they expect to do and deny the request and say they must use a day of annual leave. They are taking advantage here Ns you need to do your job to set boundaries and expectations.

This!

That’s taking advantage. I would put a meeting or two in, say they need to be at it and if they can’t make it, then they need to take annual leave.

And I am a mother and I have managed to attend events without working from home

So someone whom you manage has told you they are not working that day, as they are busy with other activities. It is your job to tell them that no, they cannot then record it as WFH, they have to take a day off, if this works for the company. What did you do when they told you?

This is possibly more about your management than sports day. My colleagues would be very proactive and would explain how they would manage their workload and how they would feed into any meetings they might miss. How long have you been managing a team?

I have sports day today. I've blocked out 2 hours. Two weeks ago I travelled for business and with travel effectively did 2 full days. I have agreed with my boss to take it back in 2 hour blocks to attend various end of year school bits.
So yes I have to wfh but wont be working while at events.

Thanks my school never did sports day.
My kids school its an hour, or each year gets an hour spread over 2 days.
I though they were unusual.

Surely if you are not available the whole day you can take annual leave or unpaid parental leave.

do you think nurses, doctors, teachers can ‘work from the stands?’

it’s not about ‘being a joy to work with’ but that was highly assumptive and judgemental. It’s about providing a fair working environment for the whole workforce and ensuring those without kids aren’t picking up slack

It’s three hours at my primary, and there’s only 100 kids in the whole school (years R to 6).

I saw two parents with laptops at my DC’s sports day the other week. More power to them really. I’m lucky with summer events because I do primarily WFH once teaching ends in May. I don’t know why you care so much.

This is clearly annual leave and the person is taking the piss. There is a massive difference between popping out for an hour and managing diary around that and just deciding to do no work all day.

I'd speak to HR this morning and pick this up with the employee tomorrow. It's absolutely not acceptable just to casually inform your manager you won't be available for an entire day.

I think it is a bit rude to the participants. The kids must feel great if people are on laptops and only looking up when their own prodigal takes to the field. Sports days are quite boring in honesty but if you go you should at least pay attention.

Dear god, act like a manager and say no to an unreasonable request! The employee can take leave. Are you new to management?

Realistically, what long term impact does them being unable to take calls for one day have?

Realistically, if you are not working the entire day then you take a day off and don't fraudulently claim it as a working day