What is your employer doing to support you to homeschool?

[XmasSkies2020]

Just wondering what other employers are doing this time around. Potentially to go to employer with ideas.

My private sector employer is offering:

• the option to buy 1 week of annual leave and spread payments over 12 months salary

• unpaid leave

• work flexible hours outside office hours

We have timesheets and work is client facing. No furlough this time as really busy.

I’m a v small employer, all my team have school age children and it’s a busy time. We are offering

• totally flexible working hours including weekends and evenings
• any reasonable kit which might help, eg chairs, IT kit
• reimbursement of home broadband if people have to upgrade or buy data etc
• flexi furlough for childcare, while asking everyone to do as many hours as they can manage
• promise of an extra week paid holiday each when we come out of this
• advances of wages and extra hours to anyone whose OH earnings capacity falls.

And planning care packages / small treats once a fortnight or so Just praying everyone comes through it ok.

My boss is amazing, we are a very small office team who already worked from home.
She is very much do as much as you can but don’t stress if you cant. She knows we won’t take the mick and it really helps knowing she gets it. Also as my role isn’t directly to customers she says I can work evenings instead if it helps. She is even including the kids in our weekly staff meeting (the kids know each other already) It’s really helped the with the pressure.

Fuck all!

@FuzzyPenguin

My boss is amazing, we are a very small office team who already worked from home. She is very much do as much as you can but don’t stress if you cant. She knows we won’t take the mick and it really helps knowing she gets it. Also as my role isn’t directly to customers she says I can work evenings instead if it helps. She is even including the kids in our weekly staff meeting (the kids know each other already) It’s really helped the with the pressure.

Same here.

"Do the critical, pick up the rest if and when you can"

Absolutely nothing at the moment. They know also I have childcare issues. Said they'd look into flexi furlough if there is such a thing but haven't got back to me and I'm still expected to go in tomorrow and leave my 5 year old with her 15 year old sister for 10 hours.

Thanks everyone- such a wide range of experiences and terrible for those whose employers are not even engaging with it at all.

20 days pandemic leave paid at normal rate for carers (of children or ill relatives). Plus a lot of flexibility for head office staff and sales reps (not manufacturing) in terms of WFH hours

Wow @NeedingCoffee that’s great. Well done

The only 'support' we've been offered is a letter stating we are key workers (a tenuous link at best for the many hundreds of us WFH) and we've been told to demand a school place.

We've been told if a school refuses a place we should ask them to contact the HR dept.

Local schools in our area are buckling with so many staff having to self isolate, they've all had to limit KW places to frontline, which is the only sensible option in the circumstances, so they can continue to support those most in need.

I'm appalled by my employers approach. It's a public sector employer too so really should know better.

Flexible hours and (in the 1st lockdown at least) were being understanding of some people were struggling to meet targets.

@NeedingCoffee wow I hope your employees realise how lucky they are to have you as their employer- well done

We always had flexible hours anyway.

I don't think my employer can make my teenager engage, though. The teen needs structure of sitting on a seat daily with specific work presented in a routine way at routine times in familiar delivery modes from teachers using his allocated devices (chromecast things at college for computing), and seeing his peers there also engaged. I'm putting the odds of him dropping out of A-levels at 50:50; I would have put his chances at completing A-levels at 98% without covid disruption.

Teacher, so nothing - last time I could do my own work flexibly around my partner and child (lots of recording videos at 1am), but now I'm live for large chunks of the day. Usually at the same time you child needs to be chatting live to her teacher, and the same time partner is hollering down a Teams meeting. He's KW too, but key not critical in terms of his time. He can work flexibly like he did last time.

@dameofdilemma that sounds like a terrible approach- what about spreading the virus? It’s not really in the spirit of the lockdown and v selfish of the employer!

We have been homeschooling all year, my employer offered:

A liberal policy of approving requests to reduce hours with proportional reduction in pay

An official pronouncement that we should all be as flexible as possible about scheduling meetings and workflow because people will be working odd schedules and all that matters is the work gets done, not when

Encouragement to show our kids and pets online on fluff channels on teams Partly just to bond, but this also helped to break the ice that sometimes a kid or puppy is going to come in during a conference call.

The right to request unpaid leave, but the encouragement to do so only as a last resort and to work with your manager for solutions.

Regular reminders from work to log off at the end of the day. With suggestions to close your computer in you home office or if you don’t have one, put your laptop in a bag and put it away. Don’t have it sitting out all the time.

Basically, a lot of it is just workplace culture. You need managers and team leaders to set the tone.

I work for a University and staff with children at home have been told we should discuss with our managers what hours we can do and we'll be paid as normal. No need to use annual leave. So basically do what you can.

I'll be doing half time, over random hours.

Last year they didn't give any guidance so it was down to each individual manager.

Saying that my manager wants me to produce the same output.

Teacher - allowed to work 2 days from home and 2 days in school. Days from home are regular communication with parents, responding to work submitted, planning, attending meetings and recording videos. Days in school are teaching vulnerable and key worker children and teaching 2 x live online lessons to children at home. 5th day is my day off but I will still respond to parents and work submitted and attend meetings if necessary.

some limited flexibility on hours but conference calls need to be attended and that limits the flexibility however it doesn't matter if assorted children, dogs, cats or in one case a horse appear in the calls (clients seem to be having more issues with children than we are so can hardly complain at the one on our side)

There is however a complete understanding that things happen and sometimes you've no choice but to drop out of calls

Nothing
My childcare issues aren’t their problem

It’s easy to suggest that employers should ‘be more flexible’ but why should they ?
If I have to leave my job there’s plenty of people who would step in

@Heatherjayne1972 because I have worked for my employer for years, they value me & I simply can't do the job of three teachers as well as my own at the same time. It's just not possible.

So there are a lot of news outlets, the TUC and Kier Starmer suggesting parents should be offered furlough. I feel like carrying all the baggage is too much right now and that’s what the scheme should be used for. My work did nothing last lockdown other than question what hours I’m working consistently, it almost broke me. I don’t know how to do this.

My boss won't furlough anyone.

My childcare issues aren’t their problem

In normal times I would agree. But there is a scheme for them to allow you time off because you have caring responsibilities. Why is it women that always have to break themselves?

Nothing at all

I'm NHS but they're treating us like machines.
Cancelling annual leave. Not allowing us to carry it over etc
A lot of my colleagues childrens schools are at capacity so they can't get their DC in
And my lovely management team couldnt give any less of a shit.