This is quite a specific situation and I tried changing details so no one involved would recognise but I want absolute clarity so I'm just writing as is and will just state this post is with no malice just coming from me genuinely not understanding my options and being concerned.
I've been on maternity leave for a year, I returned last week. Im currently unable to work from home and I share an office with 1 other person, we are in a job share. My working days were supposed to be Thursday and Friday, however whilst I have been off my colleague has been working Wednesday. Thursday and Friday so ideally they wanted me to return on Mondays and Tuesdays.
My child has a place reserved in a nursery that currently can't accept due to operating a staggered return of existing pupils before accepting new ones. They have advised they should be able to take him in January. Until then we aren't using childcare, and I managed to get my partner to swap his days off to Tuesday and Wednesday and I just work on his days off. I couldn't switch to Mon/Tues because he can't have Monday's off. But I tried to do my bit to accommodate the needs of the department.
Due to the size of our office we can't work at the same time, so the Wednesday is the problem. They asked if we could do a rota where our days change to accommodate us both but my partner can't change his days off again leaving me only able to work on tues/Weds. I felt guilty a few weeks ago and said I'll look into alternate childcare if it's my only option and they have now asked me to do this. My partner isn't happy and has pointed out I've already changed what I can to fit around them, and that the nursery we had chosen we had chosen for so many reasons, there isn't another like it nearby and we'd have to look at childminders which isn't something we feel would be a good fit for us.
I just feel stuck. They've said working from home will only be an option if we've looked into absolutely everything else first as there's extra costs associated with it. I understand this but this is a temporary situation, until January, during a global pandemic. A time where lots of us need extra flexibility. My child will be in this nursery for nearly 4 years. I don't want to put them somewhere and then change it in January, I don't have family nearby to look after him, I just need flexibility until January or to be allowed to work the shifts I was originally supposed to work. I've been thinking about offering to only work 1 day a week rather than 2 and lose half my pay because I just don't know what to do but I feel like I always offer to put myself out in situations rather than upsetting people but I have a family to provide for. If I offer to front the extra costs for working from home could this be a possibility? It's 1 day a week until January. It's literally 21 shifts.
What can I do?