Flexible / WFH careers which pay fairly well

[StayingZenInTheVipersDen]

I have a job I really like in a school office. I have been working in schools for about a year and a half doing various things but mainly office work.

I do love it but I'm struggling with childcare when DCs are sick. DH does a lot but he can't do it 100% of the time.

I'm in no major hurry but I really want to find a job which is flexible working hours and preferably can WFH.

I have a degree (language and politics) and quite a varied work history as we have moved around a lot, so I can turn my hand to most things. I also have a Scottish paralegal qualification (but now live in England) and I'd be happy to do more training or an apprenticeship to work towards a job which could be done remotely.

My salary is really a 'second salary' but it's actually a reasonably good salary considering I only work term time. So I need to work towards something similar (either the same for PT work or a higher salary for FT).

I have done a bit of HR and recruitment, but wasn't overly fond of the latter. Would a CIPD qualification be worth doing?

OR should I just stay put? I like my job and I get all school holidays off and there is no work from home in the evenings or anything like that.

EA or other admin type rule for a large professional services firm? I have a couple of fruends who work mostly remotely for that kind of org because the team they're working with are spread across different offices so there's less need for them to be there in person... tends to be once or twice a month office days, if that.

If your reason for wanting WFH is related to childcare then it's not a solution. WFH employers will not tolerate much by way of attempting to combine work with childcare. Childcare is full time work.

WfH does save you commuting time of course and you can usually do a few quick jobs like sorting the dishwasher and laundry during breaks when in the office environment you'd be standing by the kettle waiting for it to boil, but if your child is off sick you will not get a full day of work done.

A lot of call centre type work is done remotely - customer support, insurance claim handling etc - some of which can be paid quite well depending on how specialist and how senior.

A lot of IT jobs have quite strong potential for WFH.

I wouldn't plan to WFH with small children at home. But mine are a bit older now and if unwell just sleep all day and don't need much care. But they're still little enough to catch all the usual school viruses.

I wouldn't WFH with a toddler or anything like that.

Dcs are also at school most days, but when they're sick I have to call in to work. They're really understanding, but my work cannot be done from home so it's there waiting when I get back with a bit of a backlog. Colleagues offer to cover my work but they have their own work. Schools are very short staffed really compared to corporate office work ime. If I could even pick away at work while DCs are sleeping that would make such a big difference to the stress of missing work.

The difficulty with this is that it's not so much about the role, as the organisation. Lots of jobs can in theory be done remotely, but I don't think that many employers allow it 100% now.

I work in HR and rarely see fully remote HR roles advertised, a hybrid approach is more likely. You might have more luck looking for a remote admin job and seeing where you can go from there?

My employer is public sector and has offices all over the country, but we don't have to go in unless there's a need to be there. A lot of us that aren't public-facing are only in a few days a year. Our admins go in once or twice a week on a rota to man reception. The organisation is downsizing office space.

The trick is finding an employer like that rather than a specific profession.

Admin in civil service.

Do you do school data OP?

If you can turn your hand to a data role there are WFH jobs at all the MIS companies doing training/support. Lots of them will support term time working as they have to align with schools.

Pay about £30k depending on the role.

Just seen you want to be able to work at flexible times - evenings- as well. I think that's more difficult as most jobs need you to be around at the same time as your colleagues.

All I can think of is something like call centre or customer service evening shifts? Not that we'll paid though.

That's a good point @Hollyhocksarenotmessy

Although call centres and maybe IT help desk type jobs would tend to be remote. I'll do a bit of research. As I say, I'm in no major rush as I like my job, but in a perfect world I'd have some more flexibility. I'm in a secondary school and so many kids need to be picked up early in the day for various reasons, so I don't even think the preference for flexibility would end for me when kids are teenagers! I'm not making demands, btw. I know it would be entitled to insist on flexible work. But it is a goal of mine and I need to find a way to market myself correctly so I can do it in the future.

DH work is great for flexibility (engineer), but he has a 1st class MEng degree which I'm not likely to get.. ever!

I'd say civil service but the only issue is it wouldn't be term time. What would you do for childcare in the school holidays?

Think carefully about what you're swapping and weigh up the pros and cons.

Working in a school you have to be onsite for X hours a day with no flexibility or ability to wfh if you need to. But you have all school holidays off with the children.
In another job you may be fully wfh or in a hybrid role with flexibility to work round family needs and wfh on days you have sick child. But you will be in the general pot for annual leave and may find it difficult to get time off in the shorter school holidays such as Easter/October/May if there's a lot of parents working there.
Just worth bearing in mind

The ability to wfh with sick kids is not worth losing all those school holidays off with them.

I get it's stressful juggling poorly kids but it's many times more stressful trying to sort school holiday childcare between you both for 10 weeks a year.

I'm in kind of a similar position OP though I'm a P/T teacher. Trying to balance having the holidays off (my children cannot use childcare at all due to disabilities so this is vital) with zero flexibility in term time. I enjoyed WFH during covid.

If DH job is great for flexibility why isn't he covering all sick days? Sounds like then you'd have an ideal, you do holidays as you're term time, he does sickness.

I work within the I.T industry from home but not in a technical role. I love my job and its very flexible but it's also a lot about the company you work for!
A company that invests in their employees are the kind that are two way.

Thanks all! It is a real dilemma and I don't think either option is going to be perfect / easy peasy.

DH does the lion's share of covering illness etc, but it is getting to a point where I'm having to help as he is supposed to be in the office three days a week. That goes out the window when the kids are sick or have doctors appointments or dental appointments or we have no wraparound care or whatever. He is doing pretty much all of that and it is unfair especially since he is the main breadwinner.

But obviously that all changes in the holidays as he never has to worry about that. But then the kids only seem to get sick in term time (of course 😂).

Another consideration for me is career progression. I should have mentioned in my op, but I'm struggling to see a clear career path for when the kids are older. My salary is quite good for term time only but when the kids leave the nest, it will probably not be worth it 🤔. Or maybe it will and I'll just kick back in the holidays! I have a few colleagues in this position who love it.

I work as a parish clerk, £16 an hour and 100% flexible bar the once month evening meeting. 24 hours a week! It’s not loads but it works out I take home more doing this because we don’t have the childcare costs compared to me going back to work full time as a surveyor!

There is also career progression- moving on to clerking larger parishes, town councils etc… A clerk of a large town can earn £60k + working full time!

How do you cope in the holidays @fyn? I could technically work fewer hours and have more money overall as no wraparound care needed. Our has just been put up as well with immediate effect due to cost of living etc. But then would that money just get eaten up again with holiday clubs?

Oh that sounds quite promising in terms of career progression too. I will look into it. Thank you 💐

I do clinical coding for the nhs fulltime from home. I'm a fully qualified band 5 and the hours are pretty flexible as long as you do your 7.5 hours perday. I'm pretty much left to my own devices and it's nice to be home for when the kids get home from school. My kids are secondary school age though so don't really need childcare.

There is a qualification to do which is hard but worth it, means you get paid more! Also once you have the qualification ( which the nhs pays for) you can go self employed and earn approx £200 per day 👍

Pension and holiday entitlement are good although obviously as good as 23 weeks a year off!

I meant 13 weeks a year, 23 would be nice!

And I really DO get all that time off a year. I don't have any marking or lesson planning to do. I also like my workplace and colleagues. My work is ok too and I get my own office etc, left mainly to my own devices. There are loads of plus points, but it does feel like a bit of a dead end and I cannot work from anywhere other than my own office. I'm definitely not rushing to jack in my perfectly good job, but I want a plan for the future. I can't see myself doing this job forever even though I like it.

Btw, the reason I'm not working this morning is because of a sick child! DH can't stay home this morning.

@StayingZenInTheVipersDen I have little children but I work evenings, weekends and nap times around them! I have to do a weekly walk around all of the parks and green space which they come with me on too (the council are aware and fine with this before I get grief 😂), it takes longer with them but I just submit the hours that it would take without!

Civil service

Call centre jobs may allow working from home but I would say they are the opposite of flexible. They usually schedule 15 minute intervals including all your breaks etc and have systems to track adherence to your real vs planned availability.