WFH with kids - do you do it?

[vanillawaffle]

Do you go and pick up your kid from school and then come back and work for a couple of hours? Does that work out OK for you? Do your bosses mind? I'm wondering if it would work when my little one is 5

They get to chat to me on the walk home from school. They get to chat to me from 5pm-8.30pm, when they go to bed. They get to chat to me all weekend. They get to chat to me on my 30 days annual leave a year, plus 8 days bank holiday.
They used to go to after school club for that hour and a half, but they hated it. They didn’t get to chat to me when they were there either.

Such a sweeping statement and simply not the case for a lot of us.

Im in corporate real estate for a large national firm and Im a salaried partner so quite senior. My boss does it and I do it, when I need to. The nature of my role as a fee earner means I can be flexible with my time, I never book teams meetings when I’m wfh and my meetings with the team I manage are always face to face as I’m a firm believer that people management requires face to face interaction.

My children are primary and pre prep age, the 4 year old I couldn’t wfh with as she needs my input but the 6 & 8 year old regularly have a couple of hours in the days I don’t put them in afterschool club.

There is a trade off for me, ideally they would be in afterschool club every day as would be the case pre pandemic, but they come home knackered and I think it’s important they can have some school days that are just 8.45-3.30 and not 7.45-6pm as they are really long days for small children.

I think it’s quite patronising and small minded to assume that people cannot multitask at work just because one poster can’t. I manage a team with multiple graduates, when I’m in the office I am interrupted and distracted by people needing my input and guidance and I am able to deal with them and then get my head straight back into the valuation/management report/cashflow without any real impact.

If it works for your employer, then all is fine. My company couldn't put up with the drop in output.

I think that demonstrates a problem with your workforce rather than policy - if wfh is affecting your company’s productivity then your issue is a shit workforce.

I think it also depends on your child - I just asked my 7 year old if he would prefer coming straight home but having to be quiet and entertain himself till 5:30 and he looked at me as if I was crazy. He would much prefer to play with his friends apparently.

It depends on what kind of work you do. If your work requires a lot of or constant concentration, it won't work.

Fab if his friends are at after school club too. Mine got to the point where they were the only ‘older’ kids there, the rest were reception/year 1. They moaned about going every single day. Jumped at the chance to be able to spend an hour and a half reading/drawing/playing in the garden etc at home instead. Far happier since I took them out of after school club.

Funny you should say that. The interesting thing is that there was never a problem pre-pandemic. Once they had tasted the forbidden fruit though, everything changed.

As I said, I had previously been an advocate. I've worked in two places post pandemic and both suffered from the same thing.

Also, I think that many people here look at it as a great thing for them individually, which it can be, however from a manager's perspective, it can be very useful to have impromptu sessions to solve problems. Nothing that can't be overcome with a slight adjustment to ways of working though.

Mine go to after school club until 4 and I go over and collect them (school is across the road) in my twenty minute afternoon tea break. Get home and give them a snack and then I continue working until 5.
I manage to chat to my kids on the way home and they don't seem too emotionally traumatized by waiting the forty minutes for my attention 🙄
Mine are 8 and 10.
Also even with this arrangement I'm more productive on my wfh days.

5 years old, no not a chance. Mine is 10 and we still pay for wraparound care despite me being home (admittedly mostly due to the fact the pick up is the issue rather than the care itself, he could entertain himself but I won't block out my diary 3pm every day as it would be unprofessional to lose that much potential meeting time).

My company is very supportive of working parents. I try to avoid it but if necessary when I'm wfh I do the school run. Get the kids some snacks put the TV on and go carry on working. My kids know to mostly leave me alone esp if my door is closed because I'm in a meeting. If im finished early and in anither room doing chores they do exactly the same thing its no different. Plenty at my work do it. But then most of the team are professional grown ups who manage their work load and don't take the piss

WFH is good eve with kids as long as you are allowed flexi hours and it depends on the type of work you do. You could easily fit in an hour here and an hour there.

We were not allowed working from home but managers were, it was local gov. I visited clients that only took up about 20% of my 35 hours

What I noted at home as watching the tv - I wrote up reports in treble quick time as no chatting to others etc ad pasted them into the system, which gave me a lot of time to natter, enjoy at work. To be clear we had targets to meet ad it was easy for me to meet those most of the time.

WFH, saves travel time as well as 2 of our kids, even before Covid had written into their contracts, 'min hours WFH ad no weekends, unless on company trip abroad.'

WFH is the best for many but single people may feel isolated and then there is the case for singles, the heating etc whilst at home but it depends o your travel costs, mine were next to nothing as 15 mins drive up and free parking ad 10 mins back

My youngest was 8 when I started wfh. My job has always been flexible as long as the work is done. She's now Y6 and walks to/ from school herself but I used to do the school run on days when DH wasn't around, it took around 30 mins and I'd go back to work afterwards.

Exactly! Some kids thrive in after school clubs and others don’t. I already know my daughter will not want or cope doing that more than once a week - she would prefer to come home for peace and quiet!

Good job there is no drop in output then!

That’s a bit of a leap. Some tasks, roles, industries lend themselves to WFH much more than others. It doesn’t mean the workforce is shit if it doesn’t work as well remotely as it does in person.

Those of you who think that it's ok to WFH while looking after young children, I guess you wouldn't be fussed if your kid's teacher had her three-year old with her while teaching the class? Or the practice nurse tying to entertain her five-year old with her phone while listening to you? No? Thought not.

If you're at work, you're at work. If you're looking after your children, that's what you're doing. It's an utter piss-take to claim that you can do both at the same time, and you are the reason why companies are rolling back WFH, penalising those of us who take our jobs seriously. The pandemic was a needs-must situation, but those days are gone now.

I mean, if youve got an issue with my employer allowing it, I can email you my company name and you can take it up with HR?

Yes. But only because I have a nanny - DC are 3 and 6. No way could it work otherwise. The few times I’ve tried to do it alone I’ve found I ended up really frazzled and not doing my work or looking after DC particularly well. So losing on both fronts. When colleagues kids have wandered into/started wailing during a zoom call people are outwardly accommodating and polite but privately complain and definitely perceive the person as less professional.

I should also point out that I have 6 direct reports of my own, 2 of whom also pick their children up while WFH, and as their manager I’m perfectly fine with it.

I think it depends very much on your job, and also on your kids. Some people clearly take the piss (conference calls, toddlers?) and that ruins it for the rest of us! But the majority of primary school kids watching tv for an hour and no external meetings after 3 is a compromise many employers are happy to make to keep their staff.

Not all jobs are the same, though, are they? My daily tasks last no longer than 5 minuses each. I might take one external phone call a day but I might only take one a week; I make about one a month. I talk to my boss once or twice a day but that’s it. The service my company provides is heavily seasonal, which means I am only really at full capacity for two months of the year. There’s no drop in output through having my child at home with me. If I need more time, I can do my tasks when DH gets home from work, when DS has gone to bed, or before DS gets up in the morning.

I didn’t in reception class, my DD went to after school club 3 out of 4 of my working days. I did pick her up on the 4th day but she was pretty good at keeping herself occupied and for one day a week I made it work, my bosses were in the US so had no idea what I was doing and when. I doubt my current toddler will be like that when she’s at school 😂.

Oldest DD is now in year 2, I only work 3 days now in a different job and she does after school club one day. Me and my husband juggle the other two days but the pick up is blocked out in our diaries and I work shorter hours. However as she’s nearly 7 she is more than fine for an hour or so entertaining herself in the next room. I tell her if I have a meeting and she stays quiet. She was good at this in reception too, depends on your kid.

Generally I feel I shouldn’t do this but it works better for her as she prefers to be home and it works better for our finances as we pay for nursery too for the toddler. I can’t work with the toddler around, we’ve had to when she’s been sent home from nursery but luckily I work for a very flexible employer but ultimately means I make up the hours out of work hours.

Enough with the hysterical hyperbole

Most people on this thread are talking about primary school age children - not 3 year olds.

Whilst your job (and teaching) may not be appropriate for wfh - many others are.

Many are not rolling back wfh - many have realised its advantages and embraced it.

My own workplace finds wfh to be a real attraction for recruitment and retention. Whilst we will provide desks for those who want it. The majority are now remote.

We encourage work life balance and flexible working. We are even exploring a pilot for a 4 day week.

None of this is a pandemic needs must situation but that of a modern workplace

It doesn't suit everyone of every workplace but it does work in a lot of places.

@Lemonsole depends in the job though surely? Writing emails or presentations while a 5 year old is next door watching TV is totally different to the jobs you have just described? It’s not like for like?