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

FWIW if a colleague sent me a reply to an email, a quote etc or even a conference call while their child was next door, I would be absolutely fine with that as long as you couldn’t hear or see the child

My two are at after school club until 6 each evening despite the fact that I WFH and they are 8 and 11. I need to be able to concentrate and take client calls/meetings uninterrupted. It interrupts my work flow if they're around - through no fault of theirs, but nonetheless.

DD1 is starting at secondary in September and we've had a discussion about what she's going to need to do when she comes in and I'm working - get a snack, then homework at the kitchen table, which will take her up to about 5pm and it matters less if she's on the phone to her mates.

I do have people in my team who collect their kids at 3pm - it actually doesn't matter to me as long as they get their work done and are available for client calls where necessary. But it doesn't work for me.

I did it during lockdown etc when I had no choice and it was very difficult. My youngest is 5 now and oldest is 10 and it's manageable for a few hours after school but it's only one day a week I have them when i'm working, I wouldn't do any more than that or it would affect my work. I do overtime around them though as that's more flexible in terms of phone calls.

I don't think I'd do it with one 5 year old though- mine are able to help/amuse each other while i'm working.
My work are flexible about us doing school runs etc as long as it's taken out of our lunch time or worked back (it suits them to have breaks staggered and more people available over the traditional lunch hours) and it's really handy for being able to go to school events and things that would be a struggle from the office.

DH is in office one day per week. I wfh but travel regularly (2 times per month). We couldn't do this everyday but we do it on a Friday. Sometimes it is really tricky, occasionally we'll call in a favour with another family. We don't have adhoc after school care- the after school care she goes to is fully subscribed so we pay 4 afternoons and juggle the last. She'll need after school cover until she's old enough to be home alone for a couple of hours which I guess is the last year of primary school?

😂 another poster who doesn’t possess the depth of understanding that not all industries work in the same way.

I’m in a fee earning role, every 15minute of my day is timesheeted and ideally billed, I’m a partner so my utilisation rate target is 80%, my team average 87%. As long as I bill 7.5hours a day and I work around a core day of 10am-3pm my firm does not care how those fees are delivered. Working flexibly around pick ups works for me, and thankfully as a firm we are committed to delivering a proper work life balance. I do feel for those of you who can’t understand that not all professions require the same approach.

I work from home with a 4year old and 2 year old during half term. I just cannot afford full time childcare, it’s literally more than my salary. So we use the funded hours during term time and a pay about £500 on top of that for extra hours to cover 4 days a week.

It used to be really quite difficult. However my 2 year old can now safely get up and down the stairs without supervision so both kids have free roam to go and play in their rooms or downstairs, and they play nicely together for the most part 😂

My job involves working from home regardless and I work remotely with clients who are often also working from home with kids (and sometimes dogs who sounds equally as needy sometimes!😂) so we’re all sort of in the same boat and I think that makes a big difference.

My employers are extremely understanding to my situation. When I first applied for the job when my first was born and I was returning to work they said themselves they have no problem with me working from home with her there. - Very unusual to some I know and I’m very grateful. Couldn’t fault them.

I meant in our case.

In the late 90's when broadband was in its infancy, I was involved with a study comparing working from home with working from office. At that time, being able to work from home was seen as a privilege and not an entitlement, and productivity increased. In some instances by as much as 25%. Post pandemic, everyone seems to think that working at home is now the entitlement. It would be interesting to be able to run that same study now.

Of course, it depends on the type of work, and many other factors. In some instances, it could be quite possible to work a bit longer to balance out some of the other working from home factors etc.

There isn't a one size fits all. It also depends on the arrangements at home. If one has an office, it is one thing, if they are working on the dining room table, it is quite another. It will also be interesting to see the long term effect on mental health. I had quite an issue with some team members not liking the isolation during the pandemic too. We had to try hard to still make people feel connected.

We have a mix. DD is six and goes to after school club and breakfast club on Mondays and Tuesday so I work longer days of 7.30-6pm if WFH ( longer on travel days) and DH does drop off and pick up.

wed-Fri -I work from 7am to 8.30am and then do a school drop off and back for 8.45. And then I do pick up at 3.15 and DD will do homework while I work until 5.

on Friday I finish at 3 and just pick up emails.

That being said my job will have messaging throughout the day and night from international partners and I pick this up and I never hesitate to travel whenever required to different offices.

I tried working from home during the half term holidays with my mum at home looking after DD but that was an utter disaster and won’t be happening again.

We have got to the stage that if given milk and a snack and some Mallory Towers on bbc that DD will last an hour in the living room once a week.

I use clubs and pick up some days - at 5 your aren't going to be able to do much beyond send a few emails or non taxing admin imo but that can be planned into your day. I start early and don't take lunch. My employer is very flexible on this.

If you need silence & need to be closed away then I would just use clubs.

I know people who manage this with older children, that don't need supervision (old enough that you'd leave them home alone). The last few work places I've been at have all had strict rules against being responsible for children while you're working from home. I know of one person where work suggested she should take unpaid leave until she sorted her childcare out, or go back to the office full time, when a young child interrupted a meeting and it became clear she was trying to parent and work at the same time.

I think this an interesting discussion. I wonder how the flexibility and cost saving aspects of WFH will affect jobs where you cannot WFH such as being a carer, working in a school, nursing etc. I bet they will struggle even more to find people willing to do those jobs.

I work in the same sector as you (but am lower down the food chain). I am now in house and I have no doubt that you occasionally doing this and it sounds like you carve time out of your day and carefully plan so that it fits in with your schedule.

i think the difference for many and i say this from my own observations is that if you’re on a contract for fixed time, rather than having billing targets etc that measure performance there is no way really to monitor people’s reduced output. I don’t measure my time, my performance isn’t managed beyond positive feedback from in-house client departments. Nobody really knows what I’m doing and the same is true for my colleagues.

They often aren’t putting the hours in elsewhere, they simply become unavailable after 3pm but still count that time towards their hours. Most are PT because of the sort of organisation we are so 3-5 3 days a week is a big proportion of time.

It’s totally different if you are making up time elsewhere and I suspect in your role you work over and above contracted hours as the norm. When your norm is just covering hours employers miss out.

i had a colleague, who was eventually sacked but argued until she was blue in the face, that being unavailable for two full days a week was to be tolerated because she couldn’t afford two sets of childcare on those days. Pre Covid her role was entirely office based. Our kids are the same ages so it stung as I was working all my contracted hours!

Definitely. It has saved us a small fortune over the years! Work has no problem as long as the work gets done.

That said, I wouldn't with children under about 6/7 as they require a lot more supervision.

I'm not sure we'd do that. Central government. I mean I'm sure HR do this and if a G6/DD has concerns they'd do that.

There's one working mum though, from 3pm she's literally away on Teams, but she's a temp like me and her contracts ends end of May.

Both my husband and I work from home. We have 2 kids under 7. They come home at 3:30. They watch TV on Wednesdays. Rest of the days they play with each other. The first 6 months we did this, it was an adjustment for everyone. But now, it's become a routine.
We are both in meetings most of the day, so can't spend time with kids during working hours. If there are days where my husband or I end up having to take care of them in the evenings, we compensate by working once the kids are in bed.

I think kids would need to be at least 7, more likely 8 not to require quite a lot of attention in my experience. DS was 8 when Covid lockdowns started and it was just about possible for DH and I to work at home all day and not have to manage him all the time - and he has ADHD so has never been especially mature for his age.

Obviously, depends on the child a lot but if after school clubs or even some sort of mother's help is an option that would be better for the next few years.

Mine are 11 and 12, so I can do pick up and get back to work - they don’t really need me for those 2 hours. It was much harder during lockdown as they were 7 and 8 and did need a lot of input. There’s no way I could expect to do focussed work with younger primary aged children - it’s not fair on the kids, employer or myself trying to cover both kids and work.

A lot of people are comparing this to lockdown. OP is only talking about an hour or two after school.

I wouldn't normally do it but do on occasion if DD is off sick. She's 5 and I do have to work on phones. She understands that I have to take calls and can be set up doing colouring/puzzles/TV and tablet while I work. A lot of her time tends to be spent curled up on the sofa if she's off sick anyway.

If DS is off sick then I wouldn't work as he's only 9 months

We've been doing this since age 5. Not out of choice, but because we can't get any childcare after school on one day a week and waiting lists are years long. The other days we have childcare. It's not ideal, but she basically just watches TV for a couple of hours with a snack and drink, and comes to us for anything urgent. For the first year, DH was working at a table in the living room anyway so could keep a closer eye. I think she'll be 8 by the time we get a place on that day, and I don't think we'll bother taking it after all that wait since she'll be pretty capable of being around the house doing her thing and coming to us when really needed (I'm not usually on the phone at that time of day so can stop for a minute here and there).

I do it the other way around. Get up around 0530 and do 1-1.5h before everyone gets up, then sort the kids for school take them in and begin again by 0900. I finish in time for the school run and don't need to log on again once they're back. I'm an early riser naturally so this works for me - some of my most productive time is that early part of the day where there are no interruptions or meetings, just focus time!

We had a teenager come and play with our kids in the awkward in between age of 8-11 when they are probably old enough for you to WFH but then you either feel bad they aren’t getting attention or they want to interrupt a lot. I think from 11 most employers would be completely fine. I think under 8 for large periods of time is probably less than ideal and under 5 should be actively avoided unless it’s a one off day/sickness etc.

Sometimes if it can’t be avoided but it’s a pain.

We both wfh. DD is 10 and she walks home and entertains herself and that’s fine

DS is 6 with SEN and he’s ok if we’re doing admin tasks but anything that requires phone or teams calls is impossible. We either have a babysitter or one of us does admin while other takes calls. Or finish work early.

Yes I do this with my manager’s approval and my son is five. I collect him from school then carry on working the final 45 minutes until I finish for the day at 4.15.

He has his after school snack and plays with his toys in the same room as me :)

I home educate my 9 year old and do it.

I wouldn't with my toddler, he's at nursery.