Wfh with a child. Is it fair?

[violetsparkle]

Employee wants to pick up their kid from nursery and then do 2 hours more work. Is this fair? There's no policy against it so is it just what's acceptable now? I don't know if I should approve it. I don't want to really but we're desperate for the staff so I'm not sure if I have a choice. Just want to give employee a heads up that HR might not approve it so they can consider alternatives.

No its not the baby, its the elder sibling - must be coming up to last year of nursery/preschool.

You said uptrend she's been a high performing team member, that is the competency you are overlooking. Don't you think she is at least able to understand what is expected of her work wise, and assess whether she's able to deliver in the arrangements she is proposing?

At least give her a trial. You easily can assess whether it is working. Surely that is fairer than making a decsion based on what posters on here believe in relation because of their own circumstances (and without knowing how she plans to manage it at all)?

There is no way she'll be doing any useful work with a Baby and a preschooler. That's just taking the piss.

So it's a toddler and a baby now ?

Or is the baby in daycare? Will she actually be ready to start at 9am or is that drop off time? Did she ask for ft hours?

I have flexible working in place but start earlier to finish earlier 2 days a week. My work is clear that your expected to have childcare in place. The only time I work at home with my toddler is if he's ill (not puking) and it's manageable and I discuss it with my line manager in advance.

Would that be an option for them?

I work with high level executives, and many of them are working with children around. We have a policy of accommodating this, as we think that by making it possible for people to do their job around their children we are making it more likely that they will continue to contribute their knowledge and experience to the businesses we are involved in rather than choose to stop working completely to spend the amount of time with their dc.

It's working really well. We might lose a tiny amount of time when people have to interrupt zooms to deal with children, but we then resume and it's no big deal. All the people involved are very productive and hard working.

Actually I agree that WFH policies should state that you can't WFH if you're the sole care provider for a child under 7 and most do IME (although that may be because every organisation I've worked for in the past 25 years I've written the WFH policy) 🤷‍♀️ it's also worth noting that although HR write and maintain these policies they need to be agreed and signed off by the senior leadership team.

I think it's fine. She can do her best during those hours then finish anything that doesn't get done once the toddler is in bed.

We have zero clue it could equally be "if I use council / school nursery, I'll save £250 per month rather than use private nursery"

If she had someone else looking after LO it wouldn't be as much of an issue but given nobody else has been mentioned we have to assume the mother is hoping kid will be tired and all will be fine.
Many of us got that t-shirt (thanks covid) and know working while supervising a pre-schooler is verging on impossible.

No the baby has childcare within the proposed working hours

That's what others do - but she hasn't suggested that.

What employer would be happy with that half arsed attempt?

Exactly, and people need down time. And time to do other stuff that just needs done.

All good intentions etc they'll be the odd day when something needs finished for the morning that she switches back on once kids are down, most of the time it will be kids are in bed let's chill out.

Not to mention two kids in different nurseries would be an absolute PITA for dropping off and picking up.

Op this would be a hard no sorry not possible.
Because if she gets away with it, they'll be others on the team who would also like to save some childcare money (who wouldn't) and the precedent will be set that mid afternoon school and nursery runs are acceptable.

Once a culture has been established it can take years for it to change.

And will they work past 5 if the child inevitably disturbs them during the afternoon when they're working and the employer loses time/productivity to that?

This is something that we discuss with staff, we understand that kids might disturb you or need something, but you are also expected to work the hours you're contracted for. If you've spent half an hour dealing with your kids, that time gets made up, whether on that day or another.

Agree with those who have suggested a trial period and review to see if it's actually workable/working for everyone.

It's definitely not illegal. Many companies have these policies. There are people where I work who do clinical jobs, those are confidential, therefore those staff are absolutely not allowed to be in sole charge of young kids while working at home if they do remote/telehealth. It would be a huge issue if a therapist's child disturbed a therapy session, for example. It's also a potential safeguarding risk to children, the kind of things they might overhear.

Employers also definitely do have some rights to ask their employees about their childcare arrangements if a problem is identified that's impacting someone's work. If a clinician's child showed up on a telehealth session, it would be a disciplinary matter straight away.

Some people here clearly do have some strange ideas about what employers can and can't do!

What organisation does not have a policy about this?

The one I work for. They haven't twigged it's not 2019 any more.

Hence a trial!

Whether someone is a competent player at work cannot be solely determined based on the hours they are sitting in front of their desk.

Managers should understand, their roles are not about controlling people, but to raise people to the best they can!

At the end of the day, managers or not, everyone is just a player for the owners, a kin of fellowship would be best for everyone. So create a work environment that you aspire rather than despise would be wiser!

I think it depends on the employee and the role. I used to do 5am-7am when my kids woke up and then 9-3pm in between school times. That was before my second child who wakes up at 5am! I can’t get anything done with them in the morning now so I would still do 9-3pm and then 7pm-9pm when they have gone to bed. But I guess that’s because my job is possible to do in these hours and my employer trusts me to get everything done like I need to.

i have to add - the fact my employer is so flexible with me means the world; it makes finding a balance that bit easier and in turn, I would go out of my way for my employer whenever needed.

I've wfh on two half days with toddler who is now 7 and it's been fine (my job is hybrid) - but I do work hard and would work more hours to get stuff done

I never even thought to tell my work about it to be honest

also depends on the job

My view is that working with a nursery aged child at home is emergencies only and a one off as opposed to a rule. I've done it when DS off nursery sick and employer grateful that I've kept things moving and achieved core responsibilities during this time as opposed to having days off at a time. As someone else said it's important what message this gives to other team members and you have to weigh up the risk of them asking for the same arrangement if you go ahead with it. I'm not there's anything to lose by asking a lot more questions on the circumstances because then you can decline on the basis of specifics - or identify a compromise based on those details.

One that's desperate for staff, perhaps.