How do you fit in 35 hours of work if you do all school runs?

[Hillrunning]

I manage someone who doesn't appear to be doing anywhere near her 35 hours a week and have been advised to get her to confirm when she is completing thoes hours.

She does all school drop off and pick ups Tuesday to Friday and very often on Mondays too. She has also stated that her children have sports/activities 3 nights a week.

I just can't see how she has 35 hours spare to work with unless doing them at very unsociable hours. While she has a partner it's made very clear that he does not support and work out of the home 9 to 5.

It would be very useful to hear from others of thier patterns if they have similar demands please.

I don’t understand that rationale l, she may very well be meeting her objectives but if she was working the 35 hours she was supposed to be working surely she would be able to achieve more?

The rationale that if she isn't you can and should focus the conversation on outcomes, rather than presenteeism.

If OP addresses the missed objectives then the hours may resolve themselves. If OP addresses the hours then that doesn't necessarily address the missed objectives.

Doesn’t she have a timesheet where she logs her hours? Maybe different as we have flexi but everyone logs daily time of logging in, lunch break times and finish time (even more senior staff). We allow staff to take a late lunch break and collect kids as long as over school age and can sit and watch TV whilst parent finishes. If her kids do clubs, not a chance she can do 35hrs, and clearly she isn’t. Even if she was meeting objectives, and she’s not, she’s being paid to be there when she’s not. This isn’t fair. You’ve got plenty to call her in for a chat. She either drops hours, gets a childminder or drops the extra clubs after school.

If you manage her then you are entitled to ask her.
Do you have set hours ? Is sge missing for long periods.
I'd be asking questions.
I have a staff member who does tge school runs but she starts early and works over.
Her outputs are OK so not questioned.

My manager lets me have lunch for 30mins and then do the school run later, shes flexible.

Single parent here : I do drop offs, so back at desk for 9am, school run is 3 to 4pm, then I work till 7. Effectively I take my lunch as the school run break. The slots are in the team diary so people know im out.

My experience is if she isnt meeting targets, then you need a performance plan. Or manage her out. Ive had bosses who cant fathom how I do it so are a bit negative, others who are really supportive. Do you think shes taking the piss?

Output and performance is key but so is availability so if she’s never around to talk to after 2:45 or she won’t answer messages in a reasonable time then it’s no good.

I think the key thing is the after school clubs. At my school I just collect later on whereas if I were just hanging around for that time, then my work wouldn't be happy

@Hillrunninglooks like your thread from October 24 was getting replies recently and now I want to know what the outcome was 😉

Was the PIP effective? Is employee still with the company?

I use an after school club or a family member picks them up. Me and partner share it too.

Example WFH day if I am doing both - log on by 9.30, try and leave to pick up 5.15pm, 45 mins lunch

I would question why she can’t use breakfast or after school clubs for at least a couple of the days and why her sad sack of a partner isn’t helping.

I’d have her filling out a timesheet. Have you not asked her exactly what hours she is working? How is it ok for her to be missing for a few hours everyday. She isn’t meeting her objectives and she is getting paid for hours she isn’t working. She needs to be on a PIP in my opinion. I’ve been where she is, I was a single parent to 3 kids and I paid for wrap around care. The problem is that some parents have just continued with the flexibility offered in Covid. If she is working almost full time hours then she needs wrap around care. Or she needs to drop to school hours. What happens in term time?

If I was managing someone like this, my boss would be challenging me why i’m not managing this. It’s very unfair on other colleagues who are getting paid for hours they actually work and probably end up picking up slack from her doing her job properly. I have staff in my dept who take a late lunch to pick up children but they are back online at 3.30 and if they weren’t meeting their targets / objectives then this flexibility would fall away.

I think the way forward would be not to discuss her child care arrangements, but to have a conversation entirely about performance and see if she can suggest ways to improve it.

How are you getting on OP?

In reality I think this employee may switch on or may say she is switching on before the school run. But unless her children are the super human robotic miracle variety she will be involved in cajoling, motivating, helping and encouraging them to have breakfast and get ready for school 80% or 95% of this time unless she logs on at 6.30 or 7.30am before they are even up will be unproductive. I would also say the same from school pick up and beyond. As after school they will realistically be wanting snacks, wanting attention, arguing with siblings etc etc.

I would say she has got into (cheap and lazy habits as a hangover from lockdown).

Working from home or hybrid working should benefit the needs of the business as well as the employee and family.

I have a co worker who got into bad habits during lockdown. The only way to solve this is to ensure she works in the office two of her three days a week and she stays in the office for her full hours.

Most schools have wrap around care which you pay for but it is a thing or could she reduce her hours so she is paid for the hours she can realistically work or could she spend one day or two days a week in the office to minimise the negative effects on her colleagues and the business?