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 do a lot of reading, I can read and click buttons one handed if I need to

@ToNiceWithSpice can’t have traffic problem if school is 10min walk away.

I've never had traffic problems because school is a 5 min walk away

@ToNiceWithSpice teen hides in her room and tween is fairly self sufficient. Teen has also managed bus to town with friends and back. Tween is left at home alone when she has an inset day and we drop DC1 off at school. Same with dropping DC1 at activities.

Mine are the same now, the only thing I do in the morning is repeatedly shout up to the teen until he gets out of bed.

I don't know why people think it's so difficult, I do 8 hour days and if I start early can be done by the time they get home. I guess it depends what type of hob you do

@rainfallpurevividcat so what do you suggest I do? 🙄 it’s really not that taxing to be honest.

She isn't meeting objectives or deadlines though. Flexible working needs to work for the employer as well as the employee.

She isn't though. Whole projects have fallen through, pledges made to external stakeholders have been missed. She doesn't make it clear to people when she's available for meetings. None of her responsibilities run smoothly and others have had to pick up the slack. Mostly me but sometimes others.

I have other reports. They work very unconventional hours, they make them clear to others, their output is evident and if I asked them to remind me of their work pattern they just pop them into an email for me with no fuss.

I am very lucky in that I have a supportive partner but if I didn't, my work is still flexible enough for me to do my contracted 37 hours. I work from home 9 days out of 10, everyone is up and out of the house 8:10 and I can be back home by 8:45 (the school run gives me steps, fresh air and blows the cobwebs out) I tend to log on by 9 and then work through to 2:40 when I go out and do the school run, which is an hour there and back (30 minutes if I use the car), I then log back in and do the rest of my hours whilst the kids get changed, do homework and instrument practice (in reality they complain about having to do it, argue and sit around doing bugger all). I then work for another 2/2.5 hours then log off and go and tell them all off for not actually doing what they're supposed to make dinner and spend quality time with them. They are often at after school clubs which changes things but only because I am not allowed to work through my lunch hour, so I split it. On my office day I'm out of the house by 7 and don't get back until 6; I couldn't do that without DH so would have to rely on my eldest sorting his siblings out and getting them to breakfast club and picking them up from wrap around. As it is, my DH does everything on my office day - his work are also very flexible and as he's the technical director, one day a fortnight where his day is a bit more broken up, is not an issue. My 4 DC )7, 9, 12 & 15) are all very self sufficient, have their to do list and understand they can't bug me whilst I'm working (except in an emergency obviously). I've had no complaints from my boss and I'm hitting/surpassing my targets. I could not have done this whilst they were little, which is why I was a SAHM for the first 13 yrs of children!

Back in there office for her then!

When mine were primary age I did 9.30-2.30 (five hours) and then 8-10pm (2 hours)

Making a total of 35 hours.

(In reality I did a lot more than that and often work at weekends/while they were at clubs etc)

So she needs performance managing.

Have you had conversations about her performance? What are you going to do about it? Have you made it clear she will have to go back to the office if she doesn't start performing? Have you asked her to make her availability clear in her diary ?

How are there not already things in place for this in OPs workplace?

it sounds, from this thread, that it management that need training

I don't know if you meant to quote me, I'm making the same point that it isn't about presentee-ism more that they're not working productively.

Agreed!

i do. Solo parent, no support. Stressful job with long hours.
i log on at 0630hrs do an hour, get the children ready, school drop off, back to work until 1430hr, off to school for pickup, back home for work…continue until finished
additonal activities are done over the weekend and not after school
if it’s particularly busy I’ll work more after my children are in bed.
Ive burnt out once this year & had to have a few days off. First time in 9 years. Otherwise we manage, but I wish so much I could slow down and spend more time with my children.
ive bn with my employer 20yrs they’re more than happy with my output and quality of it. I put myself under the pressure to give more than necessary so I’m never questioned over my commitment to work. Silly isn’t it.
it is possible yes…but at what cost.
mid be supportive of her so long as her tasks/output are to the standard required and done as requested/expeceted. It also depends on the role…ie can that position be managed in that way, or is she expected to be answering customer calls until 5pm…then of course it wouldn’t necessarily work

It's not rocket science

If she does the drop off and pick up, she can work 6 hours straight between, a lot of mums forgo lunch hours

That's 30 hours

She then has 5 to make up, 1 hour per day in the late afternoon/evening, or even before work

Added to that she uses school clubs 3 days a week allowing her to do extra hours here

Honestly, why make it so hard to justify, if you have a problem with it just make it so, don't try to prove she can't do it

Depends how far away sxhool is. I used to 9-3. And then 8-10/11/12 sometimes if I was engrossed a couple of nights per week.

Drop off at 08:30, back by 08:40. No lunch or half an hour. Leave for pick up at 15:15. That's six hours a day already. If I then do an hour in the evening when the kids are asleep, that's 35 hours. It would be very busy but certainly doable.

Performance plans have been in place for 4 months, huhe amount of support, coaching and training offered. Minor improvements have been seen. We are now at the stage where its necessary to work out if the hours are actually being done. My organisation would not demand that she come back into the office. We work hybrid. What we do expect is for everyone to easily be able to say when they plan to get their hours done. She has dragged her feet over it but this isn't going to be tolerated anymore.

Good. But I'll lay bets she'll act surprised when the boom is finally lowered. Just pray she doesn't get pregnant

This is refreshing to hear.

There have been a lot of comments here about how it output not hours that matter, and while that’s potentially valid to +- an hour or two there is also a point where if you commit to a full time job you need to actually be working proper full time hours on it.

And that’s unlikely to be in snippets of 10-15 minutes here and there to make the core up.

There are a lot of comments here that don’t seem to appreciate the difference between interactions that aren’t directly work related but with colleagues vs with children. One builds the family relationship. One builds the professional one.

I don't know how feasible this is, but depending on what hours she says she is working, is it possible for IT to check what hours her laptop is logged in? I read a thread on here where that happened to someone's husband and he was found to be working much fewer hours than he should have been. I do think it should be about productivity not necessarily hours worked but by the sound of it she's not productive so confirming the hours she's actually online for gives you a bit more evidence if needed

Sounds like you've got it all sorted

I start at 8, take a break at 8.40 to take my kids to school. Back at 8.55, work pretty much straight through untill 3 although I take small breaks to make a drink, pee, let the dog out etc. I pick my kids up from 3-3.30. Log back on, work untill about 4.30 - take a break or log off depending on what's left. I'm not sure how my day is any different than someone who works 9-5 but takes an hour for lunch?
My work output is excellent. I'm a very high achiever. No one ever asks what I'm doing when. I give my work 1000% and am super loyal to them because they give me the flexibility to also be a mum. I also attend assembly, nativity, Xmas crafts when I can and just make that time back. I honestly cannot understand how her school runs local ones are affecting you so much. Poor woman needing to justify every minute- I would leave if you were my boss honestly.