Childcare for Flexible working?

[pashminamum]

I have applied to work from home for part of the week on my return from maternity leave. Do I have to prove that I have child care when I am working from home? Can they insist that i do? Thanks

Even if they don't ask, I would recommend that you have it! I have worked from home when dd has been sick. It generally involves starting very early, finishing very late and then grabbing every possible window in between. But I have only had to do this on occasion.

If they are paying you to be working, they can certainly expect you not to be caring for a child at the same time, and are entitled to ask you to make sure you do have childcare in place for the hours you are spending working for them.

If you're being paid the same, the only thing that is changing by you working from home is the location. Your employer can and should expect just as much work to be done and you to be equally available to them while you are at home as you would be in the office. You can't do that and look after a child simultaneously.

I have never and would never agree a flexible working request that involved someone trying to work and look after their child at the same time. It can work where someone's work is very much output-based - they have a certain amount of work that needs to be produced (rather than necessarily specific hours that need to be put in or hours during which the employee needs to be available), and the work can just as easily be done in the evening or whenever the employee can find the time. Even then it would be difficult and very tiring.

But for most jobs that wouldn't apply anyway - if there is any requirement for you to answer or make phone calls for example, or get pieces of work turned round quickly or by the end of the working day - in a 'normal' job, it just wouldn't be possible to be as productive as you would be in the office if you're at home looking after your baby.

agree, it wouldnt be wise to try, at least not as a long term solution.
there have been times i have had to work from home when ds is sick and it never quite works out how you want it to.
in my mind if you are working from home you should still be putting in the same hours and your child should be being cared for elsewhere.
the obvious benefits are that you save the commuting time out of your day and you can also do odd jobs about the house while you are on the phone or have a quite moment.
i think a lot of employers (including mine) think if you are WFH you are swinging the lead, if only they would wise up and realise that actually you CAN be a lot more productive if you have a nice quiet environment to work in and are not having ot stress about whether the train will run on time and allow you to pick up your DC from nursery in time etc etc!

I have worked from home two days a week for about 10 years now. (The other three in the office).
While in my job no-one really cares what hours you do as long as the work gets done, you can't really do it without childcare. It's a false ecomony as you will end up very stressed.