Working From Home: Employees and Childcare
July 20, 2023
Juggling work and family is always challenging, but doing it in the same space is especially so. The needs of remote employees with younger kids at home depend on a range of variables: an employee’s job description, whether they have a dedicated work space (and whether it has a door), their on-call hours and how much flexibility is allowed in organizing their time, the age and needs of the child/children in the home, the presence or absence of another caregiver, and so on. These variables can determine the success or failure of remote employees with kids at home during the workday to fulfill the requirements of their job.
Although situations and solutions to getting work done and children cared for simultaneously can vary, both employers and employees need to establish expectations and parameters regarding what constitutes a successful remote workday. They need to be on the same page. The employer and employee should come to an understanding regarding the following:
- Does the employer expect the employee to work x number of hours uninterrupted by an infant or toddler needing attention?
- Is it okay if children are present in the background during a call or meeting?
- Is the employee able to take multiple short breaks to, say, change a diaper, prepare a child’s snack, or just check in with their child without fear of repercussions?
- Does the employer offer any subsidies for in-home or off-site daycare?
- Is there another family member who will provide supervision of the child/children during work hours?
- Does the employer expect, or the employee want, to work overtime? If so, during overtime hours is there increased flexibility in how the job can get done (for example, is hearing/seeing children in the background okay during overtime hours, just not between nine and five, all the time, or never?).
It’s important for employers to communicate their expectations, requirements, and concerns to parents working from home. And employees should be encouraged to do the same. There is no right or wrong approach. The specific requirements of any given organization, family, or employee are not identical.
Working from home can be a boon or a challenge, or both, for a parent with an infant or young child, depending on their circumstances and their employer’s approach to remote work. A certain amount of experimentation may be necessary for the best chance at making this increasingly common approach work for everyone involved: employer, employee, and kids, too.
Remote working has made the challenges that parents and elder caregivers have always faced more visible to employers. The balancing act that working families have always faced has tended to be “out of sight, out of mind” for employers, but now remote working is bringing it to the fore. With creativity and flexibility on the part of all stakeholders, we are rising to the challenge of this new model of meeting work and family needs in a productive, healthy way.