WFH policy question

[Susie]

I think it's pretty common for employers of WFH or hybrid employees to have a policy requiring parents to have childcare during work hours.  I would imagine it's typically age-based, e.g., requiring childcare for children under age __ during work hours?

We're a small firm and don't have an explicit policy, but we have a situation developing that indicates that we need one.  Just interested to see what the threshold age might be in other workplaces.  I'm thinking somewhere in the 10-12 range, or something that roughly corresponds to the 5th to 6th grade transition from elementary to middle school?  

My oldest is 8, and WFH is much easier with her home than it used to be.  It's still not great, so I'm definitely thinking older than 8.  We still arrange our lives to have full time childcare coverage for her when we are WFH, apart from sick days and the like.

[bbdoll]

I don't think a blanket age will work. It all depends on the maturity level of the child(ren) at home, whether they can entertain and take care of themselves.

[icedcoffee]

Does your state have an age when kids can be legally left home alone? Ours is 8 so I guess legally I could have them home totally unsupervised.

I'd include a clause to the effect that one offs are ok, but any regular situation would require child care.

Like my employer is ok with my 4 year old popping his face into my zoom call on a sick day, but not regularly obviously.

[InBetweenDays]

I agree that I wouldn't use an age as a cut off. Here is what our (large university) rather vague policy says. 

Telework generally should not be used to provide active care for a child or other dependent. However, during suspended operations, modified operations, or as communicated by executive leadership, working at home while providing dependent care is approved, provided norms and expectations are outlined in an employee’s telework agreement for regular telework, or in email for occasional telework.

So basically the default is you can't telework and be responsible for childcare unless it was previously agreed upon by the employer (no matter the age). 

[ssmjlm]

Our current policy is silent for some odd reason. I know previous policies did call out dependent care and somehow worded it regarding care for not just kids, but something like an aging parent.

I'll do some digging. I would at least state that even if dependent care was allowed on an emergency basis, response times are to remain. We have specific response times in the telework policy for teams, phone, and email.

[fortnightlily]

I agree with not making it a blanket age, since that doesn't always correlate with not requiring active supervision or minding in a way that doesn't interfere with work. It might make more sense to set policies generally around how to WFH if you have caregiving duties. What if someone was WFH while also responsible for an adult with a lot of medical needs, for example?

[AdaraMarie]

As far as I know my company does not have a policy on this.

[cereal K]

I tend to agree with bbdoll.

My kids (13 and 9) really don't need me at all if they're home and I'm working. I would say it's been like that for both since about second grade? But those are just my kids.

Now, does that mean I let them both over-index on screens? Of course I do. But they can make their own sandwiches so it balances out.

[rubytue]

Ours is based on the jurisdiction’s age when a child can stay home alone legally. I don’t have kids, but my coworker would always complain about having to take a full day of leave for snow days because his daughter was below that age, even though self sufficient. I feel like the age was 12, and it becomes kind of ridiculous around 10 or 11. Friend is a rule follower, like me lol, and the policy was children that needed childcare legally, needed childcare and you couldn’t work. 

As a childless person, 12 seems high. But I’ll give them the nod for a policy that was backed up strongly.  

[ssmjlm]

Page 40 talks about telework and dependent care, might be somewhere to start: www.opm.gov/telework/documents-for-telework/2021-guide-to-telework-and-remote-work.pdf

[livinitup]

Before the shutdown, I had a friend at a company that allowed in-office child care for infants before age one year/walking. It was a huge employee benefit and cherished by staff.

It may seem a bit odd, but since infants sleep (not all infants) for such long periods of time, I would approve it for staff in a WFH policy.

So, if you do create a policy by age, you may want to consider when that age starts. Especially if you don’t have generous maternity leave & some child care settings will not take infants under 12 weeks. So, something like 0/2 weeks - 6 months is okay for WFH without a dedicated caregiver.

[Susie]

Maybe generically referring to care-giving is the right path.  I don't want to over-complicate everything.

The specific situation that we're running into is an employee who currently works 7:30-3:30 on a hybrid schedule (2 days WFH/3 days office).  She wants to switch to FT WFH for next school year for the stated reason of not having to pay for before-school care for her ~1st grader.  She avoids after school care by shifting her work day to the early side, which is fine and we approved, but a FT work day is longer than a school day no matter how you arrange it.  I think she banks in part on the overlapping responsibilities being less apparent in the AM, because not that many people are logged in that early, and she has an internal-facing role.

I like this employee, and she does good work, but not always as timely as I'd like to see.  We can always just tell her no to FT WFH, but it seems like a policy would also be a good idea, since it is already in play on WFH days in a hybrid week.

[sdlaura]

I don't believe my company has a policy on this. I hate working from home when my kids are here, even my older ones.

Given the situation you described, I would not be concerned about her not having before care. I would only make it an issue personally if there were kids home all day on a regular basis. I think it's quite common for people to start WFH before their kids get to school (me included). If there's a performance issue then I would address that.

[plutosmoon]

These kinds of blanket policies annoy me. It's a ok when it benefits the employer, such as when a kid is home sick or during COVID shutdown for me to WFH without child care. In fact it's actively encouraged to WFH rather than using my unlimited sick time (our sick time includes care of others) to actually take a day or two off.

I'm of the mind if my employee is getting their work done, I don't care who is home and how they divide their time at home. If an employee is not getting work done, the discussion should focus on work product and expectations surrounding that. If the reason a specific employee isn't getting their work done is child care, add "adequate childcare" to that employee's WFH agreement, but it's gotta go both ways you can't expect them to juggle WFH if the kid is sick and they want to take a day.

[whattheheck]

May 2, 2024 11:44:43 GMT -5 Susie said:

Maybe generically referring to care-giving is the right path.  I don't want to over-complicate everything.

The specific situation that we're running into is an employee who currently works 7:30-3:30 on a hybrid schedule (2 days WFH/3 days office).  She wants to switch to FT WFH for next school year for the stated reason of not having to pay for before-school care for her ~1st grader.  She avoids after school care by shifting her work day to the early side, which is fine and we approved, but a FT work day is longer than a school day no matter how you arrange it.  I think she banks in part on the overlapping responsibilities being less apparent in the AM, because not that many people are logged in that early, and she has an internal-facing role.

I like this employee, and she does good work, but not always as timely as I'd like to see.  We can always just tell her no to FT WFH, but it seems like a policy would also be a good idea, since it is already in play on WFH days in a hybrid week.

How old is the child? I think there’s a difference between needing to actively supervise the child and just needing an adult to be home in case of an emergency. So while you probably wouldn’t want an 8 year hold home alone while you are at work and then commuting home I would think said 8 year old could fend for themselves for an hour while the parent finishes up the work day. And if a school day is 6 hours with a half hour bus ride - then it’s really just an hour that the parent is trying to cover. But if there’s a performance issue that’s an entirely different ball game.

[penguingrrl]

In addition to the other things pointed out above, I would see what age after care is even available to locally. My town only offers aftercare through 4th grade, so for my older two it would have ended at age 9 (both turned 10 the summer between 4th and 5th grades). There’s also a significant shortage of aftercare spots near me, with years-long waitlists to get a spot, so that might be a factor as well. And my town doesn’t offer before-care at all, they did an interest thing for it, there was huge interest, but then they didn’t offer a workable solution so nobody signed up (school starts at 8:00, doors open at 7:45, they were going to offer beforecare starting at 7, but most families needed it by 6:15-6:30 to get the train, so 7 was too late). These should all factor into a policy if possible, because parents can’t always help it even if they want to.

[lessel]

May 2, 2024 11:23:46 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Page 40 talks about telework and dependent care, might be somewhere to start: www.opm.gov/telework/documents-for-telework/2021-guide-to-telework-and-remote-work.pdf

I feel like agencies are now getting more strict than this (since it was issued 2021 and more aligned with the pandemic flexibility of the time). This is what's in the 2024 workplace flexibility policy update for the department I work under:

Dependent Care

While telework and remote work are not substitutes for dependent care or elder care, they can be a valuable flexibility to employees with caregiving responsibilities by eliminating the time required to commute and expanding employees’ WFP options.

The flexibilities in the WFP may be leveraged to assist employees in managing and balancing dependent care responsibilities and job-related responsibilities. However, employees should not engage in dependent care activities when performing official duties.

Employees must request leave or other paid time off to engage in dependent care duties during their workday.

[luckystar2]

I don’t know if we have a policy. In my opinion it should be under school age because that is the timeframe they’d need full time care. Once they are in school we are really only talking a limited time they would be home. I see your follow up indicates just before school thats an issue. Personally I wouldn’t see an issue with this. The age is young but it’s likely a limited amount that the employee would need to do for a short period of time. The flexibility you provide may go a long way to providing an environment where employees feel valued and want to stay. I see that you say you have some potential issues with work getting done on time. address those separately now if it’s truly a problem.

I wasn’t working from home when my dd was young but it would have been soooo helpful. We had to use after school care for years and then when she switched schools we had to use before care for years. I would have been able to do my job while she was home for those brief periods of time. She just needed an adult at home.

As it was we ended up not using after school care starting in 4th grade. (Our state has no age on being left home alone). She got off the school bus on her own, got in the house and was on her own for a brief period of time before I came home from work. I would have been really annoyed if I work from home but my employer expected me to have care for her at that age and for that brief period of time. In 6th grade we dropped before care and she was getting herself on the bus by herself too.

so I think your initial 5-6th grade is way too old. It would be different if they were homeschooling -so maybe have language regarding that. But I’d say once they are school age the amount of time/care that is needed during the workday would be limited. It’s worth being flexible to allow for that. But obviously having some language about WFH and work not being done on time should be an issue that is for anyone.

[Susie]

whattheheck , penguingrrl , in this case: the child is 6, elementary goes to 5th, and before and after school care are available. The time period of overlap is 7:30 to almost 9am daily, so about 4.5 to 5 hours/week. As far as performance, I'd say she's ok, but doesn't have a lot of room to lose productivity. There are tasks now that should be same-day or next-day if they came in late in the day, that are regularly taking until +2 days.  It's not the end of the world so it slides but it's annoying.

While not relevant to the childcare policy, this same employee is also a real estate agent, unrelated to her FT job here. I made the mistake of connecting with her on FB many years ago, when I was a newbie, and never found a way to un-connect without awkwardness. So here we are, 18 years later, I'm now a partner, and I now know from FB when she pops out for showings, closings, etc. from time to time during business hours, because she posts about it. So I admit that colors my view of things. I definitely feel like she is taking more advantage of our flexibility than an average parent who's looking to reclaim part of an hour here or there.  I am looking for some policy approaches to corral it and prevent it in the future.

[Roc A Bee]

May 2, 2024 11:54:25 GMT -5 plutosmoon said:

These kinds of blanket policies annoy me. It's a ok when it benefits the employer, such as when a kid is home sick or during COVID shutdown for me to WFH without child care. In fact it's actively encouraged to WFH rather than using my unlimited sick time (our sick time includes care of others) to actually take a day or two off.

I'm of the mind if my employee is getting their work done, I don't care who is home and how they divide their time at home. If an employee is not getting work done, the discussion should focus on work product and expectations surrounding that. If the reason a specific employee isn't getting their work done is child care, add "adequate childcare" to that employee's WFH agreement, but it's gotta go both ways you can't expect them to juggle WFH if the kid is sick and they want to take a day.

This. I hate blanket policies put in place instead of dealing with problem employees. If someone isn’t responsive enough/doing work satisfactorily, deal with the actual issue.

[Roc A Bee]

May 2, 2024 12:15:40 GMT -5 Susie said:

whattheheck , penguingrrl , in this case: the child is 6, elementary goes to 5th, and before and after school care are available. The time period of overlap is 7:30 to almost 9am daily, so about 4.5 to 5 hours/week. As far as performance, I'd say she's ok, but doesn't have a lot of room to lose productivity. There are tasks now that should be same-day or next-day if they came in late in the day, that are regularly taking until +2 days.  It's not the end of the world so it slides but it's annoying.

While not relevant to the childcare policy, this same employee is also a real estate agent, unrelated to her FT job here. I made the mistake of connecting with her on FB many years ago, when I was a newbie, and never found a way to un-connect without awkwardness. So here we are, 18 years later, I'm now a partner, and I now know from FB when she pops out for showings, closings, etc. from time to time during business hours, because she posts about it. So I admit that colors my view of things. I definitely feel like she is taking more advantage of our flexibility than an average parent who's looking to reclaim part of an hour here or there.  I am looking for some policy approaches to corral it and prevent it in the future.

I think you have an employee problem.

[gottadobe]

They were very relaxed about it during COVID, but the rule of thumb is no child care (obviously nobody will get heartache over the occasional sick day for the kid at home, and no deliveries/work done on the home. When we request a telework day, we better not mention either.

[penguingrrl]

May 2, 2024 12:15:40 GMT -5 Susie said:

whattheheck , penguingrrl , in this case: the child is 6, elementary goes to 5th, and before and after school care are available. The time period of overlap is 7:30 to almost 9am daily, so about 4.5 to 5 hours/week. As far as performance, I'd say she's ok, but doesn't have a lot of room to lose productivity. There are tasks now that should be same-day or next-day if they came in late in the day, that are regularly taking until +2 days.  It's not the end of the world so it slides but it's annoying.

While not relevant to the childcare policy, this same employee is also a real estate agent, unrelated to her FT job here. I made the mistake of connecting with her on FB many years ago, when I was a newbie, and never found a way to un-connect without awkwardness. So here we are, 18 years later, I'm now a partner, and I now know from FB when she pops out for showings, closings, etc. from time to time during business hours, because she posts about it. So I admit that colors my view of things. I definitely feel like she is taking more advantage of our flexibility than an average parent who's looking to reclaim part of an hour here or there.  I am looking for some policy approaches to corral it and prevent it in the future.

This is an employee problem without a doubt, not a policy problem. She’s doing other work during work hours and not keeping up with her work. The childcare sounds like the least of the issue here.

For a policy, as I said, I think that factoring in realistic availability in your area would be a good thing. 6 is young to not have care while working, though. At 8-9 many kids can reliably be home with an adult technically present but working and not reachable barring an emergency, but 6 is young for that.

[shopgirl07]

Well, a childcare policy is not going to help with the real estate showings. And it sounds like she’s a little less responsive than you’d like anyway, which is also independent from childcare. So address the issue head on. Tell her you’d like to see her response time to be xyz and she needs to be meeting the metrics before you’ll approve full time WFH. Or approve the WFH but tell her what you expect performance-wise. I think the childcare policy is misguided and kind of passive aggressive. And I doubt it will have the results you intend.

[InBetweenDays]

I agree it sounds like this particular instance is an employee problem that goes beyond the childcare issue.

Susie does your company have employees sign a telework agreement? If not I'd develop that, and have childcare be one component of that agreement.

We have an agreement form that we have to sign that says I agree:
*To be available and responsive during scheduled work hours.
*My duties, obligations, and responsibilities as a telecommuting employee are the same as on-site workers, including my obligation to respond to my voicemail, email and other messages in a timely manner.
*While telecommuting, that I will work at the above listed locations during my telecommuting work schedule, unless I have received prior approval to temporarily work elsewhere.

Etc

The agreement also specifically lists expectations and I have to respond to how I will meet those expectations. One of those expectations is "working with family members at home (if applicable)"

[noodleoo]

May 2, 2024 12:18:50 GMT -5 Roc A Bee said:

May 2, 2024 11:54:25 GMT -5 plutosmoon said:

These kinds of blanket policies annoy me. It's a ok when it benefits the employer, such as when a kid is home sick or during COVID shutdown for me to WFH without child care. In fact it's actively encouraged to WFH rather than using my unlimited sick time (our sick time includes care of others) to actually take a day or two off.

I'm of the mind if my employee is getting their work done, I don't care who is home and how they divide their time at home. If an employee is not getting work done, the discussion should focus on work product and expectations surrounding that. If the reason a specific employee isn't getting their work done is child care, add "adequate childcare" to that employee's WFH agreement, but it's gotta go both ways you can't expect them to juggle WFH if the kid is sick and they want to take a day.

This. I hate blanket policies put in place instead of dealing with problem employees. If someone isn’t responsive enough/doing work satisfactorily, deal with the actual issue.

This 100%.  This specific employee is taking advantage of your firms flexibility and it should be addressed as a performance issue. 

Susie, I'd create the policy with vague caregiving language instead of a specific age cut off and then address the issue with her individually.  If you create a specific policy to try to fix her issues, it may backfire later on with future employees.

[hermione]

My employer specifically allows "minor children to be present as long as the employee can achieve a reasonable amount of productivity."

[livinitup]

Your update provides some context for why you are seeking a policy on child care requirements for WFH. But would she follow it? She is already dipping out on work hours for her side job (real estate). And she’s looking for WFH to avoid before-school care. Can you monitor that she actually drops off her child?

Also, on any given day, I can clock at least 50% of in-office co-workers wasting 20 minutes settling-in in the morning. The break room is next to my window. Is it better than the mom who is at the bus stop for 10 minutes?

Either she does her work or doesn’t. Doing all this work to create a policy to create a solution to a perceived at-home distraction seems like a waste of your time. I am often more distracted by co-workers in the office than my family at-home. Can’t solve everything.

[ssmjlm]

Well I'm guilty of flexing my mornings by 30 mins so I can take my kid to the bus stop on my WFH days, but that's it. So I login at 7am instead of 730 when in reality I'm probably at the bus stop a whole 20 mins or less. But my kid is self sufficient in getting dressed, breakfast, etc. I do have to help with hair a bit if she wants it up.

Popping out for real estate seems like a performance problem unrelated to childcare.

[Susie]

May 2, 2024 12:54:15 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

I agree it sounds like this particular instance is an employee problem that goes beyond the childcare issue.

Susie does your company have employees sign a telework agreement? If not I'd develop that, and have childcare be one component of that agreement.

We have an agreement form that we have to sign that says I agree:
*To be available and responsive during scheduled work hours.
*My duties, obligations, and responsibilities as a telecommuting employee are the same as on-site workers, including my obligation to respond to my voicemail, email and other messages in a timely manner.
*While telecommuting, that I will work at the above listed locations during my telecommuting work schedule, unless I have received prior approval to temporarily work elsewhere.

Etc

The agreement also specifically lists expectations and I have to respond to how I will meet those expectations. One of those expectations is "working with family members at home (if applicable)"

We don't have a telework agreement, and I agree that having one would probably be a good idea.  We did not offer telework at all until covid, when we started on an emergent basis.  We returned to office on a hybrid schedule in 2021, but never really had a "roll out" of telework or hybrid schedules.  

We have an informal cultural understanding in our firm that people can take unplanned WFH days for kid illnesses and other one-off's, and WFH while taking care of sick kids, kids home on a random school break, etc, is ok.  Most of us have kids and life happens.  But it is generally understood that you're not supposed to use WFH to bridge a gap in childcare on a regular basis, or to plan to regularly overlap working + parenting.  Employees are expected to have childcare, in a specific departure from pandemic times when childcare wasn't reliably available, kids were in quarantines and couldn't attend, etc.  We said that out loud plenty of times, but it's not formalized in a written policy.  

The commenters who cited an employee problem vs. a policy problem are 100% right; we do have an employee issue here.  (I wish I had more support in the partnership on that front.)  However, I also want to put in writing the spirit of what we've said out loud, so everyone is clear on what the expectations are.  It seems like every school year, summer, etc., one question or another on this topic comes up.