Office Is Demanding Child Care on My Work at Home Day?!

I see this is your first baby. You're pretty optimistic to think that you can care for a baby while getting a full day of work done, unless you have the type of job where you can get things done at night after your husband gets home. You get a baby with colic or one that doesn't nap (like my first) and believe me, you will be lucky to get one shower during the day for the first few months, let alone a luxurious day of typing away while your baby slumbers nearby. (hah!) Or you could get lucky and get nice, long naps. No way to tell in advance.

I'm sure it's probably legal and I think it's pretty common to expect you to either be in the office or in an environment where you aren't trying to do two things at one time if you're being paid for your time. I think you should not lie because (not to be unkind, but I think it's important), every woman who does a half-assed job while "working at home" makes it harder for the rest of us to negotiate family-friendly work conditions and be taken seriously. (I work at home 2-3 days a week and I've gone without child care only once or twice when a child was ill, and I've been open with my boss about what's going on on those days.)

What I did after my first son was born was negotiate a 4-day part-time schedule for the first year. Some woman work 4 10-hour days, with some of those hours in the evening. You might also wait until the baby is born, get a feel for his/her schedule, and then hire someone with less experience to be a mother's helper for the peak hours when the baby needs more attention. (if he tends to sleep for 3 hours in the afternoon, you could hire a morning sitter for a couple of hours where you could get some productive work done.)

Wow! I see the support is at a minimum with your question!

I have done it for 3 years. I do contract work all from home. I have a 3 year old and a 4 month old. You have to be very creative with what you do. Maybe it means working a little longer during the week or bust your rear while your child is napping. It was never "half-assed", as that's not the person I am. I took pride in my work and knew that I was getting a good thing to be able to work from home.

Maybe you should be honest with your employer and let them know that the reason you are asking to be at home 1 day is to save $. Let them know that you are willing to flex your time on your day home to work around the baby.

When I would get phone calls, my employer would ALWAYS ask if it was an ok time to talk. Most of my work was done on the computer or via email and a lot of the time it was with a baby in my arms.

It can work. Good luck!
B.

Hi,
It is extremely diffucult to get anything done, let alone work while caring for your baby. You should feel lucky your work is being accomodating. Arranging for child care while you work at home is standard practice and legal. Good luck!

This is the sort of situation where everyone loses in my opinion - either the work duties or the child is going to be deprived of the full attention they each deserve. If you truly value your job, you should heed their recommendation or things could become unpleasant. What they are asking is legal.

If they don't let you care for your child at work, why should it be a suprise that they ask for child care when you work at home? As your child gets older, it will be less of an issue, but with a new baby, you don't even know what kind of issues you'll be facing (colic? teething? milk allergies? you've got no clue about its temperment and sleep schedules before the baby comes!) child care while you work at home could be as simple as someone staying with you for the day - you don't need to have another day at a center. You should consider a compressed workweek (4-10 hour days) if you can't afford another full day of care.

And, as unfriendly and unfair as it seems, I totally agree with the other mom who cautioned for every mom who works "half-asses" it from home, they make it harder for the rest of us to work out flexible arrangements. One "slacker" new mom can ruin it for everyone else in the company. It did at ours - I have to fight for every flexible thing I have right now. I'm not saying you are such a mom, but don't let yourself go down that path because you're worried about the cost of daycare. You'll just hurt yourself and your co-workers.

T.,
Not sure if it legal for work to impose that upon you, I would ask an attorney. But then on the other hand if they are paying you I guess they can make the request.
I do daycare from my home & I have an opening for Friday's.
If you get stuck and and they demand they child care, I'm $35.00 a day. Let me know if you need help. I have really good families & kids.
Good Luck, Kris

I currently work one - 8 hour day from home in a 2 week timeframe. My boss is very flexible, but I really spread out that extra 8 paid hours into to a few hours every day/night when either my daughter is sleeping/occupied or when my husband is home in the evenings. As long as I get my job done and my boss gets no complaints, he allows me to continue this schedule. Of course it is not announced in my office, because some of my coworkers would have problems with it. I guess it all depends on the job you do. I have been doing this schedule since my daughter was born, and she has adapted very well. She is now 21 months and loves cartoons, colors, or reads. I am able to make a few phone calls when she is occupied, but a lot of my work is computer based so usually people at my company don't even know I am not sitting in my office. It takes discipline to work from home, and unique scheduling, but you can do it. I actually find I get more done from home on certain days than when I am in the office getting interrupted every 5 minutes. I think more employers have to learn how to be flexible with their workers, especially the mommies because if not they are going to lose hardworking, dedicated, multi tasking workers. Good luck!!

No T., don't lie...it was great of them to allow you to work from home. If you have a home office and if it's feesable have a friend or relative come into your home for that day if available. Pay them with maybe a gift card , $5.00 from Panera bread, or subway, etc and a thank you card. sometimes those little thoughts can add up to count for a lot!

It would depend on what type of work that needs to be done. If you need to type a bunch of reports that need to be turned in by Monday, then yes I would lie because you would have the whole weekend. If you need to make 100 phone calls then you prob will need a little help, little ones are not that quiet. You could look for a high school student to come after school, it would be cheaper and baby would be home. I used to work two days at home and I got everything I needed to get done in about four hours because I worked fast and had no interruptions, it took me 6+ to do the same at the office. Good Luck.

I agree with most of the other posters. I thought that I could get work done while home with the baby (don't they sleep all day?) but that was BEFORE I had my baby. Now I know that you don't get squat done unless you really do have someone else looking after the baby. They don't sleep that much and it will be incredibly hard for you to focus on your work AND feel like you're giving your baby enough attention. So yes, you do need childcare. Even if it's only for 6 hours a day (in which you can be super-efficient) you need to have it.

That said, working from home WITH some childcare is great - especially if you're breastfeeding. It means that you can take a break to feed him whenever he needs it instead of worrying about bottles, pumping, etc.

Good luck!

I have been working from home since my first one was born three years ago. I started working again when my daughter was two weeks old. I have a lot of flexibility with my hours and how much I choose to work. I have never had someone come in to care for my children while I work, I now have a three year old and a two year old and I am 7-1/2 months pregnant with my third. With the first one I averaged 40 hours a week and now I work about 20 hours a week, but I am on bed rest. I think it will really depend on your job description and on how motivated you are. I am a workaholic who rarely sleeps, I worked 70 plus hours a week before I had children. Talk to your employer and see if you can work some odd hours. I often work from 4 am to 7 am and then just at night after the girls go to sleep. Maybe you can even go in on Saturday's, I prefer Sunday and I bring the girls with me. If you are on the phone a lot, it might be hard. I was lucky b/c all my clients knew I worked from home and I could get back to them as my schedule permited. Do not lie about getting child care. Your whole working relationship is based on trust and they do not have to let you work from home. I would recommend seeing what kind of child you have before you start working from home. My first was an angel, the second didn't sleep for the first year. Sorry this was so long, I just wanted to let you know it can work under the right circumstances. Good luck!