| Q & A: Remote Work is Not a Substitute for Childcare |
| Remote Work/Work from Home (WFH) is not a Substitute for Childcare Q. We’ve been able to green light all front-line positions staying fully remote, as there is no business need for them to come into office. But we’re running into more and more issues with people having small children, even infants, home all day while they work. From hearing kids in the background of calls, to toddlers sitting on laps during training, to people explaining their low production numbers with needing to tend to their children. It’s an issue that needs to be addressed. My question is how to put meaningful guidelines around it? A. You might consider saying something like, “We expect you to have regular, dependable childcare for children under X age while working from home. We understand that there may be occasions when you need to have young children home and this is permissible so long as it doesn’t affect the quality of your work, but it cannot be your day-to-day plan to have them home.” Whatever age you choose, you can include wording that makes exceptions for one-off’s. For example: “Remote workers are expected to arrange for child care just as they would if they were working in the office. If you have a child under age X, we expect you to have separate childcare in place during your working hours. We will make occasional exceptions for unplanned or temporary circumstances (like a school closure or a sick child) but these should be the exception and not the norm.” You might also speak to the outcome you’re attempting to achieve: “Remote workers should have a quiet, distraction-free working space where they can ensure callers will not overhear household noise. We understand that the nature of working at home is that you cannot control every possible sound a caller might hear, but callers hearing noise from (for example) children, pets, televisions, etc. should be a rarity rather than a commonplace occurrence.” You should also give your employees a grace period before you start enforcing the policy. Since they don’t know it’s coming, they’ll need time to make arrangements to comply with it. Understand that some people have the impression that this is a benefit of the job. So, making this change may also lead to you losing some employees. All remote workers should sign a Remote Work Agreement. HRN had adapted the Remote Work Agreement with language around the issue of childcare. If you need an updated version, please contact your HR Business Partner. |
