Employer Forbidding Short Term Schedule Adjustment

[Anonymous]

I need to arrive an hour late and leave 30 mins early for the next two weeks. This is child care related while my spouse is basically deployed. My employer said they 'can't' allow it. I've offered to use PTO or make up the hours later at night.

I've been here for 8 years and literally never once called in sick.

Short of just saying 'f^^k you' and walking, what can I do?

[Anonymous]

You can hire a babysitter.

[Anonymous]

Hire a sitter or an afternoon babysitter. Do before and aftercare. Pay a neighbor, hire a high school student, etc. There are many options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hire a sitter or an afternoon babysitter. Do before and aftercare. Pay a neighbor, hire a high school student, etc. There are many options

This.

Also, start looking around, PP. It's always good to know your worth and have other options in mind. Most salary bumps these days come from switching employers. DON'T tell your employer that you are looking -- none of their business at this point. Just see what's out there and make the long term plans that are best for you.

You have to address both your short term problem and your long term goals for the future. There might be a place that values you more and is willing to say it. Just check.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hire a sitter or an afternoon babysitter. Do before and aftercare. Pay a neighbor, hire a high school student, etc. There are many options

It's more complicated than that. My kids attend a private school with no transportation so I need to do pick up and drop off both for school and ports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hire a sitter or an afternoon babysitter. Do before and aftercare. Pay a neighbor, hire a high school student, etc. There are many options

It's more complicated than that. My kids attend a private school with no transportation so I need to do pick up and drop off both for school and ports.

Ask another parent?

[Anonymous]

Your employer sounds like a d*ck, and unnecessarily a hardass.

[Anonymous]

Carpool? Find a new job? If they won’t allow it, they won’t allow it.

I gave an employee this kind of flexibility once and they totally abused it. They just didn’t work. I am not going to do it again—figure it out. You need a carpool, a mother’s helper, or before and after care with transportation. How old are your kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I need to arrive an hour late and leave 30 mins early for the next two weeks. This is child care related while my spouse is basically deployed. My employer said they 'can't' allow it. I've offered to use PTO or make up the hours later at night.

I've been here for 8 years and literally never once called in sick.

Short of just saying 'f^^k you' and walking, what can I do?

hire help.

[Anonymous]

Hire a morning driver from care.com

Ask a classmate if they can take your kid with them after school and you can pick them up later.

[Anonymous]

Do you have a family member who can visit and help out? Or a friend you can heavily lean on? Else throw money at it and hire whoever you can.

How old are your kids? If they’re old enough to wait for you after school somewhere right by the school, they’ll have to sit and wait for you. They’ll be safe if they’re together, assuming they’re old enough.

Your employer sounds like a jerk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your employer sounds like a d*ck, and unnecessarily a hardass.

They are d*cks. It's honestly mind boggling that I would show up each and every morning on time for 8 years, put in an honest days work and they'd say no over what is basically 7.5 hours of leave. Yet nothing is done about the people that call in sick 5 times a year. And always on a Friday or Monday.

[Anonymous]

Why won’t they let you use pto

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I need to arrive an hour late and leave 30 mins early for the next two weeks. This is child care related while my spouse is basically deployed. My employer said they 'can't' allow it. I've offered to use PTO or make up the hours later at night.

I've been here for 8 years and literally never once called in sick.

Short of just saying 'f^^k you' and walking, what can I do?

Some companies would not be okay with this for every day even for only 2 weeks. I am surprised you can't use PTO. I allowed flexibility on my team, but the person didn't need it every day of the week, just 3 days for a few weeks (their school also had an issue with the after care program). The first day they actually didn't sign back on, so I talked with them said their work phone needed to be on and answered if a call came through and they needed to get their work done. I allowed it for another team member who abused it, so they weren't allowed the flexibility anymore.

At my spouse's company unless you are a super star you aren't usually allowed that much flexibility and are meant to use PTO. The occasional sick kid/ plumbing issue is fine, but that means once in awhile. He tried allowing someone flexibility for a week when their spouse was away and they had a sick kid at home, but were still able to work. A nosy admin not even on their team complained to HR about it! It varies by employer.

Look into after/before care at school. Ask a high schooler, neighbor, or another parent. Ask the school itself if they have any options or know of anything/a list where parents can help one another out. Do you know a SAHP you could ask for help and offer to pay them a little bit of $? I moved to PT for a short period last year and ended up helping a few parents who were in a bind. I didn't accept $, but one reciprocated on a weekend which was really nice. You could also offer to drive their kids to soccer or somewhere you share an activity as a "thank you."

I would look elsewhere though since it doesn't even seem like they are meeting you halfway here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why won’t they let you use pto

Couldn't you have just put in the PTO and not discussed it? You're allowed to use your PTO - are you a shift worker where someone else has to pick up the time?

Agree with others on looking around. They don't seem to value you.