Look for remote job in this market

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you need childcare for a middle schooler? Unless there are special needs or maturity issues, s/he can do an activity after school or just walk home on their own when school gets out and let themselves in the house. You work 10 minutes away, close enough for any emergency.

Op here. The school is 15 min walks to home. I am just worried ahead what to do with my oldest child when weather sucks, backpack too heavy or whatever situation. He is a bit immature, and I cannot imagine for him to walk home now. As you say, it is one plus year after, I am just thinking about all possible options.

[Anonymous]

As long as I make up the hours at night or weekends & get work done, so far my company has no problem with me doing flex hours if things come up related to kids or school. When it comes to summer, I go to office like 9:30pm to 2:30pm for some weeks because my kids camp hours are 9am to 3pm. They know they will lose me if they do not give me the flexibility. It has never been an issue to me at current company. I do try my best to sign up at some camps with longer hours. I thought other companies are like that when they would try to accomondate working moms with younger kids, doesn't it? Are other companies that harsh and not flexible to working moms?

Lots of companies odd are not at all flexible. I’m the PP who first raised that you don’t just want remote - you also want flexibility. Both my last job and my current job were mostly remote and there definitely isn’t flexibility. You
Must be fully available and working during your set hours. And I really don’t know people who are remote with the flexibility to are seeking.

[Anonymous]

Right now is an hard environment for looking for that kind of job. I’m currently remote due to medical reasons, but if I needed to pick up a kid or something during core hours, I would need to use leave. But my kids get themselves to and from school, so I have no problem with core hours.

And I am thankful for the re-institution of core hours, because before last spring, some of my coworkers were “flexing” like crazy and sometimes hard to reach. One of my coworkers was homeschooling her kids (?!) and when I heard that I was like, at night??
She quit last spring.

So, OP, I think you might be able to find a job that is remote or has more WFH days. But maybe not the flexibility you would like. Work on getting your kids more independent, and be prepared for a pay cut. Even with the pay cut, it may be worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wanted to just note that you’re not just looking for remote. You’re wanting to be able to also flex your hours. My job is almost fully remote but there are set work hours so no random drop offs and pick ups of kids unless they are outside of set work hours.

Correct. I work from home full time but guess what? My kids are in aftercare because I work a full day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I have worked both in public & corporate accounting, I always work with my boss, my team & clients to schedules meeting time that work for everybody. I just avoid some time slots, and I have 5-7 clients. As long as I make up the hours at night or weekends & get work done, so far my company has no problem with me doing flex hours if things come up related to kids or school. When it comes to summer, I go to office like 9:30pm to 2:30pm for some weeks because my kids camp hours are 9am to 3pm. They know they will lose me if they do not give me the flexibility. It has never been an issue to me at current company. I do try my best to sign up at some camps with longer hours. I thought other companies are like that when they would try to accomondate working moms with younger kids, doesn't it? Are other companies that harsh and not flexible to working moms? I am a senior role, not a newbie staff in the industry. I am a laid back person, and I have no intention to open my business.

You should stay at your current job. While full remote is possible now, what you are asking for is difficult unless you are a superstar. Nobody wants to hire someone who is leaving at 3 to pick up kids and has multiple kids at home after that when they can get someone without those restrictions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wanted to just note that you’re not just looking for remote. You’re wanting to be able to also flex your hours. My job is almost fully remote but there are set work hours so no random drop offs and pick ups of kids unless they are outside of set work hours.

Correct. I work from home full time but guess what? My kids are in aftercare because I work a full day!

Yup I WFH full time but I pick my kids up after 4:30 because that's when my hours end.

[Anonymous]

I WFH full time with flexibility and a great salary. But there is no way I could just up and leave daily at 3 to drive around and pick up multiple kids from multiple schools and then have them home with me after that.

[Anonymous]

Seems like you could pick up the MS child from school and have that child pick up the younger ones from the bus stop. Then you are only out for like 15 mins for that pickup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like you could pick up the MS child from school and have that child pick up the younger ones from the bus stop. Then you are only out for like 15 mins for that pickup.

This is a good solution and I would also put some serious effort into getting the kid ready to walk home alone next year, assuming the walk is safe. I would not change jobs to save a tween from 15 minutes in the rain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wanted to just note that you’re not just looking for remote. You’re wanting to be able to also flex your hours. My job is almost fully remote but there are set work hours so no random drop offs and pick ups of kids unless they are outside of set work hours.

+1

I work a hybrid job and it’s super strict about being at your desk from 8:00 - 5:00 except between 12:00-1:00 when you’re at home. You need flexibility more than remote. I know some feds that flex their schedule so they start really early and leave really early, but outside of that, I think it’s a you have to wait and see if an org will let you do what you’re asking. And I think it’s pretty rare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you need childcare for a middle schooler? Unless there are special needs or maturity issues, s/he can do an activity after school or just walk home on their own when school gets out and let themselves in the house. You work 10 minutes away, close enough for any emergency.

Op here. The school is 15 min walks to home. I am just worried ahead what to do with my oldest child when weather sucks, backpack too heavy or whatever situation. He is a bit immature, and I cannot imagine for him to walk home now. As you say, it is one plus year after, I am just thinking about all possible options.

I hired a driver/after school nanny for this reason. It just made sense for another year or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do other MS families do for MS? That is a problem you have to solve, but I bet other families don't all WFH.
(I have the same problem and my solution is to go in early and leave early, partner handles mornings. I wish I had a 10 minute commute, that would be amazing.)

They walk home as latch key kids or maybe hang out at Starbucks most likely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I have worked both in public & corporate accounting, I always work with my boss, my team & clients to schedules meeting time that work for everybody. I just avoid some time slots, and I have 5-7 clients. As long as I make up the hours at night or weekends & get work done, so far my company has no problem with me doing flex hours if things come up related to kids or school. When it comes to summer, I go to office like 9:30pm to 2:30pm for some weeks because my kids camp hours are 9am to 3pm. They know they will lose me if they do not give me the flexibility. It has never been an issue to me at current company. I do try my best to sign up at some camps with longer hours. I thought other companies are like that when they would try to accomondate working moms with younger kids, doesn't it? Are other companies that harsh and not flexible to working moms? I am a senior role, not a newbie staff in the industry. I am a laid back person, and I have no intention to open my business.

You should stay at your current job. While full remote is possible now, what you are asking for is difficult unless you are a superstar. Nobody wants to hire someone who is leaving at 3 to pick up kids and has multiple kids at home after that when they can get someone without those restrictions.

That is an insane arrangement to walk into a job, unless you were recruited by a C-level going to bat for you

The current corporate policy seems to be that working moms should be SAHMs.

[Anonymous]

Get a sitter or nanny. That's what we did, even though DH and I both had somewhat flexible jobs.

As you are seeing, it's way too hard to juggle both balls. Something will drop.

The US is not family friendly, even though Rs claim they are the party of family values.

[Anonymous]

Can your kids take the bus? My 2nd grader gets on the bus at 815am and off at 4pm abd comes in and gets a snack while I wrap up work