Help me avoid alternate schedule pitfalls

[Anonymous]

I'm about to make a change from standard 8-5 office hours to an alternate schedule - leaving the office by about 3:15 each day (but still working full time hours). For those of you who have worked a similar schedule - or managed or worked with someone working a similar schedule - could you please identify potential pitfalls?

I'm trying to shift to this schedule so I can make it home by the time my oldest kid gets off the school bus. I have three kids: 5, 3 and 1. My husband is on board with the schedule, as is my office, but I'd really like to go into this with eyes wide open about what may not work.

Thoughts, ideas, tips for success? Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Do you ever have meetings in the late afternoon? I have a schedule where I leave at 4 every day and it works most of the time, but I need to occasionally be flexible and stay later. (I try to avoid scheduling meetings in late afternoon, but sometimes I don't have a say.) If so, you may need to be prepared to have a back-up afternoon child care option once in awhile.

[Anonymous]

I did this for a few years - my husband hated getting our three up in the mornings and was fairly unbearable it. I liked it. Oh, I think my boss resented it a little too - because if an assignment came in later in the day or if I something I'd done came back with questions - I wasn't there until the next morning.

[Anonymous]

ditto what 13:56 said about later meetings. Also, if most people in your office stay til 5, sometimes it can be hard to get out the door (people stopping you for stuff, etc.). I work a similar schedule and it works fine (people have all sort of schedules in my office so it's not uncommon) but you do have to be disciplined to get yourself out w/o getting delayed. I think it also probably depends on the nature of your work (like how time-sensitive things are). I rarely have things that come in in the afternoon that can't wait til the next morning, if I leave at 3:30 or 4.

[Anonymous]

It can be tough if you have any fellow employees who are clock-watchers. I am a single mom who has to leave at 4:30 every day to pick up my daughter. (I start at 8:30.) I often feel like my next-door neighbor is judging me for leaving "early", even though he rarely stays past 5:00. And I definitely feel the judgement if I come in at 8:40. (which is often beyond my control, as my daughter is slooooooow in the morning.) on the one hand, he's not my boss or in my chain of command, so i don't care. but i do sometimes feel like a slacker, even though this is the schedule i negotiated. (before I had my daughter, at a different job, I was generally one of the last ones out the door because I had a very demanding job.)

plus it can be hard to train others that you do actually have to leave at your agreed time, so they can't schedule meetings for after you're out. and sometimes you may find yourself fielding calls or doing stuff after hours, if you don't want to feel like you've let down the team.

other than that, it's nice to have an alternate schedule. good luck!

[Anonymous]

I created an recurring out-of-office in Outlook that shows me unavailable from 3:30 on. It's helped a lot, because when someone does try to schedule a meeting with you, they see you're out of office. People didn't pay as much attention when I just had updated my work hours in Outlook.

I do check email in the evenings, just to respond to anything urgent and get a sense for what my morning will be like, since a lot can happen in the late afternoon. I also try to send some emails early in the morning, so people know I'm working. I don't really slack, but sometimes if I have something ready the afternoon before, I might wait to send it first thing in the morning. On the other hand, if I think I might run a couple minutes late in the morning, it's very helpful to check and respond to messages the evening before. If anyone is watching the clock, it won't matter.

I work my 40+ hours, some at home, and my boss is completely happy with my hours and productivity. But I know some people in the office are old school, so I try to circumvent any issues that could arise.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the tips. Our office is pretty heavy on meetings, so avoiding afternoon meetings may be a challenge. I suspect I'll end up giving up any free time earlier in the day to meetings that would otherwise be more spread out; and probably staying late more often than I'd like.

I suspect my husband will be a huge grump about handling morning duty, too. Sigh. Still, I'd like to give this a shot.

What time do you wake up and arrive at the office in order to get out by 3:30/4? I feel like I need a couple of weeks of test runs just on getting the timing down.

[Anonymous]

I think it would be hard for just one parent to get ready and also get a 5, 3, and 1 year old out the door in the morning.

[Anonymous]

OP, how far away is work from home? Will you run into traffic? Construction?

I did this last year, somewhat, trying to leave work in time to meet the school bus. I had a short commute but even so, it was VERY stressful. Part of the problem was that I had NO backup at the bus stio. If there was traffic or I was running late, I had a 6 year old getting off the bus on a major street with traffic, standing there. (Your school distcit might not allow the child to get off if a parent is not present, but then that's another stressor because they won't let the child stay on the bus more than once or twoce before they tell you yoy need to make alternate arrangements.

I think hiring a sitter or doing aftercare is a much less stressful arrangement.

Now if you have a few local parents are backup if you are running late that's a completely different story.

[Anonymous]

OP, you say your office is on board with the AWS but how is it really accepted in your office culture? Will you be the only one doing it?

My federal office offers this and almost everyone does this (or a maxi-flex schedule where it's more like 4 10 hour days per week). When you start there, you're pretty much asked if you want to do an alternate work schedule up front and you're not frowned upon at all if you take them up on it. In fact, most people know that pretty much the only time you can do a meeting is Tues/Wed/Thurs from 10am to 3pm.

To answer your question about start times, I get up at 5am and catch the 5.57 bus to get me to work at 6.45am. I leave at 4.15pm. DH does daycare drop-off for our 1 and 3 year olds, while I do pick up. Unless you're really high up, most people are very understanding and respectful that your day in the office is over when your duty hours end. On my short day, I do leave at 3.15, but that's only once every 2 weeks and not every day like you're proposing.

[Anonymous]

OP again. We have a great nanny who will overlap with my husband in the a.m. for 45 minutes or so. Once she arrives he's free to get himself ready and then walk 5 yr old to bus stop at corner of our yard. Husband will be able to arrive at work by 8:30 with this set up. Nanny will bring 3 yr old to preschool about 45 min after 5 yr old gets on bus. 1 yr old will stay with nanny. I'd plan to arrive home a few minutes before bus drop off but do have back up in the form of nanny, so the 5 yr old won't get stranded.

The other twist I need to figure out is nanny hours - with this arrangement we'd need her to start about 30 min earlier but would not need her for what is now the last 1.5 -2 hrs of her day - so the total number of hours she works would be reduced by 5-8 hrs. Not sure how to work that arrangement either. Clearly I have a few bugs to work out before trying the new schedule.

[Anonymous]

OP, think about when you and DH will have catch-up time each day. Meaning, when you talk between just the two of you. With your days staggered, you will presumably see less of each other on a daily basis. You'll need to find a time for yourselves, which might be a different time than before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, think about when you and DH will have catch-up time each day. Meaning, when you talk between just the two of you. With your days staggered, you will presumably see less of each other on a daily basis. You'll need to find a time for yourselves, which might be a different time than before.

Thanks - this is a good point. Something to keep in mind.

[Anonymous]

If money's not an issue, I would think about going down to even 35 hours/week, so it won't be that stressful. 30 hours would be perfect if you don't have a long commute.

[Anonymous]

I would consider keeping the nanny at the end of the day a bit longer too. First, it gives you a window of time in case you are late and secondly it is another body helping at what is a stressful time of day. If you are up and out earlier in the morning, you will be coming home tired to 3 excited kids and dinner prep etc. Give yourself some time to get home and settled before you send her off. Maybe your oldest doesn't have activities yet but not having to take little ones to weekly soccer practice or dance class can be a Godsend.