Telework with a sick child

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:7 times in one month is a lot. What could it be? 1 time stomach bug, 1 time fever (virus), 1 time ear ache, 1 time strep... 1 time.... geez, I can't even think of 7 maladies that can happen in one single month. You might need to see what's going on with her child. OR, she's taking advantage of you.

I'm the PP who was sick from ages 4-6 almost continuously. As a child, I NEVER got sick (except for motion sickness) for LESS than a full week. If I had strep, I missed a week of school. Flu? A week or two. Bronchitis? Generally two weeks. Random fever? Over 100 for at least a week.

I was in my 20's before I "only" was too sick to work for three days in a row. Now I just ... work sick, because I have to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the employee does a good job and is responsible in getting his/her work done, then don't worry about it. They could be more productive than someone who is always in the office but doesn't get much done. It's not about face time, it's about being reliable and effective.

agree, but how can one be reliable when 7 out of 20 work days in a month they are unexpectedly working somewhere else?

[Anonymous]

Totally depends on the child. I work for a virtual company, we all telework. My boss's 6 y/o is more mature than his 16 y/o and can absolutely take care of himself for 90% of the day. My daughter is now 4, and is getting better at being able to keep herself entertained for longer periods of time when she's home sick. I will take some PTO when she's home sick, but can usually manage to work 4-5 hours (between her playing, movies and naps).

[Anonymous]

People are missing the point: You manage someone. You have a policy for a benefit, aka privilege. Employee is most likely abusing said privilege, and at best is in clear violation of the policy. Whether the kid can "watch himself" (doubtful!) all day is actually beside the point. Now if you telework 100% of the time as a requirement of the job etc. that's a different story.

OP focus on the policy and her violation of it. It is pretty simple from an outsider looking in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are missing the point: You manage someone. You have a policy for a benefit, aka privilege. Employee is most likely abusing said privilege, and at best is in clear violation of the policy. Whether the kid can "watch himself" (doubtful!) all day is actually beside the point. Now if you telework 100% of the time as a requirement of the job etc. that's a different story.

OP focus on the policy and her violation of it. It is pretty simple from an outsider looking in.

+1000 People are missing the point. Too many teleworkers abuse the privilege and policies and it is the main reason why teleworking is frowned upon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are missing the point: You manage someone. You have a policy for a benefit, aka privilege. Employee is most likely abusing said privilege, and at best is in clear violation of the policy. Whether the kid can "watch himself" (doubtful!) all day is actually beside the point. Now if you telework 100% of the time as a requirement of the job etc. that's a different story.

OP focus on the policy and her violation of it. It is pretty simple from an outsider looking in.

Exactly. You can't make exceptions on a case-by-case basis. You're in no position to judge whether an employee's sick child is a distraction or not and you're setting yourself up for a claim of disparate treatment if you are selectively enforcing office policies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are missing the point: You manage someone. You have a policy for a benefit, aka privilege. Employee is most likely abusing said privilege, and at best is in clear violation of the policy. Whether the kid can "watch himself" (doubtful!) all day is actually beside the point. Now if you telework 100% of the time as a requirement of the job etc. that's a different story.

OP focus on the policy and her violation of it. It is pretty simple from an outsider looking in.

Exactly. You can't make exceptions on a case-by-case basis. You're in no position to judge whether an employee's sick child is a distraction or not and you're setting yourself up for a claim of disparate treatment if you are selectively enforcing office policies.

Yep, this. Because it's not fair to the other people who don't have the sick kid -excuse to telework. That's why there are policies... to make it fair for all. There are telework best practices, and childcare/eldercare while teleworking is one of the few absolute no-nos. I'm a supervisor... if someone does it they don't tell me. Or they get someone to watch the child while they telework. I try to encourage telework, but by the rules. We do a lot of it and I'm very supportive of it.

OP, she should not be just emailing you like that on the day she wants to telework. She should take sick leave if she has to, and if it's more than 3 days you need to ask for a doctor's note. Look at the union agreement, get some supervisory training and go to HR for advice, and check in with your fellow managers. This is a slippery slope with this employee.

[Anonymous]

I work from home full-time (no official policy but I have always had daycare), and I can generally work a full day when my 6-year-old is sick. He just watches tv and sleeps. If I miss time in the day, I make it up at night. Occasionally, there's a day where he has a fever or had a fever and has to stay home but is perfectly fine, and those days it's pretty hard to accomplish anything.

So, it depends. If you think she's taking advantage, you could be right. Lots of people are telecommuting freeloaders. But a 6-year-old is much, much different from a sick 4 (or under) year old, because they can read and watch tv and understand that I'm working.

[Anonymous]

And let's keep in mind that it often benefits an employer for an employee to be able to keep working when a child is sick. My employer would rather have me produce than sit on my butt all day watching tv with my kid. But I don't pretend to work; I actually work.

[Anonymous]

What kind of job is this? Does she need to be available during the day for calls and meetings? Or is it just about producing work and she meets all her deadlines?

[Anonymous]

My questions are the following:
1. How much telework is generally allowed in your group?
2. Is the employee getting the work done? (and available, etc.)
3. How much of the work is collaborative and/or of a nature that work/inconvenience/questions get shifted to others in the group when the employee teleworks?

In my area telework is generally allowed 1 day/week, and I can imagine that people would start to feel like there was a problem with equity if one person was allowed much more liberal telework conditions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My questions are the following:
1. How much telework is generally allowed in your group?
2. Is the employee getting the work done? (and available, etc.)
3. How much of the work is collaborative and/or of a nature that work/inconvenience/questions get shifted to others in the group when the employee teleworks

In my area telework is generally allowed 1 day/week, and I can imagine that people would start to feel like there was a problem with equity if one person was allowed much more liberal telework conditions.

I think you should do your best to separate the two issues. Reliability should be the primary issue and since she has not been able to demonstrate that she is reliable, you will be unable to approve any more telework days outside of what is agreed upon. That puts her on notice that you expect her to be in the office working and if she can't be in the office, she needs to use her sick time. I've never worked for the Feds but in the private sector I would use this kind of feedback to begin to document an attendance problem.

This also allows you to avoid drawing a bright line as it relates to working from home with sick kids.

[Anonymous]

I worked from home nearly a full day when my 3 year old was sick. Started early / DH stuck around to help, let her watch lots of cartoons, and worked for her 3 hour nap. So it can be done now and then, but it sounds like this is adding up.

[Anonymous]

if the policy says staying at home with a sick kid is a no, then I'd uphold that. If the policy simply says manager's discretion, then I'd focus on productivity. Like others have said, staying home with a six year old is vastly different from staying home with a 2 year old. If this is the 6 year old's first year in school (that is, all previous years were with a nanny or otherwise at home), it could be that the kid really is getting sick a lot because it's his first year exposed to so many germs.

[Anonymous]

If you make the employee take sickleave, you cannot make her work on that day. Is that the situation you want? Or do you want her to at least get some work done on those days?