Coworkers with kids at home while WFH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not OP but also dealing with this. One of my direct reports is not getting ANY of their work done - taking weeks to respond to e-mails, following up with "oh I'll do this today" and never doing the requested action. I'm in middle management and my bosses expect results, and it is really frustrating. I'm not 100% sure they don't have childcare, but many times in the middle of the work day they've said they can't come to whatever meeting because they're taking care of their 1 year old. Child was born early in the pandemic, and I don't think they ever got childcare. I don't want to totally throw them under the bus, as a leader it is my responsibility to have my teams get results but man am I getting fed up. I get that childcare was hard in 2020, but wtf is taking them so long.

Address this as it would as if they were in-office. When you send a meeting invite, or however you schedule them, state that attendance is mandatory. Not addressing an employee consistently not responding to emails or completing projects for weeks would be unacceptable in-office, so should be the same with WFM. If she doesn't get something done or to you within a day or two, email as follows:

I'm checking on the status of this project. When can I expect this?

In our last email, you said I would have this by August 1st. I don't see that I've received it yet. Would you please make sure it's completed and sent today (tomorrow, end of week, whatever).

We have a deadline that must be met on this. if you're not going to be able to complete by _____, would you please let me know so I can assign it someone else?

If there's extenuating circumstances on why you've been able to get this back by ____, would please share those with me? We may need to temporarily adjust some workloads.

This isn't throwing anyone under the bus. It's documenting someone's day to day work. It's not your fault if she isn't doing it. It is if you're not addressing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As with so many other workplace misbehavior topics, the key is to focus on how it affects YOUR work. Person not available during work hours or not able to have reasonable calls/discussions b/c kids are constantly interrupting--problem. Person not getting work done that affects you--problem.

I do agree that child care has been difficult, and many organizations have been very accommodating. But some employees have decided that these accommodations are the new normal.

Some key phrases I use:
Work life balance is for everyone.
Discrimination by family status is illegal.

Yeah. Reporting someone for work-related issues who also happens to have a family isn't automatically discrimination. That's not how it works.

[Anonymous]

Is it your direct report? If no, myob