Has anyone's boss spoken to you about missing too many days due to kid's snow closings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't make this about back up care, make this about her work performance. If she's missing deadlines, thats what you should be concerned about.

This is a band-aid approach, not a long-term approach. If your employee is valuable and you don't want to lose her, then find out if there are ways that your company can bring the best out of its employees. In the meantime, figure out together how to get the work caught up. If you are her supervisor, you have to be able to help problem solve situations like these AND think ahead so as to avoid a repeat.

[Anonymous]

Every job I've ever had I was told upfront not having a babysitter was not a good excuse to be absent from work. You got one warning if it did happen but fired after that.

No company can run if you miss work on a regular basis. They also don't do daycare for you. Why did you have kids if you can't manage the kid days off ?

[Anonymous]

This year has been unusual amount of days off so probably should just move on, but why not say you work at home with kids if you are able? I have 3rd grader and he is capable of keeping self busy for long stretches. On every snow day I worked at least 6 hours by working in am while he was sleeping, a bit after he was asleep in pm and by taking a chunk during day. I think the problem is not being proactive with boss to share how you'll keep up. If her kids are younger, maybe that wouldn't be so possible but some jobs you could do alot at home. If I missed 9 days of work so far this year without addressing with boss on how to catch up, I know I'd be fired. Jobs are not that easy to come by these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every job I've ever had I was told upfront not having a babysitter was not a good excuse to be absent from work. You got one warning if it did happen but fired after that.

No company can run if you miss work on a regular basis. They also don't do daycare for you. Why did you have kids if you can't manage the kid days off ?

This doesn't make sense at all. So lets say you work in an office and have a nanny who takes care of your children. One day the nanny call you in the morning saying she is sick, has a fever and cannot come. Your husband is out of town in a trip, you have no family around. What will you do? Take the day off.

Next day nanny is back and everything is back to normal. The following week, nanny calls again and this time her kid is sick and can't go to school or her car broke down or whatever and she cannot come again. You husband is still out of town or has a deadline and cannot miss work. What will you do besides firing the nanny (because I am sure you will) - you can't leave your kids home alone, so you take another day off. And you are fired!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every job I've ever had I was told upfront not having a babysitter was not a good excuse to be absent from work. You got one warning if it did happen but fired after that.

No company can run if you miss work on a regular basis. They also don't do daycare for you. Why did you have kids if you can't manage the kid days off ?

Not a very family friendly place where you work. I would not work there.

[Anonymous]

OP you work part time as her boss? Is she also part time? Can she make up the time she was off? Why not suggest that...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every job I've ever had I was told upfront not having a babysitter was not a good excuse to be absent from work. You got one warning if it did happen but fired after that.

No company can run if you miss work on a regular basis. They also don't do daycare for you. Why did you have kids if you can't manage the kid days off ?

AMEN! It is not a company's responsibility to be lenient on a working mom with childcare problems due to winter weather if she is falling behind and her workload suffers.

It is also not fair to other working moms who manage to show up because they created childcare backup options so that they could manage their workloads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP how is your office set up to handle when an employee is out and what about staying late. I had a boss, who no lie, was crazy about this stuff. We were supposed to have coverage when we were out, but rarely did people cover as much as needed. We couldn't take our work home because of confidentiality issues. And, we couldn't come in early or stay late. Boss would not open the doors until 8:45 and at 5:15 he made the rounds and if someone was still working, he'd tell you you had to go. And if you didn't, he'd log you out of the system.

It was by far the most toxic and miserable work environment I've ever been in.

OP here. We do not have rigid hours, which is why I am able to work part time. I often feel I work full time but with a flex schedule because I do take work home with me. I would not care if she took all those days off if she was getting her work done but she is missing deadline after deadline. This is a very busy time for us with multiple deals going on as well as year end.

Talk to her soon, because CWG is predicting a possible additional storm next week.

[Anonymous]

thankfully my company allows work from home and i have done that when grandparents weren't available to babysit. my boss is quite easy going about occasional telecommuting but i am also known for quality work product often produced far in advance so i have never fallen behind.

[Anonymous]

Who are all these people who supposedly have backup care when OPM closes? I couldn't get anyone out here. Luckily my office follows OPM, but I would have had to miss several days.

Any company that would fire a working mom for having to take off a few days a year for childcare is a worthless place to work. You can't hire parents without some flexibility in this day and age. Also, if you are treating this mom more harshly than a father or an employee who took days off for other reasons, then you make be liable for caregiver discrimination.

Also OP boasting about her 5 backup plans, and then it turns out she works PT? Yeah, f you.

[Anonymous]

OP, how old are her kids? It seemed like from one of your earlier posts that she took off all of winter break - are they school aged?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who are all these people who supposedly have backup care when OPM closes? I couldn't get anyone out here. Luckily my office follows OPM, but I would have had to miss several days.

Any company that would fire a working mom for having to take off a few days a year for childcare is a worthless place to work. You can't hire parents without some flexibility in this day and age. Also, if you are treating this mom more harshly than a father or an employee who took days off for other reasons, then you make be liable for caregiver discrimination.

Also OP boasting about her 5 backup plans, and then it turns out she works PT? Yeah, f you.

I was not boasting. I just have a lot of options. I have only used 3 of my 5 options but I lined up another 2 in case my first 3 fall through.

There are a lot of former teachers who are now SAHMs. If you are friendly with them, they are open to earning $200 to have a play date with your kids.

[Anonymous]

AMEN! It is not a company's responsibility to be lenient on a working mom with childcare problems due to winter weather if she is falling behind and her workload suffers.

It is also not fair to other working moms who manage to show up because they created childcare backup options so that they could manage their workloads.

Certainly correct that a company has no 'responsibility' to be lenient. But a company that imagines it can have a workforce that exists solely to serve the company, without personal lives that involve children, spouses, bad weather, etc., simply isn't being realistic. My workforce is made up of smart, loyal employees who have tremendous experience in the industry. They stay with our firm because I understand that they have personal as well as professional lives. Our productivity is very high, largely because I have so little turnover.
You can expect your employees to live for you and you alone, but I doubt you can be so clueless and successful at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who are all these people who supposedly have backup care when OPM closes? I couldn't get anyone out here. Luckily my office follows OPM, but I would have had to miss several days.

Any company that would fire a working mom for having to take off a few days a year for childcare is a worthless place to work. You can't hire parents without some flexibility in this day and age. Also, if you are treating this mom more harshly than a father or an employee who took days off for other reasons, then you make be liable for caregiver discrimination.

Also OP boasting about her 5 backup plans, and then it turns out she works PT? Yeah, f you.

A company is justified in firing an employee if they have chronic absenteeism and their workload suffers. Why should a working mom with childcare problems be exempt from this?

There are lots of people out there that would love to have that job and would be able to stay on top of their workload.

It is no different than someone saying that they have chronic absenteeism because they have transportation problems. It's not the company's responsibility to then provide transportation or childcare options; perks like this, when offered, are earned. Flexibility is one thing. Perks are another.

It is an employee's (male or female, mom or dad) personal responsibility to handle their workload and earn their pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every job I've ever had I was told upfront not having a babysitter was not a good excuse to be absent from work. You got one warning if it did happen but fired after that.

No company can run if you miss work on a regular basis. They also don't do daycare for you. Why did you have kids if you can't manage the kid days off ?

AMEN! It is not a company's responsibility to be lenient on a working mom with childcare problems due to winter weather if she is falling behind and her workload suffers.

It is also not fair to other working moms who manage to show up because they created childcare backup options so that they could manage their workloads.

If you accrue paid time off, then you should be able to use that time off for whatever purpose you like.

The employer should have a policy for unscheduled leave, and that then applies to everyone. So if you have any kind of home emergency (maybe your hvac breaks in the middle of winter and you need to take off to deal with it immediately), there is a clear policy for calling in.