Working from Home

[Anonymous]

Most people do work in close proximity to their bosses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people do work in close proximity to their bosses.

It is not about proximity to "the boss"!! Do you have children?

[Anonymous]

I'm a MB and work from home about 50% of the time. I interviewed many nanny candidates and only one outright said that she would not consider working for me since I'm home. A few expressed hesitation, but were willing to meet with me. The few candidates I ended up interviewing in person all had past experience with a parent who is at home (whether WAH or SAH) and had no qualms about it. When I work from home, the nanny tries to take DC out as much as possible. I am also quiet like a church mouse when they are here so DC is not reminded of my presence. DC will look for me a couple times, but if I keep my door closed and do not say hello, DC will let it go (maybe thinks I'm not there...?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a MB and work from home about 50% of the time. I interviewed many nanny candidates and only one outright said that she would not consider working for me since I'm home. A few expressed hesitation, but were willing to meet with me. The few candidates I ended up interviewing in person all had past experience with a parent who is at home (whether WAH or SAH) and had no qualms about it. When I work from home, the nanny tries to take DC out as much as possible. I am also quiet like a church mouse when they are here so DC is not reminded of my presence. DC will look for me a couple times, but if I keep my door closed and do not say hello, DC will let it go (maybe thinks I'm not there...?).

U r telling things from your perspective. I am sure the occasional couple of times he looks for u annoys your nanny. And the hassle of taking him out somewhere all the time in all weather is draining. Your nanny is burned out and will quit once she finds something not as stressful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nannies - we have a five month old and are hiring a nanny. We were just turned down by one woman who said that she was concerned that we were occaisionally working from home.

Any tips on how to approach the topic and make it workable for both parties? I don't want to give up the option to work from home. I can often get more done and it cuts my commute time out / gives me more time with my DS. I understand it could be disruptive, but there must be a way to make it work.

Thanks!

HI Mom, this comment is coming from a nanny of 20 years and worked in several family structures, this is about finding a good personality match between you and the nanny. The situation can work, but only if you work as a team. Honestly I thought I would never be able to work with a parent at home because of my type A personality but I was proven wrong. One of my best positions was with a Mom that was home allot and when she was not home the kids and I would meet for lunch, we took the kids shopping togther, we'll mom shopped and I did stroller fun with the kids, we just was a good team and the kids thrived.

Take time to find someone nanny that you work well with, it may take a couple tries but you can find it, just be open with the candidates.

[Anonymous]

I am a mature nanny who can be direct and open in my communication. I do not mind work from home parents on a regular or occasional basis. Find someone who is confident in their abilities and has enough experience to not be flustered by your presence. It may cost more than a college student.

[Anonymous]

As long as the parent isn't intentionally disruptive, I don't have an issue. I have walked away from 2 positions in the first week because the parent was more disruptive as the week went on, and in both cases, child was not to leave the house if the parent was home.

[Anonymous]

I hate it when DB works from home. He is quite awkward and I feel I have to make conversation all the time. I also feel he feeds back negative stuff to MB as he seems like he could be quite critical. That may be in my head though.
Wouldn't care if MB worked from home from time to time.She is a sweetie and so I would be more relaxed.
I definitely wouldn't take on a job where 1 of the parents worked from home.

[Anonymous]

You're getting some bad responses here, so thought I'd weigh in. More and more parents work from home for at least one or two days a week. It's just the way things are going... Whether or not it works depends on the parent and the nanny. I work from home two days a week and quickly realized that when my 8 month old son sees me, he wants me, which is hard on me, our wonderful nanny, and him. So, I work upstairs during the day and try to stay out of sight as much as possible. I time my lunch so I come down when she's out for a walk with him or at the library, or playing in the other room. We text throughout the day and she brings him to me to nurse, then we snuggle, play for a bit, I bring him down to play with the nanny together and I sneak back out to go to work. This is the beauty of working from home and having a nanny; and at the end of the day you're right there. If I were in their face all day I could see it being an issue, but I'm not a micro-manager and I want things easy for all of us. There are many parents just like me. So, OP, keep looking. A good nanny will have no issue with this. Just be clear that you will not be getting in the way.

[Anonymous]

Nanny of 14 yrs here.

I would never work for a family who work from home.

When the baby is a newborn it does not matter but after 4-5 months they know who the mom and dad are and when the parents are home it gets crazy. They run to mommy everytime I say no to a snack or he refuses to sleep and I am firm with him.

No way i d rather work at TJ Maxx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nanny of 14 yrs here.

I would never work for a family who work from home.

When the baby is a newborn it does not matter but after 4-5 months they know who the mom and dad are and when the parents are home it gets crazy. They run to mommy everytime I say no to a snack or he refuses to sleep and I am firm with him.

No way i d rather work at TJ Maxx

You are exaggerating. In my experience, kids don't run to mommy and daddy when I'm "mean" until they're past 2. Many a nanny relationship ends well before then anyhow so I wouldn't weigh this against taking a job with a young infant.

[Anonymous]

I hate to say it but I am uncomfortable when parents work from home. Not because they do anything to undermine me. Just that kids behave differently when parents are around. They whine and cry more. I see more behavior problems. A lot of it is because the kids really love and want to play with their parents, who they see less often. That frustration can come out as challenging behavior to secure the parents attention. If you can master how you respond when you child is trying to take you away from work or when you hear them cry or fall down - then you can make it work.

[Anonymous]

Op, are you still reading? My nanny surprised me by saying that she prefers it when I WAH, that it's less boring. I regularly WAH a few days and I was nervous this would annoy nannys and so I have been respectful and kept my distance. She has also said she really likes that I give her a lot of discretion, as her prior MB had strict schedules and rules. But during the search process, I have come across candidates that don't seem to like the idea of me WAH. The key is to find whose personality meshes with yours, someone who won't annoy you, just as much as some nannies might screen out WAH MBs. I am very introverted and I could not have a talkative nanny who engaged me while I WAH or wanted to have lunch together every day or something. First identify the personality you want. Then when you interview, ask the are you ok with me WAH question over the phone to screen out the ones that seem hesitant about it. There are nannies that are totally fine with it, despite the impression you get here on DCUM. I met maybe 10 candidates, 8 said it didn't matter to them that I WAH 2-3 times a week.