We have started a new segment allowing managers to ask questions that will be answered directly by our CEO, Darcy Swift. This month’s question is:
QUESTION: My employees have been working from home for the past year due to pandemic protocol. Now the office is opening back up and a handful of them are asking to continue doing their jobs remotely due to lack of child care. I totally understand the situation and want to work with them but it makes no sense to open the office for only a few employees and I can’t let some work from home and not others simply because they don’t have kids. What’s the best way to resolve this?
ANSWER: There are a few ways you can approach this situation and it really just depends on what you feel is best for your company. If you feel as though it will be more cost effective to continue having remote employees and the overall consensus is that they would prefer to work from home then maybe consider keeping your current situation for a while as it will benefit everyone. However, if your company feels as though it would be better for employees to move back into the office then it needs to be a requirement for all employees. If you cherry pick who has to come back and who doesn’t then it can cause a lot of issues within your teams.
If your company is choosing to move forward with employees moving back into the office, the best way to handle the situation with those that need to find child care is to extend the in office date by a week to allow them time to find proper care. Let your employees know that you want to work with them but the pre-pandemic policies still stand. If they are unable to move back into the office by the standing date then their position may be up for discussion.
If you have a question you want answered, please contact us HERE. We will feature one frequently asked question a month.
We have started a new segment allowing managers to ask questions that will be answered directly by our CEO, Darcy Swift. This month’s question is:
QUESTION: My employees have been working from home for the past year due to pandemic protocol. Now the office is opening back up and a handful of them are asking to continue doing their jobs remotely due to lack of child care. I totally understand the situation and want to work with them but it makes no sense to open the office for only a few employees and I can’t let some work from home and not others simply because they don’t have kids. What’s the best way to resolve this?
ANSWER: There are a few ways you can approach this situation and it really just depends on what you feel is best for your company. If you feel as though it will be more cost effective to continue having remote employees and the overall consensus is that they would prefer to work from home then maybe consider keeping your current situation for a while as it will benefit everyone. However, if your company feels as though it would be better for employees to move back into the office then it needs to be a requirement for all employees. If you cherry pick who has to come back and who doesn’t then it can cause a lot of issues within your teams.
If your company is choosing to move forward with employees moving back into the office, the best way to handle the situation with those that need to find child care is to extend the in office date by a week to allow them time to find proper care. Let your employees know that you want to work with them but the pre-pandemic policies still stand. If they are unable to move back into the office by the standing date then their position may be up for discussion.
If you have a question you want answered, please contact us HERE. We will feature one frequently asked question a month.