Comment on Victorian government faces backlash from small businesses over right to work-from-home laws
fizzle@quokk.au 3 weeks ago
Its tricky.
I have a small consultancy and employ a few assistants.
Ofc senior staff can WFH whenever they wish but with some (not all) new hires its really problematic.
For a while we advertised 40% WFH in job postings, but found it really attracted some very dubious candidates.
One person who was with us for several months wanted to WFH so she didnt have to pay for day care for her 3 year old daughter. I genuinely dont know whether people generally think thats appropriate or not. During the working day my entire cognitive abilities are focussed on my work. I cant supervise my kids and work at the same time.
Im not a HR person and i have a healthy fear of treating a staff member unfairly. Its just easier not to have to navigate these problems.
Ultimately, if larger employers are offering WFH that will place pressure on smaller employers as the culture around WFH matures. I dont think it needs to be legislated.
Longmactoppedup@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
No way is it reasonable to WFH by yourself with a child under the age of 5. You would either be not providing enough attention to the child or work.
fizzle@quokk.au 3 weeks ago
Sure, but how do you really manage that in a WFH situation. Is it even appropriate to say “hey I suspect that you’re caring for your kid instead of working” ? Probably not. That’s kinda what I mean by, it’s another thing to navigate that I’d prefer to avoid.
MisterFrog@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
Does this not just come out in the wash based on their performance? Like, even if they were say working 6.75 hours instead of the 7.6 standard per day (38 hour standard work week) and were getting their tasks done to a high standard, who cares?
With the time spent not commuting, they’re probably hitting their work hours easy.
This is obviously not legal advice, but the angle I’d take if I I were you is if their performance is lacking, just don’t even mention the kid at all, it should be squarely focused on performance, that’s the only thing that matters to you.
Just my two cents that I think this won’t be a big deal in the end, even for employers. Covid has shown us working from home works just fine for most desk jobs.
Disclaimer, I don’t have kids, and am an employee of a business where I have to submit timesheets, so these comments are based on my own opinions and not from experience or expertise.
fizzle@quokk.au 3 weeks ago
Yeah, this is what I surmised at the time - I cant ask about kids, only monitor performance.
The thing is, we’re a very small team. We don’t have any performance monitoring or improvement infrastructure. If youre making lots of mistakes, and others are helping you out a lot, then your performance needs to improve.
If other team members are picking up your dropped catches, and they thing you’re at home with your kid, it becomes a real morale issue.
Other staff WFH and no one cares if they goof off a bit.
My point is, for a small business managing performance is much more challenging with WFH.