If youre making lots of mistakes, and others are helping you out a lot, then your performance needs to improve.

Is this not a type of performance monitoring? And to be fair, would performance not be monitored in the same way (assuming it’s a desk job) not matter if they’re working from home or not. I just am usually a bit sceptical that WFH is much of a burden.

This might be a little un-generous, but it seems that you believe the employee is making more mistakes at home, but it could also be your own bias that you know they have a child at home, and you think they’re more distracted. I’d encourage you to just look at their work and decide from that if there’s actually an issue here (there may well be, I obviously have no idea).

You’ll save yourself headaches down the line if you end up putting them on a performance management plan (if it really is a serious issue and not overreacting, again I have no idea), if you base it entirely on performance, and that way there will be no accusations of bias.

If they’re getting their work down, I’d encourage you to not worry about it and if they’re not, the issue is with them not holding up their end of the bargain - not WFH.

Me personally, I like being in the office, because it’s so much easier to bother each other for a quick chat about XYZ issue. When you’re at home all you can do is message, since it’s hard to tell how focused someone is. At the office you can base it on vibes. I am also single with no kids, so I am strongly in favour of WFH for everyone by default.

My point is, for a small business managing performance is much more challenging with WFH.

I obviously won’t tell you how to run your own business, especially since I’ve never managed a team before, let alone a small business. But I’m still finding it hard to imagine why it’s so much harder for a small business (if it’s just a desk job).

Anyway, just my 2 cents to encourage you to catch yourself being biased because of children (if you are, you may be right on the money!)

Good to catch with ya :)