This week’s blog has come out of a discussion on a Facebook Group I was reading the other evening. The poster was concerned that staff were telling her that they would not be attending the inset day unless they could bring their children with them.
It got me thinking about what others would do in this situation.
Where Day Nurseries and Pre-schools are operated from school environments it is not uncommon for staff to be expected to attend the inset day that the school staff have during the year. These will often be written into the contracts of employment of the staff involved. Those inset days are pre-booked with the staff and parents, and often happen at the beginning or end of school holidays. Is it reasonable for the staff to be expected to attend? Yes, so long as it is written into the terms and conditions. That way if it is going to be a problem for the employee you would expect them to raise it at the beginning of the relationship rather than the night before an inset day!
There are other occasions where an employee may ask whether they can bring their children into the workplace. These include:
- To introduce a new baby to colleagues
- Staff Meetings in the evening
- Training Days at weekend
- Parents evenings after work
- Fete’s and Open Days
- Emergencies that mean the building needs to be opened up by the staff.
- Deep cleans and maintenance events
The general rule of thumb I operate to is if the staff will be paid to be in the workplace; then their children wouldn’t be there.
I would think about the reason the child is there.
In a Day Nursery or a Club would the child be registered? Who would provide the care and would it be disruptive to the setting? What would be the cost of the child taking a place for the day? Who pays?
In a non early years business we knew of a situation in the past where a 3 year old little girl was brought in to a workplace due to a break down in the care arrangements. The father and the child went down with chicken pox the following day. The little girl had been speaking to a woman who was in the early stages of pregnancy and she was terrified that she may contract chicken pox and miscarry. The firm then lost the employee to Shingles for a week, and the pregnant employee was off with Stress and Anxiety for a week.
Would other employees take an issue with children being in the workplace. It may also not be fair on the children.
What about Health and Safety? Would this invalidate your insurance? How would your customers react, would it be seen as unprofessional or would it be totally in keeping with your brand. Imagine if your customers wanted to bring children in for their appointments? We’ve seen this too. A lady we know that does Nails & Beauty has had to communicate with her clients that children must not be brought to appointments.
Everyone is different and there is no right or wrong answer to this. The children may love it and the experience may be very rewarding, you just never know!
How old are the children? For example I know of a firm that sells and rents portable buildings. They have built a creche at their headquarters where staff can bring their older children to work and the children can use the room for play and watching movies, safe in the knowledge that adults are behind the wall working away.
So to conclude; you are being reasonable as an employer if you advise staff that you are sorry they cannot bring their children to work and be paid.
As someone being paid to be at work you are reasonable to expect them to source childcare, even if that means they have to pay for it.
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