I find "Don't" an adequate policy.....

Even for working at home appropriate care needs to be arranged. Depending on how generous your company is I would allow paid/unpaid leave instead.

Hi Andrea,

I remember as a school child having to accompany my mum to work on occasion, being set a variety of activities throughout the day, allowing her to continue to work. relatively uninterrupted. Her work was such that she could not WFH, and if she could not bring me in, she could not work - meaning both she and the school lost out completely.

My current company (not a school though) recognises emergencies with childcare (I stress - emergency) and understand someone may need to bring their child with them to sort out some parts of their work, or organise their tasks and notify others they will then be working from home if this is possible. It is not expected that this continues beyond a day. We don't have a formal policy (unless you count the dependents leave but its not this specific). If it does go beyond a day, it's standard leave and can be chosen as paid or unpaid accordingly.

Is this a big problem for you? What is the impact? If they cannot bring their child with them, what would happen?

The flexibility in both situations did not go unnoticed, and not only results in productivity, as opposed to the option of lost productivity if no flexibility, but higher engagement and the benefits that brings.

kind regards,
Laura

We don't have a formal policy, but there are some understood ground rules. Emergencies and short gaps in childcare happen; for preference we'd want parents to work from home in these circumstances, but we have allowed children into the office for a short period (half a day or less). However regular or full time childcare while working from home is not acceptable.

It can be very dependent on the age and needs of the child - having kids come home from school during your working day, and pausing to get them a snack and a drink is one thing; being the sole caregiver for an infant or toddler, while you're supposed to be working, is a whole different kettle of fish!

Hi Andrea

Leaving aside whether this is a desirable thing to do or not, if you have children in your workplace, then you need to carry out a risk assessment. Depending on age, children may not be able to read warning signs. Even if they can read, they may not see the reason for complying with the sign and lack the life experience to know how dangerous something could be. Compared to adults, children may move about the place quite erratically, running, climbing on things, getting into spaces an adult wouldn't fit into. They might be curious about machinery and stick their fingers or clothing into your shredder. Even in the relatively safe environment of a normal office, I could imagine some children scooting about on office chairs and cannoning into people and furniture. If you allowed a child to log onto an age-appropriate website (Cbeebies etc), do your computers have parental controls and could they get into unsuitable sites?

The HSE has guidance on H&S of children in specific industries. I found this www.hse.gov.uk/.../indg364.pdf on older children in the workplace.

Overall, if you are going to allow this the parent must be responsible for overseeing the child at all times, which does not seem compatible with doing a day's work. If there was an accident, I don't think it would avoid liability to say the child was under the supervision of a parent.

Hi Andrea, did you have any joy with this? I've been asked to look at this as well so thought I'd ask before putting something together as we're both in secondary education. Many thanks

Hi andrea, i work in FE college and we have a policy to say staff chaorldren not to be brought into the college. for a few reasons it not fair on other staff to than look after them. also they are not insured due to being child of a staff member. the insurance companies will like at if staff, students enroled on college/school egistars and visitors. in this case they are not any of them so if anything happens to the child than not insured at all.