How recently? I haven't been in this situation because I know I would never have got any work done. It was bad enough trying to juggle childcare of older children and working during lockdown.

I agree with Elizabeth. I would be very surprised if an employer would agree to this. Babies don't work on a 'core hours' basis unfortunately, so at any time, the employee could have to stop work and look after the baby. That would be very difficult to manage if the role involved virtual meetings, telephone calls etc.

The only possible way I could see if working would be if the work could be done at any time of the day and they could do some elements of the work during the day when the baby was sleeping, but then do most in the evening with the other parent/family member looking after the baby. I did have some members of my team with babies or toddlers working in that way during lockdown. it was incredibly tiring for them though as it meant that their working day (be they carrying out childcare, or work for their employer) was very long.

Questions to ask yourself.....
Do I value the employee?
Can I rely on the employee?
What does the employee want and will it work for the business?
In the short and long term what will the impact be on the business and employee retention?
Don't be afraid to break the norm if everyone can benefit!!!

A recent client had a remote first working policy so all of their employees had home based contracts and worked remotely. A number had children and of course, as an employer, you trust they are making arrangements. It was a small business so did not offer childcare support as a benefit.

There are a lot of questions I would have such as:
*what were your paid maternity leave arrangements?
*what checks in did you have about return to work arrangements?
*what flexible work arrangements accommodate caring and other responsibilities and what do other staff do?
*what is their job role and outputs and how might those be delivered?

My primary concern would be for the employees welfare and that they are clear what they need to deliver on, when they need to be available and what arrangements they have in place to support that and how the business might be able to help them.

Childcare can be very difficult to get hold of at the moment and the costs are prohibitive in some instances so it would be worth exploring this with the individual, assuming you are not already all over that side of things, to see what's going on for them assuming you want to retain them and show a positive example to other women in particular in thew wider business. Good luck.

In reply to Sharon:

We have a couple of admin folk whose work is time bound and controlled to some extent, but work on a flexible split-shift basis. So they do their contractual hours per day but will do, say, 2 or 3 during our "normal" working hours of 9-5 and the rest outside those hours. They meet their deadlines, perform effectively and have a foot note on their email explaining that they work outside "normal" hours so may respond at non-standard times (and don't expect a response outside "normal" times either). So far it has worked well and is welcomed by both employee and manager.

As harsh as it sounds, you will need to balance the needs of the business against what the employee is looking for.

I can only speak from my experience as a parent of an 8 month old child.

The older one is at nursery,

How will this employee juggle having to be at a meeting if their child also needs to be put down for a nap and is stubbornly refusing to go sleep?

Babies, especially infants, don't care about core hours or that mummy or daddy are on a conference call. Also, unless sleeping infants require pretty much near-constant supervision.

In reply to Juraj Kecso:

Upon thinking about my previous reply, I would like to clarify a few things.

I do not want to appear dismissive of working parents, especially parents of small children given their particular needs.

When considering flexible working requests, it is important to keep an open mind and really explore all possibilities and opportunities this could bring

But it is also important that both parties (especially the employee) have realistic expectations on what is possible.

I am sure we all agree that not all jobs were created equal in terms of flexibility (both when and from where the work can be done).

If you work as a cleaner and the building can only be cleaned at a particular time of day, it would be very difficult for you to do the job remotely or at different times.

If you work in customer service, there may be a scope for working remotely, but some of your tasks may be limited by business hours.

Without knowing the actual circumstances of this particular employee, like their job role, responsibilities, how old their child is, what needs the child has etc., it is very difficult to judge what is or isn't possible.

My experience of just the odd day of having to care for a child whilst also having to work wasn't very positive, but that was specific to my circumstances and my job. That does not mean others (even in the exact same situation) could not make it work too.

In reply to Juraj Kecso:

Having just seen the impacy my grandson has made on his fathers working day it has confirmed my view that such proposals are either:
naive or naughty.
All children are different but it is simply impossible to do a standard day and look after a small child.
My son in law is trying as best he can to make up some of the hours he lost and it would have been impossible without his parents in law.

In reply to Juraj Kecso:

Having just seen the impacy my grandson has made on his fathers working day it has confirmed my view that such proposals are either:
naive or naughty.
All children are different but it is simply impossible to do a standard day and look after a small child.
My son in law is trying as best he can to make up some of the hours he lost and it would have been impossible without his parents in law.