asking my boss to work part-time

[jentomgrant]

Ive been paying my childminder of 6 months €150pw for minding my 2 year old 3 days per week (€50 per day). The hours are long enough - around 7am til 6pm and she feeds him. I had thought that this was a fair price. She now needs to up the price to €60 per day, which is an extra €30pw and I dont know if I can afford it and if its really worth me continuing to work outside of the home.
I already work 2 days from home (with 2yo at home with me) so I was considering maybe approaching my boss to see about going part-time working from home, or even 5 days working from home. This would save me the €180pw in childminding fees, as well as €30pw diesel/costs associated with travelling to work. I wonder, what sort of an offer would be acceptable when approaching my boss about this new arrangement? I am currently earning €600pw for 3 days in office & 2 days from home. If I now request that I work all 5 days from home, do you think my pay should decrease a lot? Or at all? And if I choose to work part-time (say only 3 days but from home), would it be just decreased pro-rata per day or would it be more because I am now at home?


Sorry if this seems confusing and longwinded, hopefully someone can help me crunch some numbers and make a decision on what would be best for our family.

Thanks
Jen

 

[extopia]

Re: Childminder upping price

By all means ask your boss can you work from home full-time. I wouldn't offer to take a pay cut at all. Presumably your boss is happy with the current arrangement and knows you are a trustworthy telecommuter, as you've already proved this with the 2 days a week you currently do from home.

But can you really do the job from home and mind the child at the same time though? How are you achieving this at the moment?

 

[SarahMc]

Re: Childminder upping price

A couple of thoughts..
This is rather unfair of the Childminder. Childminders should review their fees (most of them are hopeless at doing so), but it should be annual, not after 6 months (€60 per day is a lot, and would be at the very top of the scale, I hope you are getting top quality care for that).

I can't see how you can work from home without childcare. Working and minding a 2 year old at the same time - it just aint gonna work.

Have you considered an au-pair?

 

[ClubMan]

Re: Childminder upping price

I can't see how you can work from home without childcare. Working and minding a 2 year old at the same time - it just aint gonna work.

Me neither. I know from experience that with the best will in the world this is simply not practical and you will most likely end up neglecting work to look after the nippers.

 

[Complainer]

You could damage your professional reputation by suggesting that you can work from home and mind the kids at the same time. Your boss may well start wondering if he is getting good value from you on your telecommute days. In my last organisation, it was specific condition of the work-from-home policy that it was not a substitute for childcare.

You need to have a better plan in place before you talk to the boss.

 

[TreeTiger]

Re: Childminder upping price

€60 per day is a lot

Well not really, considering it's from 7am to 6pm, that works out at €5.45 per hour.

Working and minding a 2 year old at the same time - it just aint gonna work.

I absolutely agree here, when my son was 2 I used to do some part time work from home, and the only time I could do it was at night after he'd gone to bed.

 

[birdy]

You would also need to consider if you would be having meetings with collegues, do department meetings occur once a week or month. Even if it was was a conference call, you couldn't have the child in the room.

 

[Mpsox]

Re: Childminder upping price

A couple of thoughts..
This is rather unfair of the Childminder. Childminders should review their fees (most of them are hopeless at doing so), but it should be annual, not after 6 months (€60 per day is a lot, and would be at the very top of the scale, I hope you are getting top quality care for that).

I don't know how many children this childminder is minding, but this is half the legal minimum wage. Sounds to me like a bargain instead of being unfair

in terms of working from home, org I work for would insist from a Health and Safety perspective that the workspace be checked out to ensure it is up to standard. We allow staff to do it, but are adament that it is not to replace childcare and have ended it for some staff when it became quite apparent that they were not working full time at home but were getting paid to do so

 

[Diziet]

Re: Childminder upping price

I don't know how many children this childminder is minding, but this is half the legal minimum wage. Sounds to me like a bargain instead of being unfair

€60 per day is on the high side - a childminder is not a nanny and is expected to look after other children. Minimum wage does not apply on a per child basis surely (leaving alone the fact that most childminders are paid cash in hand).

 

[jentomgrant]

Hi All thanks for the replies.
She also looks after 2 other seperate children, so @ 5.45 per hour per child, I do think it is on the high side.
I am extremely productive while at home as my boss well knows as he is very happy with the current situation. Ive decided to keep going as I am for a while but will consider my options in the meantime. Thanks a million to everyone who replied.
Jen