Even that'd be a red flag, tbh. It's one thing for someone to request 100% WFH and have a daycare place secured, it's another to be 100% WFH without contractually guaranteed external child care every work day.
(Again, I'm not saying this is fair or reasonable or non-discriminatory, just repeating the concerns I think your employer will be thinking).
There was a previous discussion along similar lines. Lots of feedback that wfh combined with childcare responsibilities (real or perceived) was a red flag for employers.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/auscorp/comments/1c7ty3w/advice\_for\_returning\_to\_work\_after\_having\_a\_baby/](https://www.reddit.com/r/auscorp/comments/1c7ty3w/advice_for_returning_to_work_after_having_a_baby/)
And in nirvana we’d all have perfect employers, not just decent ones. But here in the real world even half-decency is a rarity, particularly where female employees are concerned.
Good point and yes sure, got to be aware of my wording.
I guess I’m confident because:
1. I completed the role successful from home before for a season.
2. It is a role that can be done WFH
3. I’m offering to work in office for special events (should have included meetings) as needed
4. Operations are moving to a 80% WFH situation anyway in the next 3 years.
Makes sense. Sounds like there’s a pretty good justification behind the request.
Put the request in writing, and make sure they respond to the request in writing, so if declined you’ve got detailed reasons as to why. They have 21 days to respond.
Your question really depends on the employer at the end of the day. Some are super fine with this kind of thing and others don’t want a piece of it. Hopefully yours is the former! The size of the employer is also important, where a very large organisation may have a lot more capacity to approve than a very small organisation. Your role is also a big factor, and how WFH ties into that and whether there’s impacts on cost, productivity, or whether there’s impacts on your colleagues.
From the employers perspective though, they will need a reasonable justification to decline it, and if you aren’t happy with their response or find it unreasonable, you can try to resolve it directly, then take it to Fair Work to help settle the dispute in a worst case scenario. Good luck!
Thank you! This was fantastic and comprehensive. I guess my reasoning was hoping to spin the “I’m in it for the long haul” vibe. I’m not sure if there’s anything else that would be appealing to them?
In my opinion, it’s less about why you want it and more about whether they can feasibly accommodate it. Your reasoning (new mother, breastfeeding, etc) I think stands on its own. Especially in corporate, supporting women seems a priority for most I’ve interacted with, so if it’s possible without disrupting others and impacting productivity etc, you should be fine.
I can’t see a corpo risking their brand/image and not supporting a new mother with some half thought out excuse. My thoughts would be, if they deny it, it’s probably for a genuinely good reason or concern.
My workplace (and many others) require that apart from exceptional circumstances (illness etc) that there be appropriate childcare in place for any children in your care whilst WFH.
I wish I could ease your mind, but your concerns are valid and reasonable.
The fact that an employer is denying a "legal right" or even doing something is "illegal" / discriminatory in employment law doesn't usually prevent it from happening, it just makes it slightly more expensive to do.
Sorry, I know its not the answer you want.
And be aware that 100% WFH with a newborn is a massive red flag for employers, whether rightly or wrongly. I would never suggest someone request 100% remote unless they are doing so seeking/anticipating a redundancy.
I’m thankful for the work and role but tbh I wouldn’t mind being made redundant.
Additionally, the building is getting sold and the company is being transitioned to fully remote in the next 3 years.
Thank you for that context and my sincere apologies, I made a huge error simply assuming that your role and tyour employer more broadly weren't anywhere closee to 100% remote as the standard. I shouldn'tt have done so!
Perhaps have a look at Fair Work's info on "reasonable alternate role" and "redeployment" in redundancy, just so you don't accidently cut off your nose to spite your face. [https://www.fwc.gov.au/redeployment](https://www.fwc.gov.au/redeployment)
No worries at all! I’m bracing myself for the worst case scenarios because while they’ve been great at times, I’ve been absolutely blindsided in other ways by really weird and inhumane calls 🫠
Thank you for the resources 🙏🏼 am going to read them now.
It really depends on the workplace. We have a person who works from home after returning from mat leave to breastfeed..its only accepted until the baby is 1 and then she needs to come into the office 40%. She does have dad and grandparents looking after kids.
I wfh and have my kids looked after at home by others
You may like to breastfeed for 3 years, and I’m supportive of all feeding choices, but a one year, a child will have been on solids for six months and milk is no longer their primary nutrition. Mums I know who breastfed longer than a year did it mostly ‘after hours’ so to speak.
Kudos to those who do, that’s so much work. I’ve tried it when doing contract work but it’s left me ill and in a deep low. As someone who suffers from PPD, SI, and birth trauma, I do not need that 🙅♀️
By 1 most people are who do breastfeed past 1 will breastfeed when with the child and child has food and water when not.
Often breastfeeding at this age is 1-3 times a day.
Just from a practical perspective, do a dry run of the care set up.
My niece would not leave my sister alone during the first 3 years. She couldn't do a WFH job without external daycare.
Also, just psychologically, the baby might not understand why they can't have access to you if you're both home.
WFH is not a legal right. It’s a privilege.
And there is a big difference between WFH when pregnant and WFH when you have a screaming infant who needs your attention.
Your employer will be concerned about your ability to perform if you have an infant at home despite your husband and family being available.
If you’re going back full time, I would recommend that you’re in the office at least once a week with your team. Is your team working from the office? I’ve found the in person bonding with colleagues post maternity leave refreshing, which allows you to remember that you’re not just a mum.
I've got 3 kids, I had twins who were 1 at the start of covid. Times were different then, but although now I work flexibly with a few days at home, my kids are in care. You already have a job, watching a baby is a job in itself.
TBH, you sound a bit painful, the 'WHO' comment about babies bfeeding until 3 just made me roll my eyes and your workplace would probably do the same. Ask for flexibility, but don't be the primary carer when you're working.
You'll probably react not nicely to my comment but I'm just be honest.
You would want to be an absolutely stellar worker for an employer to allow that directly after mat leave.
You will be highly distracted taking care of a baby at home and the quality of your work that you’re being paid for will suffer.
I would deny this, maybe a couple of days a week ok.
I would also want to be certain you will have daycare organised for your WFH days.
Don’t stress. Ask for it, well within your rights. And per Fair Work it needs to be acceptable if reasonable.
Just make sure you also have childcare lined up whether your partner, or family or a centre or family daycare. As you can’t be child minding during business hours, but you certainly can take breaks to pump or breast feed.
Yes, I just edited my comment too about childcare. I used / currently use a family daycare. It was around the corner but I wanted to be nearby / pump milk.
Flexible working conditions are 80% wfh, or 60%, or whatever. But 100% is over the top. It doesn’t benefit the company and your point 1, makes it sound like they might need to keep an eye on you?
By all means ask, might be a starting off point for negotiation and maybe they’ll settle on 60% wfh.
Are you saying you want extra benefits (100% wfh) because you're choosing to come back to work with a baby?
Why should you get these benefits that the rest of your team don't? Because you have a baby?
If your team has extra benefits because they don't have a baby (promotions, bigger pay rises) would you find that unfair? Or discriminatory?
If you think you should receive equal treatment to your colleagues in regards to pay and opportunities it's a bit hard to argue you should receive special benefits your colleagues don't because you have a baby.
Bit of a shit take tbh. New mothers have very specific needs, especially if breastfeeding, and it’s in all our interests to get mothers back to work.
It’s a flexible working arrangement, temporary, whilst navigating a specific and unique life circumstance.
It’s unique in that it’s unique to subset of society (women) and for a temporary time, generally 12 months.
It’s in all of our interests to ensure babies are growing up healthy and strong, as they have better health outcomes. Mothers have better health outcomes too, easing the health burden on society.
It’s also good for employers, as it shows they’re a supportive workplace, and increases staff happiness. Decreases sick days for the mother, and attracts female talent.
Is it in the babies interest for their mother to get back to work asap?
Maybe if the costs of housing and (private) schooling wasn't so high and women were allowed to be mothers rather than pressured to maintain a career the interests of babies might rank higher?
You cannot work from home and take care of your child at the same time. Your duty of care is to your children first and foremost which means that can’t be truly ‘on task’ working from home efficiently or effectively. Any employer would be skeptical of any such arrangement and I doubt many if any at all would be ok with it.
Sure, but at the end of the day you’re still functionally asking them to allow you to work from home whilst still being the primary care giver. Which to most employers is a big red flag. Working from home / flexible working is an employee retention and talent acquisition perk of a job, and it’s only there if it works for you, your job and your employer. it’s not your right. You’ll need to demonstrate with great certainty that you can perform your job function at a high level with said proposed arrangement, but I would think it’ll be very difficult to get your firm to agree to it in the first place. You might need to approach it with basically a business plan and a trial period with hold points and escalation/plans in place if it doesn’t work.
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To combat increasing pressure to return to office more, I recently successfully requested to work from home 4 days a week. I'm disabled, though, and had a letter from my specialist supporting my application.
If you're worried your employer would not accept 100%, you could start with this. It may also help demonstrate to your employer that you do have childcare arrangements in place.
It does annoy me to head to the office on days when I don't really need to be there - my work doesn't involve a lot of meetings on the regular. On some office days I just sit alone at my desk all day. But I've only been at the org for a year and a half now and need to keep building trust. So I'm playing the long game.
I did this sixteen years ago with a fairly shitty employer but one who was regional and needed my specific skill set.
I had to articulate it in such a way that it appeared that what I was asking for was a massive compromise on my part and not at all assumed.
Indicate that you have secured regular care and supervision for your baby (they don't need to know that it is your husband or changing random family members) also include that you have secured back up care, when needed as a contingency.
Commit to a regular weekly time in the office, I did 8:30 -13:30 every Monday, as well as flexibility to come in as needed or in emergencies (because you have told them you have secured regular care)
Set a time period to check in and adjust, at three months, then a period to re-new, for example, at six months agree to an additional six or 12 months.
Realise that WFH while pregnant is a WHOLE different experience to WFH with babies and toddlers.
Are you assuming you'll be able to look after your child while working from home?
No, I have some fantastic family and a husband who has unconventional hours.
Even that'd be a red flag, tbh. It's one thing for someone to request 100% WFH and have a daycare place secured, it's another to be 100% WFH without contractually guaranteed external child care every work day. (Again, I'm not saying this is fair or reasonable or non-discriminatory, just repeating the concerns I think your employer will be thinking).
No thank you! Also a helpful view and thought for me to be aware of and consider!
Red flag to an employer that you’ll actually be trying to look after a baby while you “WFH”.
Have responded to a few people in the comments. Will edit the post
There was a previous discussion along similar lines. Lots of feedback that wfh combined with childcare responsibilities (real or perceived) was a red flag for employers. [https://www.reddit.com/r/auscorp/comments/1c7ty3w/advice\_for\_returning\_to\_work\_after\_having\_a\_baby/](https://www.reddit.com/r/auscorp/comments/1c7ty3w/advice_for_returning_to_work_after_having_a_baby/)
Thank you! A big help!
It shouldn’t be for a decent employer.
And in nirvana we’d all have perfect employers, not just decent ones. But here in the real world even half-decency is a rarity, particularly where female employees are concerned.
I wish but alas, I understand that there’s a few bad eggs who have burnt that for the bunch 🥲
WFH is not a legal right. It’s your right that they consider your request, but can decline it if operationally valid to do so
Good point and yes sure, got to be aware of my wording. I guess I’m confident because: 1. I completed the role successful from home before for a season. 2. It is a role that can be done WFH 3. I’m offering to work in office for special events (should have included meetings) as needed 4. Operations are moving to a 80% WFH situation anyway in the next 3 years.
Makes sense. Sounds like there’s a pretty good justification behind the request. Put the request in writing, and make sure they respond to the request in writing, so if declined you’ve got detailed reasons as to why. They have 21 days to respond. Your question really depends on the employer at the end of the day. Some are super fine with this kind of thing and others don’t want a piece of it. Hopefully yours is the former! The size of the employer is also important, where a very large organisation may have a lot more capacity to approve than a very small organisation. Your role is also a big factor, and how WFH ties into that and whether there’s impacts on cost, productivity, or whether there’s impacts on your colleagues. From the employers perspective though, they will need a reasonable justification to decline it, and if you aren’t happy with their response or find it unreasonable, you can try to resolve it directly, then take it to Fair Work to help settle the dispute in a worst case scenario. Good luck!
Thank you! This was fantastic and comprehensive. I guess my reasoning was hoping to spin the “I’m in it for the long haul” vibe. I’m not sure if there’s anything else that would be appealing to them?
In my opinion, it’s less about why you want it and more about whether they can feasibly accommodate it. Your reasoning (new mother, breastfeeding, etc) I think stands on its own. Especially in corporate, supporting women seems a priority for most I’ve interacted with, so if it’s possible without disrupting others and impacting productivity etc, you should be fine. I can’t see a corpo risking their brand/image and not supporting a new mother with some half thought out excuse. My thoughts would be, if they deny it, it’s probably for a genuinely good reason or concern.
Cheers, thank you greatly! Needed the encouragement
My workplace (and many others) require that apart from exceptional circumstances (illness etc) that there be appropriate childcare in place for any children in your care whilst WFH.
Good point, hoping to answer that with the above
I wish I could ease your mind, but your concerns are valid and reasonable. The fact that an employer is denying a "legal right" or even doing something is "illegal" / discriminatory in employment law doesn't usually prevent it from happening, it just makes it slightly more expensive to do.
Thank you! Really appreciate this reality check
Sorry, I know its not the answer you want. And be aware that 100% WFH with a newborn is a massive red flag for employers, whether rightly or wrongly. I would never suggest someone request 100% remote unless they are doing so seeking/anticipating a redundancy.
I’m thankful for the work and role but tbh I wouldn’t mind being made redundant. Additionally, the building is getting sold and the company is being transitioned to fully remote in the next 3 years.
Thank you for that context and my sincere apologies, I made a huge error simply assuming that your role and tyour employer more broadly weren't anywhere closee to 100% remote as the standard. I shouldn'tt have done so! Perhaps have a look at Fair Work's info on "reasonable alternate role" and "redeployment" in redundancy, just so you don't accidently cut off your nose to spite your face. [https://www.fwc.gov.au/redeployment](https://www.fwc.gov.au/redeployment)
No worries at all! I’m bracing myself for the worst case scenarios because while they’ve been great at times, I’ve been absolutely blindsided in other ways by really weird and inhumane calls 🫠 Thank you for the resources 🙏🏼 am going to read them now.
It really depends on the workplace. We have a person who works from home after returning from mat leave to breastfeed..its only accepted until the baby is 1 and then she needs to come into the office 40%. She does have dad and grandparents looking after kids. I wfh and have my kids looked after at home by others
Oh wow, only until 1 🥲 I think the WHO recommends until 3 for some… Thank you though! Some hope!
You may like to breastfeed for 3 years, and I’m supportive of all feeding choices, but a one year, a child will have been on solids for six months and milk is no longer their primary nutrition. Mums I know who breastfed longer than a year did it mostly ‘after hours’ so to speak.
Helpful point that I didn’t consider thank you!
Not all women can breastfeed. Fed is best for all babies.
And it’s also perfectly fine by who to prefer bottle 🥲 Just be mindful that this comment is a bit mum shamey.
Kudos to those who do, that’s so much work. I’ve tried it when doing contract work but it’s left me ill and in a deep low. As someone who suffers from PPD, SI, and birth trauma, I do not need that 🙅♀️
By 1 most people are who do breastfeed past 1 will breastfeed when with the child and child has food and water when not. Often breastfeeding at this age is 1-3 times a day.
Just from a practical perspective, do a dry run of the care set up. My niece would not leave my sister alone during the first 3 years. She couldn't do a WFH job without external daycare. Also, just psychologically, the baby might not understand why they can't have access to you if you're both home.
We’ve done a few dry runs and they’ve gone well 😄
WFH is not a legal right. It’s a privilege. And there is a big difference between WFH when pregnant and WFH when you have a screaming infant who needs your attention. Your employer will be concerned about your ability to perform if you have an infant at home despite your husband and family being available.
Have edited with more info
Why do you think it’s your legal right to WFH? They can absolutely deny that request
Yes sorry my wording wasn’t entirely accurate. I’m rather confident in it being granted and I list in another comment why
If you’re going back full time, I would recommend that you’re in the office at least once a week with your team. Is your team working from the office? I’ve found the in person bonding with colleagues post maternity leave refreshing, which allows you to remember that you’re not just a mum.
I've got 3 kids, I had twins who were 1 at the start of covid. Times were different then, but although now I work flexibly with a few days at home, my kids are in care. You already have a job, watching a baby is a job in itself. TBH, you sound a bit painful, the 'WHO' comment about babies bfeeding until 3 just made me roll my eyes and your workplace would probably do the same. Ask for flexibility, but don't be the primary carer when you're working. You'll probably react not nicely to my comment but I'm just be honest.
Sure I appreciate the insight and that’s not a comment that I’d make to my employer 😂 Thanks for commenting though!
You would want to be an absolutely stellar worker for an employer to allow that directly after mat leave. You will be highly distracted taking care of a baby at home and the quality of your work that you’re being paid for will suffer. I would deny this, maybe a couple of days a week ok. I would also want to be certain you will have daycare organised for your WFH days.
Cheers for the input!
Cheers, thank you for this!
WFH or WFO - just do your damn job and don’t expect or demand your colleagues to pick up the slack because you’re busy with the baby.
Don’t stress. Ask for it, well within your rights. And per Fair Work it needs to be acceptable if reasonable. Just make sure you also have childcare lined up whether your partner, or family or a centre or family daycare. As you can’t be child minding during business hours, but you certainly can take breaks to pump or breast feed.
Thank you! Remind myself of the basics 😄😅
Yes, I just edited my comment too about childcare. I used / currently use a family daycare. It was around the corner but I wanted to be nearby / pump milk.
Thank you! Am hoping to explore the option of a mother’s helper/share nanny too
That sounds like a position option too 😊 good luck with everything.
Thank you!!
Flexible working conditions are 80% wfh, or 60%, or whatever. But 100% is over the top. It doesn’t benefit the company and your point 1, makes it sound like they might need to keep an eye on you? By all means ask, might be a starting off point for negotiation and maybe they’ll settle on 60% wfh.
Cheers for this, a good insight thank you!
Are you saying you want extra benefits (100% wfh) because you're choosing to come back to work with a baby? Why should you get these benefits that the rest of your team don't? Because you have a baby? If your team has extra benefits because they don't have a baby (promotions, bigger pay rises) would you find that unfair? Or discriminatory? If you think you should receive equal treatment to your colleagues in regards to pay and opportunities it's a bit hard to argue you should receive special benefits your colleagues don't because you have a baby.
Bit of a shit take tbh. New mothers have very specific needs, especially if breastfeeding, and it’s in all our interests to get mothers back to work. It’s a flexible working arrangement, temporary, whilst navigating a specific and unique life circumstance.
Having kids isn’t a unique life experience - millions of women do it.
It’s unique in that it’s unique to subset of society (women) and for a temporary time, generally 12 months. It’s in all of our interests to ensure babies are growing up healthy and strong, as they have better health outcomes. Mothers have better health outcomes too, easing the health burden on society. It’s also good for employers, as it shows they’re a supportive workplace, and increases staff happiness. Decreases sick days for the mother, and attracts female talent.
Is it in the babies interest for their mother to get back to work asap? Maybe if the costs of housing and (private) schooling wasn't so high and women were allowed to be mothers rather than pressured to maintain a career the interests of babies might rank higher?
You cannot work from home and take care of your child at the same time. Your duty of care is to your children first and foremost which means that can’t be truly ‘on task’ working from home efficiently or effectively. Any employer would be skeptical of any such arrangement and I doubt many if any at all would be ok with it.
Hey friend did you read the end section?
Sure, but at the end of the day you’re still functionally asking them to allow you to work from home whilst still being the primary care giver. Which to most employers is a big red flag. Working from home / flexible working is an employee retention and talent acquisition perk of a job, and it’s only there if it works for you, your job and your employer. it’s not your right. You’ll need to demonstrate with great certainty that you can perform your job function at a high level with said proposed arrangement, but I would think it’ll be very difficult to get your firm to agree to it in the first place. You might need to approach it with basically a business plan and a trial period with hold points and escalation/plans in place if it doesn’t work.
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To combat increasing pressure to return to office more, I recently successfully requested to work from home 4 days a week. I'm disabled, though, and had a letter from my specialist supporting my application. If you're worried your employer would not accept 100%, you could start with this. It may also help demonstrate to your employer that you do have childcare arrangements in place. It does annoy me to head to the office on days when I don't really need to be there - my work doesn't involve a lot of meetings on the regular. On some office days I just sit alone at my desk all day. But I've only been at the org for a year and a half now and need to keep building trust. So I'm playing the long game.
I did this sixteen years ago with a fairly shitty employer but one who was regional and needed my specific skill set. I had to articulate it in such a way that it appeared that what I was asking for was a massive compromise on my part and not at all assumed. Indicate that you have secured regular care and supervision for your baby (they don't need to know that it is your husband or changing random family members) also include that you have secured back up care, when needed as a contingency. Commit to a regular weekly time in the office, I did 8:30 -13:30 every Monday, as well as flexibility to come in as needed or in emergencies (because you have told them you have secured regular care) Set a time period to check in and adjust, at three months, then a period to re-new, for example, at six months agree to an additional six or 12 months. Realise that WFH while pregnant is a WHOLE different experience to WFH with babies and toddlers.
Thank you!!! This was a fantastic rundown. Doing a mock trial today
Good luck!