Working Moms

I need some thoughts and advice. I know it goes by each individual - but I would love some experienced advice. Ideally (IF my job allows me to) I'd like to work 3 days in the office and 1 or 2 from home. As a working mom, given the option, not minding minor pay cuts, would you work 1 day from home and have the other for baby and you, or work both days from home for the extra money? Any advice would be appreciated!

Re: Working Moms

One day off - by far. Depends on your situation - do you plan on having child care while you work from home - if you do work frlom home may be fine? I worked from home 2 days and in the office 3 days for the first year. The 2 days from home - I worked and played mommy - no child care on those days. It was fine for the first few months until Kevin got mobile. Then it was pretty much impossible to do both and it was a very rough time. I felt so torn between work and home and felt horrible that neither was getting my 100%. I was ready to go part time and just do the 3 days in the office. Wound up I lost my child care and now I am a kind of SAHM (work one day in the city as a consultant only).

Re: Working Moms

I am a freelancer with a very flexible schedule and work from home most of the days. But I do go into the city anywhere from 2-4 days depending on how much work I have during the week. I absolutley love my schedule and don't think I could ever work full time in an office again, but I have to say their are some negative draw backs. Since my son is two (a very active toddler who rarely takes naps) it has become very hard for me to get a lot of work done at one time. I often have to work nights and weekends to finish projects. And sometimes I get really stressed about it because I am exhausted and feel like I work around the clock. My son goes to daycare two days a week so I usually try to get some work done then. Also home is a BIG distraction and instead of working I am cleaning or on this site, bad bad bad. If you have the opportunity, I say try it out. Maybe you can start off with having Fridays at home and see how it goes. If you can afford it I would do one day working from home and then the other day just be your day with the baby. But if you think you might end up having to do work on that day anyway then why not just do two days working from home. At least you will get paid for it. Good luck with your decision.

Re: Working Moms

I currently work from home 2 days a week and go into the office 3 days a week. My DD is 18 months old and it is getting harder to work from home with her - I am also expecting our 2nd in October. If we could afford it, I would definately take 1 or even 2 days and just spend them with DD and only go into the office 3 days a week, but that just isn't an option for us.

Re: Working Moms

Thanks everyone. Great advice. I think I'll see what my job offers me, or what they accept from my proposal to them when the time comes, but I wouldn't have child care while working from home - it would be me. A good friend of mine here does it, works from home one day, then comes in and is off Fridays. She said it works out great for her (she just had baby #2 Sunday) BUT at our job its not "working" those days, its having a certain amount of billable hours and she finds herself coming in for about 4 hours on Sunday's to get those hours she needs...I don't want it to be that hectic...so we'll see. It's a hard decision but I am thankful that I MIGHT have the opportunity to do that. Maybe I'll start off with the one extra day off and take it from there. Also - how soon do you suggest I speak to my bosses about it? I am only 16 1/2 weeks.

Re: Working Moms

I work Mon - Fri - 7:00 - 3:30. I work from home Mon & Fri. One of those days, my husband is home so he knows he's got the kids. On the Friday, my in laws usually come and steal Delaney for the afternoon and I just have Peyton (she's easy at this point).

I found that by the time Delaney reached walking stage and curiosity stage, it got difficult to work from home. This is when my inlaws asked if they could take her on Friday's and I jumped at it because you don't want people at your job having the impression that you're just getting a day off to be with your kids. Am I putting in 8 full hours a day, no but I try and make up those hours after the kids go to bed, on the weekends, etc.

As to when to bring up to your boss, not until you have the "exact" proposal you want to present. I wouldn't wait too long because you'll have to prepare for a back up plan w/daycare if they deny you your request. Hope this helps. Good luck....somehow it always works out!