[doublescoop]

So, an employee was doubling as a full time care giver for his children while remote working? That sounds like exactly the kind of practice that gives remote work policies a bad name in the first place.

If I found out one of my employees was taking care of his kids while working at home, you better believe it would result in a conversation and a possible revocation of his use of the remote work policy.

[scott_karana]

You're ignoring their effectiveness.

Maybe they work better without coworker interruptions and in a familiar space, which offsets any negatives of caregiving.

And even still, who cares?! Do you actually have a good handle on how many of your employees just read HN or Reddit for half a day? Unaccounted for smoke breaks? Having to make personal calls while on the clock?

Humans aren't automatons.

[Nadya]

>And even still, who cares?! Do you actually have a good handle on how many of your employees just read HN or Reddit for half a day? Unaccounted for smoke breaks? Having to make personal calls while on the clock?

Don't need a handle on it if you block access to them.

But my work found that blocking Reddit/Facebook actually made less work get done: people couldn't spend 5-10 minutes to unwind and then plug back in and work. That policy lasted a single week.

[hellofunk]

So, an employee was found at their desk chatting with the office mate all afternoon while working? That sounds like exactly the kind of practice that gives on-site work a bad name.

If I found out one of my employees was using their office as a social lounge while working at my company, you better believe it would result in a conversation and possible revocation of their on-site privileges, forcing them to work in solitude at home instead so I could see real results.

[Salgat]

I'd love to hear the explanation for how checking up on a toddler every so often is akin to him grossly neglecting his job.

[sangnoir]

> I'd love to hear the explanation for how checking up on a toddler every so often is akin to him grossly neglecting his job.

If we generalize that to "what is wrong with frequent distractions" - open plan offices would fall into that category. For an answer, I would direct you to read any one of the many well-articulated anti-Open-plan rants on HN. Toddler care has all the downsides of an open plan office without the (possible) upside of increased team-productivity.

[fibbery]

Do you have a toddler? I'm not a parent but my understanding is that you can't expect them to just play quietly by themselves for any more than short stretches.

[marcosdumay]

Depends on the toddler, and on the age.

[ajamesm]

Would you care to share where you work, so I can mark it down as a nightmarish hellhole I should forever shun?