{"id":218283,"date":"2025-12-06T09:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T09:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/218283\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T09:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T09:02:09","slug":"i-struggle-with-it-the-two-things-dont-mix-at-all-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/218283\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I struggle with it. The two things don\u2019t mix at all\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than one million people in Ireland<\/a> work from home at least some of the time, according to the latest Central Statistic Office<\/a> figures. <\/p>\n

Although working from home<\/a>, including when schools were closed, became a norm for many during the Covid pandemic years, the dynamic has shifted and debates around a more frequent return to the office continues. AIB<\/a> found itself at odds with staff and unions after sticking to its plan for staff to work from one of its offices for a minimum of three days a week from January 2026. US financial giant State Street has reportedly told Irish staff that they will need to return to the office four days a week, and in a move that will no doubt be closely watched by employees in Ireland, Meta<\/a>\u2019s Instagram this week ordered US-based employees to return to the office five days a week from February 2026. <\/p>\n

Businessman Denis O\u2019Brien<\/a> was last month highly critical<\/a> of working-from-home policies, claiming they are being led by \u201cweak\u201d human resources people \u201cwho also want to work from home\u201d. O\u2019Brien argued: \u201cHow can people learn, share and solve problems, and improve outcomes [working at home]? Never mind the long-term potential mental health issues. Young people isolated at home will have their learning curtailed because of a lack of human interaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the counterarguments is that working from home has allowed people to enjoy a better work-life balance, including a reduction in hours spent commuting. For some of those with children, it has led to a reduction in childcare costs, or their removal altogether. But is working from home with young children, without formal childcare in place, feasible? Or is it even acceptable?<\/p>\n

Michelle Daly lives in Limerick. Her two children are aged seven and 12. She works from home some of the time, and sometimes without childcare. She left her previous job in a different county as the return to the office was under way. She\u2019s self-employed as a marketing and publications consultant, and works with clients. With two young children at home, she says she\u2019s very conscious of office etiquette when working from home, as she thinks people are less tolerant of home-related interruptions than they were during Covid times. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s professional to have children in the same room as [you when] you\u2019re trying to work. So I struggle with it really, but I don\u2019t have any other option.\u201d Daly\u2019s husband works away a lot.<\/p>\n

Her children play with Lego or watch television as she works. Daly tries to schedule calls and meetings for when her children are at school, as much as possible. She says she \u201ccan\u2019t seem to get a flexible enough solution\u201d for her childcare needs, adding that the options she has are \u201chaphazard\u201d. \u201cTherefore I\u2019m hesitant to commit to a day in the office\u201d, she explains. \u201cI\u2019m in that middle space where, let\u2019s face it, work is 8.30 to 5.30 or 6. But yet our kids go to school 8:30 to 2:20. The two things don\u2019t mix at all. What are you supposed to do for the next two-and-a-half, three hours?\u201d<\/p>\n

Aoife McDonnell, who lives in Co Kildare, has a new baby and a three-year-old. She\u2019s self-employed as a personal assistant looking after email management, website, marketing and social media. \u201cI organise everybody else\u2019s life while trying to do it in my unorganised life,\u201d she says. Her partner has a job that requires him to be on site. <\/p>\n

McDonnell tries to work around their young children as best she can. \u201cWe don\u2019t have childcare. If it\u2019s not the nanas, we don\u2019t have childcare. And the two nanas are still in their 50s. They\u2019re still working. They\u2019re doing it around their jobs, to help us when they can. Other than that, it\u2019s between naps. It\u2019s when you\u2019re getting a quiet break.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AoifeAoife McDonnell, working from home in Co Kildare. Having to return to an office setting ‘just wouldn\u2019t be feasible for us’. Photograph: Alan Betson <\/p>\n

She finds the juggle difficult. \u201cIt\u2019s that guilt of screen time. He is still young, so I am strict. But I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m using it as a rod to beat myself with,\u201d she says of trying to keep her three-year-old occupied when she is working. \u201cI\u2019m trying to throw out some activity to try and buy myself more time \u2026 but sometimes it\u2019s with the little fingers on the laptop beside me. And with the child on the lap, trying to bounce them around the room while you\u2019re on a call.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t afford full-time childcare\u201d, McDonnell says. \u201cObviously it\u2019s fantastic being self-employed, it\u2019s flexible around your babies, but it comes with less work. There\u2019s no sick days. Because it is around the kids, there\u2019s less money.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDonnell says she is particular about the clients she takes on. \u201cAll my clients are female \u2026 other self-employed business owners who are mams, who are also trying to balance their businesses around their kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt works well because this is our mutual perspective \u2026 it might be at all hours of the night, all hours of the day, but once you\u2019ve got mutual understanding and we\u2019re all getting our jobs done, and done really well, it\u2019s nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says that if she was expected to return to an office setting, it would likely force her out of the workforce. \u201cWhen I weigh it up against childcare, yes \u2026 We\u2019re a young family. We\u2019re saving for a mortgage, that side comes into it as well, and the housing crisis … It just wouldn\u2019t be feasible for us. We\u2019re lucky we can do it the way we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Niall Monk, who lives in north Dublin, has two children aged eight and 14, and is a project developer with FuturEnergy. He avails of hybrid working and, for the most part, when he\u2019s working from home it\u2019s without having formal childcare in place for his youngest child. <\/p>\n

\"NiallNiall Monk: ‘If they turned around and said you need to be in the office five days a week it would be tough.’ Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

His company is \u201cfairly flexible\u201d, he says. \u201cAs long as the work gets done they\u2019re happy out.\u201d Without the flexibility he has, his wife\u2019s ability to work in her current role would be compromised too, he explains. His eight-year-old is home sick from school as he speaks and this, he explains, requires a different type of juggle to the days when the boy is in school. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of back and forth,\u201d Monk says. \u201cI\u2019ll work through my lunch. I\u2019ll work late to make up those times.\u201d <\/p>\n

Monk believes it is possible to care for his young son and work at the same time. \u201cI\u2019ve got a good relationship with managers, so they know that I\u2019m getting the work done. I think it would be different if they saw the work wasn\u2019t being done … they\u2019re very understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

On normal days, working from home allows him to drop his son to primary school in the morning . When his son comes home he does his homework and if the weather\u2019s good he\u2019ll go outside to play while his father works. \u201cI can see him on the road from the office window.\u201d In poor weather he\u2019ll play on his tablet or watch TV.<\/p>\n

Monk doesn\u2019t find the school summer holidays \u201ctoo bad\u201d either, as his eight-year-old is outside \u201cplaying all day\u201d. \u201cI\u2019ll take an hour for my lunch, we\u2019ll do something. Maybe go for a cycle.\u201d His older boy, meanwhile, occupies himself in outdoor activities during the summer days. <\/p>\n

The ability to work from home is critical to the family\u2019s childcare situation, he says. \u201cIf they turned around and said you need to be in the office five days a week it would be tough\u201d, he says. Cost has prevented them from accessing formal childcare. \u201cI\u2019ve seen some of the costs and hearing how much it\u2019s costing people. It\u2019s costing some people a salary. They\u2019re just working to pay for child-minding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019m sure there\u2019s plenty of people out there who are completely screwing the system and not doing what they\u2019re supposed to be doing, but that\u2019s going to catch up with you eventually<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Caroline Williams<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Caroline Williams works for an engineering company in Kilkenny, but lives in Tipperary. She used to commute, but started working from home during Covid and has continued to do so. Her husband cannot avail of a hybrid working option, she says.<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t have formal childcare for their three children, two of whom are in primary school. \u201cWe have a one-and-a-half-year-old as well. So she\u2019s here. We just make it work \u2026 As she gets more active, more mobile, it may become more of an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0A 9-5 work schedule operates on the assumption someone else is looking after your house and kids all dayOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Logistics prevent Williams accessing childcare, she says. The nearest creche is the opposite direction to the children\u2019s school. \u201cWe\u2019d be on the road all morning between dropping her out there, dropping the lads to school, me getting back here. I just couldn\u2019t do it. We\u2019re in the car enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her children \u201chave grown up with this\u201d, she says. \u201cThey know I\u2019m at work. Obviously they can come up and down if they need to. But they know they can\u2019t be shouting the place down and whatever. They\u2019ve actually just gotten used to the idea and they generally do just tip away themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams has also adapted her hours to work around her children as best she can. \u201cI start work at 4am \u2026 I have half my day done before anyone has even gotten out of bed.\u201d She admits it\u2019s a lot of pressure but also says \u201cit\u2019s not forever\u201d.<\/p>\n

Her nine- and 10-year-old children are \u201cgenerally good to entertain themselves\u201d with art or Lego when she\u2019s working. \u201cIt\u2019s more for the younger one. If I have to go on a Zoom call, I will absolutely say to the lads, \u2018throw on the TV\u2019, whatever keeps her quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Why are they trying to parent as well as work? It\u2019s not a childcare solution. [Working from home] wasn\u2019t designed for that<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0HR professional Caroline Collins<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s fair to imply people cannot work from home without childcare. \u201cI am getting up at four o\u2019clock in the morning to ensure I\u2019m getting my work done \u2026 I\u2019m sure there\u2019s plenty of people out there who are completely screwing the system and not doing what they\u2019re supposed to be doing, but that\u2019s going to catch up with you eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had these conversations with my own employer. He knows what I\u2019m doing. He knows my hours are not exactly nine to five. He doesn\u2019t care. Everything is getting done \u2026 I\u2019ve often said, I\u2019m on the phone all the time. If you do need me for something when I\u2019m away from the desk, I\u2019ve no issue with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CarolineCaroline Collins: ‘I\u2019d see it as a women\u2019s rights issue as much as anything else’ <\/p>\n

Caroline Collins is a HR professional. She says \u201cat the most practical level there are health and safety considerations\u201d when it comes to working from home without childcare, as well as \u201cemployer considerations\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re working from home it is meant to be like you are in the office, and therefore if you\u2019re minding children at the same time it\u2019s neither one thing or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCovid, I think, confused a lot of the issue. People were working, and parenting, and educating from home. And it all got a bit muddled. But that\u2019s not actually the benchmark. If I approach it from a HR perspective, I\u2019d nearly see it as a women\u2019s rights issue as much as anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins refers to what she terms the \u201coffice housework\u201d that some women can take on, such as arranging birthday cakes and taking notes at meetings. \u201cThat can risk diminishing their credibility and their gravitas. It\u2019s actually a bit similar with work from home because we know from research that women continue to shoulder the burden of housework more so than partners. So when we get into the work-from-home space, I would think the more important question to ask is: Why are they trying to double job? Why are they trying to parent as well as work? It\u2019s not a childcare solution. It wasn\u2019t designed for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe employer\u2019s perspective is that for reasons of effectiveness and productivity you can\u2019t simultaneously be the primary childcare for children at the same time as working from home,\u201d she continues.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The motherhood penalty: \u2018Once they\u2019re in bed, you log back on at 9pm or 10pm and work\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIf your child is young enough they can\u2019t be left unsupervised and you\u2019re also trying to work, there\u2019s actually a health and safety piece \u2026 In the same way you wouldn\u2019t bring a bassinet or a buggy into the office and try to mind any babies or children off the side of your desk, the solution to that isn\u2019t working from home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins says none of this is meant to undermine the huge issue that childcare is for working parents, and one that she says disproportionately affects women. But these are issues that shouldn\u2019t be conflated, she adds.<\/p>\n

As a HR expert, she advises that parents who work from home should \u201cabsolutely\u201d have childcare in place. \u201cFor them, for their career, to prevent there becoming a disciplinary or performance issue. And also, genuinely, for the health and welfare of their children.\u201d <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, R\u00f3is\u00edn Boyle, of Siptu\u2019s Legal Rights Unit says: \u201cWhen Siptu hears that our members who are parents are facing difficulties in securing childcare for primary-age schoolchildren and younger, for reasons such as affordability, dependability, accessibility, waiting lists, locations and operating times, it is evident that the State is not stepping up sufficiently for these members.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RóisínR\u00f3is\u00edn Boyle of Siptu, which is calling for the State to provide childcare facilities <\/p>\n

\u201cDue to years of underfunding in the early years sector, the supply of places cannot meet the demand, particularly in urban areas. Furthermore, there is a current staff turnover of 25 per cent because of inadequate pay and conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siptu believes the best way to resolve this is \u201cfor State childcare facilities to be established across the country, prioritising areas of unmet demand and for the responsibility of payroll within the childcare facilities to be assumed by the State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgia* is a small-business owner and an employer. She\u2019s also a parent. Following a couple of bad experiences with remote-working employees, she does not think she would hire a remote worker again.<\/p>\n

\u201cClocking in when [they] weren\u2019t working,\u201d was a particular challenge she says she faced with previous employees. \u201cDoing other things on our time \u2026 it became a pattern.\u201d She adds: \u201cI think from an employer point of view it\u2019s very, very hard to monitor a remote worker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSaying that, if the work is getting done there\u2019s no need to monitor them. But it wasn\u2019t getting done in our case,\u201d she explains. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow could you get any work done with small kids?\u201d <\/p>\n

Georgia is so certain it\u2019s not possible that she admits she wouldn\u2019t hire a woman with small children if she had any inkling there was no childcare in place.<\/p>\n

She was hiring recently and also decided she wouldn\u2019t hire anyone under the age of 30. \u201cThat was more of maturity thing; most of them are snowflakes. They\u2019re afraid to work,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

She won\u2019t hire a woman she suspects will leave to have a baby either, she admits. \u201cI got lots of fantastic CVs, fabulous CVs, very well qualified \u2026 but my issue was, \u2018She has one child; she\u2019s probably going to go off and have another,\u2019 which means I\u2019ll train her and have her for six months and then she\u2019ll be gone again. In big corporations that\u2019s fine. But for a small business that\u2019s just not workable\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I had always wanted to be a stay-at-home mum … but I\u2019m exhausted\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Barbara*, a public-sector worker, has three primary-school-aged children. She has no childcare on her work-from-home days. \u201cFinances\u201d are the reason for this, she explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy circumstances have changed in relation to income\u201d. She\u2019s not sure how she\u2019d manage if she was expected to return to the office more. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nightmare trying to manage work with no childcare in place\u201d, she admits. \u201cI hide out in my kitchen. I have them warned when I\u2019m in meetings that they have to stay in the sittingroom. There\u2019s lots of bribes. I stick on the television to keep them entertained\u201d.<\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t know if her employers realise she has no childcare. \u201cI\u2019m always playing catch-up. I try to get work done when they\u2019re at school, and catch up when they\u2019re in bed. I\u2019m working in the car while the children are at their sports training\u201d, she explains. She feels the pressure. \u201cYou\u2019re always exhausted. You\u2019re always stressed. You never have time for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

She suspects a return to the office is on the cards. \u201cI don\u2019t know how we\u2019re going to manage,\u201d she says. \u201cThe stresses are incredible but, that being said, at least it means I can continue to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

She tries to minimise the impact of school holidays by saving as much annual leave as possible until then, but says it\u2019s another juggle. <\/p>\n

* Names have been changed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than one million people in Ireland work from home at least some of the time, according to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,17889,18,2215,19,17,25243,12096,2212,6998],"class_list":{"0":"post-218283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-childcare","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-for-you","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-remote-working","15":"tag-the-juggle","16":"tag-weekendreview","17":"tag-wfh"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115671816573082018","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}