Plenty of people work from home without kids disrupting work calls. It’s possible. The same goes for people who have dogs, parrots, whatever. If a person can’t do work calls without major background noise all the time that is disruptive, they need to either change up access to their work space or do this thing called parenting. It is NOT unavoidable.

Frankly, growing up in a household with parents that "parent" their children for doing what comes natural for young children has its downside.

Imagine growing up watching t.v. and learning how to suppress emotional outbursts of laughter in order not to bring attention to yourself.

You don't know what you're asking.

Funny, neither I nor the kids I grew up with got to tear up the house and screech like wild banshees as toddlers. We didn’t feel “suppressed.” We just had a clue how to behave around our fellow humans of all ages, having been taught empathy and consideration early on. A number of my parents-friends are also raising great kids who express their emotions freely without having to do so at volumes that rival a jet plane. I’ve had employees who were able to bring their young kids into work when there was a daycare problem or other emergency, without any issue. They were welcome.

You can argue all you want about styles of parenting, but in the end, kids can either be allowed to rule the roost like selfish tyrants, or be relatively civilized young creatures who can take instructions and have patience for hours without an outburst. It’s not a boss’s and co-workers’ responsibility to put up with a parent’s choices that disrupt everyone’s work and make the worker and the company look horrible to clients.

The mom in this story wanted everyone’s schedule to revolve around her kids. That is not acceptable. Her co-workers and boss also have schedules, stresses, families, and obligations from caring for a sick family member or their own kids, to taking a class. They also have preferred times for meetings. Her inability to handle her unruly kids does not take precedence over every other person’s needs or expectations of a co-worker/employee.

You are being delusional. She didn't choose to work from home, she worked from home due to the corona virus. This is some patriarchal, authoritarian parenting you're expecting from a parent of toddlers trying to both work from home and parent during a national disaster. Super-glad you are neither my parent nor my boss.

Get a bigger apartment? Build a sound proof room?

As for “parenting,” I think that is the point. She had 2 jobs going on at the same time. No day care because of Covid, no in-house babysitting because of Covid and no extra pair of arms to help her.

What if she’s not a first rate parent? What if her kids are at the worst stage of development? What if they are acting out because of confinement?

Mercy over justice in this case, as in all cases. Direct her work towards fewer zoom meetings as reasonable accommodation.

The problem wasn’t just company Zoom meetings. But even if it was, her schedule and needs don’t get to trump all her co-workers’ and boss’s. They’re all struggling, too, with a home workspace, pets, kids, out of work or stressed or home-working partners or roommates, possibly sick or in-crisis family members, etc. She wanted everything to revolve around HER needs, and the company said no, with good reason. It makes no sense, nor is it “merciful,” to let the issues of one person, especially during a crisis that is affecting everyone, overrule everyone else’s needs and struggles.

“Change up access to work space” can mean many things. Among others -

Teaching the kids to stay put in the next room with the door shut while she is on the phone.
Creating some level of noise baffling, like a blanket over a door or divider.
Using a headset with noise cancellation.
Putting herself on mute except when talking.
Lots. Of. Options.

There are reasons companies don’t let everyone work from home. She failed to make the transition in a way that lets her do her work effectively and without disrupting other workers and sounding bad to clients. That’s on her, and no number of excuses like “the kids are at a bad age” change that. Other co-workers managed it. Other workers have kids, pets, family members needing care, etc. too. Nobody is reasonably expected to make endless accommodations for one worker, crisis or not.

in another room with door closed? Lol right

And our clients are all insurance companies. We’re all plowing through and cutting people breaks. My secretary just about went insane monitoring 3 kids on computers while she had to do her job. In her wildest dreams she never expected kids to be home when she accepted the job with our firm. If she had a toddler she never would have made it. I saw her logging in extremely early to keep up with her work. It was hard to watch her struggle. Now it all begins when school starts up.

I’m for maintaining human decency until we get to the other side, even over productivity. Peace

well and on time, what is the squabble?

Note that the issues the employer was having in the article were:
1) schedule disruption (wanting lots of accommodations, but hey, she's not the only one struggling),
2) meeting disruption (affecting other staff), and
3) unprofessional communications with clients.

That's not getting the job done "well."

Reality check - there are a ton of great workers unemployed right now. The new reality is that if an employee is not getting work done to the standard that others are, it's easy to replace them with another person working from home who will.

This is how your responses in this thread "read" to me:

* Corporate Interests Matter™!
* Human Stock Capital is so cheap it's disposable!
* Separate mothers from their children!
* Lock the babies up!

If her working remotely is because of covid, all the more reason for the employer to be sympathetic. Sending the children to daycare while she works would only further expose them, and eventually her through contact with the children, to covid. Here the employer will lose for sure since the pandemic has created an extraordinary situation that warrants the mother keep her children with her for their safety.

My implicit understanding with my employer is that working from home is a win-win situation for both parties. They save $ on facilities costs and the fact i can be flexible to work during non-US hours with resources overseas, and i benefit from not having to commute, to spend $ on gas & auto expenses, work clothing, & eating out. It also saved me afterschool childcare expenses as well since i had the flexibility to pick my kids up, and be with them for the sick days, school functions, doctor visits, etc. Part of this implicit understanding means the occasional dog bark, doorbell ring, delivery truck arrival, family members coming into your office, and whatever other interuptions during a work call are to be tolerated. As long as it is not a common occurence it should not be grounds for dismissal.

but......I can take a reasonable amount of disruption during a pandemic.....however, if it is relentless and ongoing, maybe not so much