Payroll HR Tip of the Week, sponsored by Highflyer Payroll: Requiring childcare for employees working from home

With so many companies adjusting to a new normal, at Highflyer we’ve been helping clients write their new “Work from Home” policies. One recently asked, “Can we require employees to have childcare if they work from home?”

We do not recommend having a policy that stipulates childcare is necessary. For one thing, in practice, it often isn’t necessary. Lots of employees are able to do their jobs just fine while supervising children in the home. Imposing this requirement (and a huge financial burden) won’t solve any problems, but it may encourage remote employees to start looking for a new job. Even in cases where supervising children negatively affects job performance, mandating childcare as a solution could be seen as crossing a line into your employees’ personal lives.

Click here to learn how we recommend handling this with employees.