{"id":451662,"date":"2026-05-16T08:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T08:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/451662\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T08:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T08:49:08","slug":"theres-an-issue-around-mindset-parents-on-hybrid-working-and-childcare-pressures-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/451662\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018There\u2019s an issue around mindset\u2019: Parents on hybrid working and childcare pressures \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hybrid working has been an essential part of family life for thousands since the pandemic, but as Shane and Audrey Lambert acknowledge, even then \u201cyou have to juggle\u201d.<\/p>\n

Audrey is a staff officer with Dublin City Council, Shane a senior official with F\u00f3rsa and as the trade union\u2019s conference in Killarney heard research results<\/a> that identified how vital new working arrangements have become, the couple reflected on how two full-time workers with two growing kids must duck and dive to keep their family\u2019s show on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe run a very tight schedule but if that gets disrupted, we run into problems pretty quick,\u201d says Shane.<\/p>\n

Audrey\u2019s work arrangements are hybrid: she works two days from home, Monday and Thursday, but needs to be in the city centre office the rest of the week.<\/p>\n

She works flexitime and so starts early so she can finish early. <\/p>\n

Shane has a degree of autonomy but says his schedule is unpredictable, tending to be demand driven. He manages a small team that is spread across the country and has meetings that can start early but more commonly finish late.<\/p>\n

So, most of the time when Audrey has to be in the office, she leaves their home in Leixlip, Co Kildare, early for the commute of 45-60 minutes so she can finish up by 3.30pm and pick up their children, who are 10 and eight, from their after-school care, which finishes at 5pm sharp.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The case for flexible working: \u2018We lose one-third of women in their child-rearing years\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He leaves them to school and so needs to be there the days she is not. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very lucky that the school is literally a five-minute walk down the end of our estate. We\u2019re blessed it doesn\u2019t start until 9.20am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Audrey says that \u201cwhen he has to be on the road or away overnight, we try to make sure that it aligns with my remote working so that there\u2019s somebody in the house with the kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat wouldn\u2019t be possible if I was five days back in the office. So, yeah, we are very much juggling based on remote working on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, there is very little room for it all to go wrong. Audrey is French, so has no family here and Shane\u2019s parents are not in great health.<\/p>\n

Audrey\u2019s line manager is very supportive, she says.<\/p>\n

However, Shane says, \u201cThere have been occasions where I\u2019ve had to bring the kids down to a meeting, sit them in a corner and say: \u2018Look, you\u2019re just going have to sit there and amuse yourselves for a while.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

For all the challenges, the couple feel they are lucky that their respective jobs allow them some flexibility, with Audrey taking four weeks\u2019 unpaid leave each summer to be home when the schools are closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first year I worked for the council, all of my leave went on childcare,\u201d she says. \u201cThe maximum in the council is two days a week remote but I would like to see it being more of a 50-50, maybe two days one week, three the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Half of the meetings she attends in the office are online anyway, she says, and she believes there is the scope for more flexibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we know people who are both civil and public servants and both in maybe more restrictive jobs,\u201d Shane says. \u201cThey might work in the airport, or social protection, and their schedule is so tight, so demanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s an issue around mindset. If there are practical reasons as to why things can\u2019t be accommodated, put them on the table. Let\u2019s see if we can find ways to work around them. But you see a lot of: \u2018I want to be able to see you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Audrey agrees, saying colleagues in other parts of the council are only permitted one rather than two days remote working a week. \u201cWe should be looking more at what people can do at home, whereas for some people it\u2019s the opposite: all about reasons why they must be in the office.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a nationally representative poll of 1,191 workers, conducted by Ireland Thinks for F\u00f3rsa, 74 per cent of respondents said working from home was less stressful than on-site working. Nearly half (48 per cent) felt caring responsibilities at home were more fairly distributed due to increased remote working.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hybrid working has been an essential part of family life for thousands since the pandemic, but as Shane…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9687,20774,61,60,43,1786,1962,4496],"class_list":["post-451662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-childcare","tag-hybrid-working","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-parenting","tag-work","tag-work-from-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}