Employee reports 2 remote coworkers who fail to complete their daily tasks because they're too busy babysitting their children and grandchildren, upper management threatens RTO mandate in response: ‘The company is not paying them to be a SAHM’

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Aug 16, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

When the remote employee in this next story realizes that they've been picking up the slack for two coworkers who have been babysitting on the job, they try to report them, but management does nothing. Read along.

Remote work has helped so many folks in the workforce. Those living with physical impairments, stay-at-home parents, or college kids looking to make some extra money on the side have found that they can live the dream while maintaining their current lifestyle. Many of those employees make this work, prioritizing both being a parent or student, and being a great employee that their coworkers can rely on. 

Returning to the office is not an option for many, especially if they're working remotely from other states or countries. Uprooting one's life is nearly impossible, even with the help of the company they work for, so it's frustrating when fellow employees fail to take their remote jobs seriously. They can really ruin it for everybody, which is what's happening in this next story. Scroll below.

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  • mother holding her child while she is working on her computer
    via Helena Lopes for Unsplash

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Though WFH was popularized in 2O2O, it has the potential to change lives (and already has done so).

    There seems to be some anti-WFH discourse, all leading back to the idea of surveillance equating to good work. This isn't the case. Whether or not an employee is watched, if they cannot complete the task at hand without someone else walking them through it and breathing down their neck, they shouldn't work at a remote company. Period.

  • "They going to make us RTO if you won’t do the work"

    I love working from home. I live in a rural area with almost no decent paying jobs nearby. It took a while but I found one that pays well and has good benefits.
    via Cold_Swordfish7763
  • The problem is 2 of my coworkers. We have a small team 5 people plus 1 manager that takes care of administrative
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  • functions for our company. It is not hard but it is detailed oriented and time sensitive. 1 is an older lady I will call K who watches an unknown number of
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  • grandchildren during the day and the other is J a single mom in her early 20s. They re almost never available because of the kids or some other reason and do the least amount of work.
    via Cold_Swordfish7763
  • I don't hate kids at all, I love my nephews and cousins but have chosen not to have any of my own, which is my choice but I am the only one without them. The
    via Cold_Swordfish7763
  • other 2 coworkers manage their kids just fine no issues and their work is always done. K and J always make excuses why they can't get stuff done and expect
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  • everyone else to pick up their slack and I am sick of it. They work so much OT but are always behind. They will be offline
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  • during work hours but still getting paid while they play with the kids and take them to park so they aren't cooped up. This is such cr p.
    via Cold_Swordfish7763
  • The company is not paying them to be a SAHM, they are paying them to work and that is not what is happening. My manager ignores this. I have refused to do their tasks now and pushed back letting my boss know why.
    via Cold_Swordfish7763
  • I am being accused of creating a toxic workplace just because I expect people to do their own jobs. Upper management is already talking about sending
    via Cold_Swordfish7763
  • people back to an office for oversight and none of us live near an open office so that means we would be id off if this happened. I told my boss if we
    via Cold_Swordfish7763
  • want to stay WFH we need to prove that we can do the job well from home but J and K still won't pick up the pace and get it done.
    via Cold_Swordfish7763
  • young woman looking at her computer screen with her head in her hands from stress
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Any advice other than quit because finding a new full time WFH is now harder than ever.
    via Cold_Swordfish7763
  • Obse55ive When I started working from home, we all had to sign contracts stating that we couldn't do anything than work during working hours which would definitely include watching kids. It
    via Obse55ive
  • only takes one bad (or in this case) 2 bad apples to spoil the bunch. Continue not to do their tasks. Eventually they'll try to cut costs and look at how much OT they are getting. This happened in my job as well and we got our hours reduced.
    via Obse55ive
  • Cold_Swordfish7763 It is already happening. When they do work it is terrible and they will do it in the longest most complicated way so they are not assigned any more task, or wear others down with questions until they get fed up and do it for them. They are ruining a great opportunity because they don't want to work. Another co worker has a 6 month old and a 4 year old and we have no issues from her. She makes it work
    via Cold_Swordfish7763
  • SassyScott4 Sounds like you have a management issue
    via SassyScott4
  • HangmanHummel Exactly. If the boss isn't doing anything about it time to escalate to the grandboss
    via HangmanHummel
  • FurriedCavor You adopted some new kids. You're busy like them. Throw their excuses back in their face.
    via FurriedCavor
  • Cold_Swordfish7763 I have multiple times and when I question the time spent with kids and not working they just say I am jealous because I don't have kids and they do. Not at all I love being child free
    via Cold_Swordfish7763
  • Key-Cricket9256 I agree. Me and my wife split duties and I'll move around meetings sometimes but I always get my work done and everything submitted on time
    via Key-Cricket9256
  • JustCallMeFrij Update your resume and start the job hunt. Law of inertia says your coworkers won't change and upper management will issue RTO
    via JustCallMeFrij

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terrible coworkers workplace-stories toxic-workplace work coworkers reddit story horrible-management workplace Horrible Bosses reddit thread coworker entitled people toxic-work-environment
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