The topic for World Childless Week 2026 today (Day 5) is "Why Do You Want Time Off? You Haven't Got Kids!" From the WCW website description:
Has anyone ever questioned why you want time off over the summer months or for a particular holiday such as Christmas, Halloween or Easter? Have your religious beliefs been ignored because “it’s all about family”? Have you had to schedule appointments outside of work hours because caring for elderly parents, friends or a pet is not seen as important, despite parents being given time off at short notice to be with their children, no matter the reason?
HOW DOES it MAKE YOU FEEL when your requests are declined, based solely on not having children?
(Part of this post is taken from what I wrote in 2022 for Day Four of WCW then, "Childlessness in the Workplace, " and I'd encourage you to click over and read the whole thing. Most of my work-related posts on this blog are tagged "work/office.")
I'm retired now -- downsized out of my job in 2014 (12 years ago now), at the age of 53 -- but before that, I worked in communications for a large Canadian bank for 28 years. I never thought much about it at the time, but later realized that, for more than 15 years, my immediate team of closest co-workers was a core group of older women, most of whom did not have children (and some of whom had pets they doted on). I knew that several of them had thought they'd be mothers someday, but it didn't happen for them, for various reasons. Perhaps because of that, they rallied around me and supported me (for the most part) when my only pregnancy ended in stillbirth in 1998.
I was lucky!
Although I do remember always feeling nervous about whether a request for holidays, personal days, an early getaway time, or other time off would be granted, those requests were almost never turned down. I managed to get at least a few days off every year at Christmastime every single year to travel west (1000 miles/2.5 hours by air plus an hour in the car) to see my family. Our team worked hard, often through lunch hours and overtime, and as a result, I never felt guilty about taking an extra-long lunch hour from time to time, or time off during the day for appointments (although I always told my boss where I was going and when I'd be back in the office), because time-wise, things usually evened out. So long as someone was in the office to cover any urgent requests from executives, and a skeleton staff over Christmas -- and there usually was -- there were usually no problems. This was (mostly) in the days before cellphones made us all available 24-7, and I wasn't really "important" enough to be always on call, but even so, I usually left a phone number where I could be reached in case of an emergency. I don't remember anyone ever using it.
By the mid-1990s, "flexibility" was a new buzzword -- and the bank adopted flexible benefits and flexible working arrangements (such as working from home/remotely, compressed work weeks, flexible hours and job sharing). I wrote stories for the staff newsmagazine about these new arrangements, explaining what they were and how they worked.
With the backing of Human Resources, I did a number of interviews with employees across the country who were already using flexible arrangements, hoping they could serve as role models for others to follow. One interview that has stuck with me in the years since then was with a woman who worked a compressed work schedule -- putting in longer days for nine days over two weeks, and then taking the tenth day off. I asked all the employees I interviewed why they had asked for the new arrangement. The reason why you wanted one was not part of the application and was not a factor in approving or rejecting it (at least, it was not supposed to be a factor!) -- you simply had to explain how you proposed to get the work done -- but we wanted to convey that there were a lot of different reasons why employees might want to take advantage of the new policy.
I asked her if she had children, assuming that she wanted to spend more time with them (as many women did). At that time, I was still hoping & expecting to have children myself. I was surprised when she said no. She spent her days off working on a novel, and attending theatre matinees with friends. And she said something that really resonated with me, and made perfect sense: "Why shouldn't I (ask for flexibility)? My time is just as valuable as anyone else's."
Yes! It is!
I was actually working a flexible arrangement long before the bank had an official policy about it: my husband's workday revolved around standard stock exchange trading hours (with a little time before & after worked in): 9 AM to 4 PM. Standard hours at my office were 8:30 to 5. This was fine when we lived in the city and lived a short walk away from a subway station, and could come and go on our own and meet up at home later -- not quite so easy when we moved out to the suburbs and were dependent on the commuter train schedule. There was bus service near our house that could take us to the train station, but it was just easier for us to drive to & from the station and commute together -- so dh put in a slightly longer day, and I asked if I could tweak my working hours slightly, arrive by 8 AM and leave at 4:30 PM. We worked in the same office tower and would usually meet up downstairs after work (or sometimes at the train station itself), hopped on a rush hour express train and arrive home at a reasonable hour (generally before 6, but often not long after 5:30). Many of our colleagues also used the commuter trains to get to work and had flexible schedules, so this wasn't an issue (at least, it wasn't for many years, until a new boss asked me where my paperwork was granting me the arrangement -- what? There was no such paperwork back then; the agreement was made verbally. Thankfully, they let me continue the arrangement.)
Check out today's content on the WCW site, including community members' contributions (new ones being added throughout the day) and three free, live webinars: disenfranchised childless grief in the workplace, what progressive employers are doing differently, and what happens when your time doesn't count. These sessions will be recorded and uploaded to the Day Five page and the WCW YouTube channel for later viewing.
Saturday's (Day 6) topic will be We Are Worthy, together with the unveiling of Our Family Tree. :)
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