u/Aware_Examination115

I know this might sound a bit harsh, but I need an outside opinion. I have an employee who has been with us for a little over two months and works from home. This is her first job in a long time after being at home with her young kids, and I was genuinely happy that I could offer her something flexible where she could work around school pickup times, naps, errands, appointments, etc. I told her from the beginning that I don't care exactly when the work gets done as long as it's accurate and delivered before the deadline. If that happens, then we're good.

What I didn't expect was how different our ideas of "focused work time" are. During training calls, her kids and husband constantly interrupt her. Once, her husband came in while I was explaining something to her and started talking to her about dinner plans, which disrupted the whole meeting and honestly felt inconsiderate of both my time and hers. It has improved a little, but she still loses focus any time someone in the house makes noise or comes in and out of the room. I see this happening when we're on calls, so I can't imagine what it's like when I'm not there. And it shows in the work too. Tasks are taking her about 8x longer than they should, and I've had a few clients ask why they were billed for all that time for such limited progress. We're still stuck on the simplest assignments I've given her. I truly think she's capable and could be a good employee if she had real time to focus.

If we were in an office, it wouldn't be acceptable for her husband and kids to come in and interrupt her while she was working. So is it okay to ask her to work from home only during the times when they're not there or won't interrupt her?