Should We Allow a Half-Hour Morning Flex for a Couple with a Child in Our Small Team?

We have two employees who are husband and wife with one small child. They have asked management to allow them to have a half-hour relaxation upon coming to the office. The reporting time is 9:30 AM, and they are requesting relaxation from 9:30 AM to 10:00 AM. Our management team is considering this request, bearing in mind that the total staff count is 30.

Please advise if it is appropriate for our management to accept such a request. Thank you for your guidance.

Dear Mr. Sanjay,

If both employees are highly engaged, then you may consider their request, or you may use a flexible working hours system.

Dear Mr. Sharma,

Thank you for your reply. We have a flexible hours system from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM. However, they have further requested that they can only come after the maid (full-time, no overnight stay) arrives at the home in the morning.

Please kindly advise.

Thank you,
Sanjay

On humanitarian grounds, you may accede to their request, but then there is another side too. What if you start getting similar requests from other staff members? Now, someone has approached you for relaxation in working hours because of a child; next time, it could be a parent's sickness. It could become a trend, and managing the company activities could pose a challenge. If you say 'yes' to them, then saying 'no' to others would be difficult. If you say 'no' now, saying 'no' would be easy in the future.

However, you may check for how long the couple has been working in the company, whether they were employees even before their marriage, and if the workplace was the cause of their marriage, etc.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar