Your type of work: If you’re a restaurant employee, an airline pilot, a factory worker, or a critical-care nurse, you’ve got to show up to work in person. But you may have other kinds of leeway, like being able to work Saturdays and have Mondays at home with the kids.
The full costs to you: Reduced hours mean a reduced income, which may be a complete nonstarter (unless, of course, that loss is offset by lower care costs).
The full costs to your employer: That job-sharing arrangement may be just what you’re looking for, but tricky to get approved if it means your company has to pay for two full employee- insurance plans instead of one.
Your home and how long it takes to get there: If you live in a tiny city-center apartment two blocks from the office, remote work might be more of a burden than blessing. Through some clever self-directed flexibility, though, you might get extra time at home.
Your family structure, care arrangement, and supportive people around you: If you’re toying with the idea of shifted hours, for example, think through who will take over
caregiving responsibility during those very early mornings, late nights, or weekends — your partner, paid caregivers, a grandparent?
Your own psychology: Remote work can be a huge benefit — unless, of course, you’re a type A, always-on sort of person, who has difficulty backing away from work and going into parent mode, or you’re the sort who easily moves into parent mode and then finds the intrusion of work into your home life depressing, and so on.