I struggled to make it to the office due to day care drop-off, so my boss lets me work from home. I sometimes feel guilty about it.

"I handle day care drop-off most mornings, which is at 8 a.m. The timing makes it hard for me to catch the ideal 8:20 a.m. train, which gets me to the office just after 9 a.m. - when everything runs on time. The day care is 4.5 miles away from the train station, where parking is first-come, first-served, and finding a spot can sometimes turn into its own adventure."

"When I joined my current employer in November 2024, I made it clear that my first job was being a dad. My wife and I both work, and our daughter was barely a year old. I'd always been fortunate to work for flexible employers, but like many new parents, I was still figuring out what fatherhood meant - and how it collided with the reality of work."

Georg Loewen is a 35-year-old senior director of digital marketing who balances a demanding job with caring for a barely one-year-old daughter. His employer requires employees to be in the New York or New Jersey office three days a week, and his door-to-door commute to Manhattan can take about an hour. Daycare drop-off at 8 a.m. often prevents catching the ideal 8:20 a.m. train, and station parking is limited. Missing trains can push his arrival past 10 a.m., and train changes and unreliable service force him to take client calls during commutes. His manager approved a more flexible schedule than company policy typically allowed.

Read at Business Insider