Is no sleep a reasonable excuse for calling in sick to work?

I think your comparison is totally unreasonable.

You should never ever have gone to work not fully recovered from surgery.

Why did you do that?

In this case - it’s one day and a weekend ahead to rest.

Not the same at all.

That's hardly unusual though. Most parents work. If it becomes acceptable to take a day off to catch up on sleep, it will become more difficult for mothers of young children to get jobs.

No it’s because most of us have realised that actually our own well being means more than a company who actually doesn’t give a shit about us.

I went into work 3 days post keyhole surgery because it what sale set and we short of management. I know they needed me to open up or it would mean another manager working a lot longer shift. I was in agony. Couldn’t even stand up straight. I should have stayed home and recovered properly. This was about 8 years ago.

If I am not fit for work, no matter the reason, I’m not going to work.

As you only work 2 days a week and have the weekend ahead - I really wouldn’t call in sick.

I had called in sick from no sleep but only after about 3-4 nights of it and only if it would have been unsafe for me to drive to work.

I had/still have poor sleepers anyway so was use to functioning on little sleep (2-3 hours) but cant sustain that for more than a few days.

I just wonder if you are confused on the wording?

In my place of work when I would do a return to work (bear in mind there are part time workers as well) you would write numbers of days since the sickness and number of days sick. Let’s pretend it is Monday to Friday. Called in sick Friday and Monday back Tuesday. That’s 4 days since the first day but 2 sick days. This is only for tracking days if needed for a sick note after 7 days.

I don't think you have to say what illness you have when you call in sick, do you? Just say you don't feel well, which is true.

I work and am raising a 4 year old. I work he next day even when I've barely had any sleep so yes absolutely work shy.

If a pilot or driver or surgeon or operating some kind of machinery...*

If pilots could just down tools and not work after a bad night's sleep a lot of flights wouldn't operate.

The reality of the aviation world is management and most importantly the rule makers make a very big deal about differentiating between tiredness (the odd night of bad, really bad sleep) and fatigue (long term sleep disruption.

For example if you'd been on a Long haul night stop, been clobbered by the time change, had the amount of sleep the OP described- two hours sleep and a half hour doze in the hours before the return flight, then as crew, same as in many other jobs you'd be pretty much expected to power through...that would be labelled as normal tiredness.

If OTOH you were having broken sleep like that for days/weeks on end then you're getting into fatigue territory which is another matter.

Depends on the job. Open heart surgery/long distance lorry driver or operating heavy machinery then probably safer you don't. Anything else I'm sure you'd be fine 🤷‍♂️

Work shy 😂

The woman works and is raising a toddler. Work shy 😂

This is ridiculous! People these days are so work shy.

If you want a medal why don't you just say so?

I find it odd that adult and parents at that, need to ask this on a public forum. No you don't call in sick for a night without sleep. No one with an ounce of care and sense of responsibility for letting work down would do this.

It’s because we used to have a bit more gumption and not be so feeble. It’s a pity so many people nowadays aren’t able to just get on with it. Next OP will be moaning about how badly the economy is doing due to low productivity and how they haven’t had a pay rise in years.

I’d still go in. I’ve gone in with literally no sleep. Having said that I don’t drive. That might be dangerous.

It definitely will get easier.

I'd ring in sick. As long as you are only doing it when you're absolutely at breaking point, I don't see the problem. I also don't see any difference between you working five days a week or two days a week. If anything, working two days a week and looking after a baby/toddler the other three days by yourself is physically more exhausting than working outside the home full time.

I went through this with my second. I had a new work position, really long hours - working until 12/1am some nights, and then she'd wake every 45 minutes to feed and I would go in to work at 7am. When I look back on it now it was bonkers. Nobody knew I was working off very little sleep, and everyone was a mum with young kids at the time so I'm not sure I would have got much sympathy anyway. I only stopped the merry-go-round when I got pregnant again. I took a few sick days over first trimester and just slept during the day. I felt so much better and should have had done it months previously. I think I took five sick days over eight weeks.

I'm still in the same job, and have progressed upwards, and manage a good sized team. Those sick days taken didn't hold me back at all. In the scheme of things your health is the top priority - your employer doesn't care if you drop dead or crash your car on the way to work due to exhaustion. Put yourself first.

Sleep deprivation is a firm of torture, so being massively sleep deprived does affect your ability to do your job.
Call in sick. Be honest, especially if you have to drive at all, as driving whilst very tired is so dangerous.

That is an absolute load of rubbish!
Hope you are ok OP - lack of sleep is awful

Depends on the job. If a pilot or driver or surgeon or operating some kind of machinery yeah.
in an office job not really, unless you were actually ill in the night. Though if I was really struggling I’d say I was ill and leave it at that.

back in my youth I remember on a few occasions getting an overnight flight from the US and going straight to work! 😆😆

I think it depends on the job. I went in to teach after little to no sleep and during a demonstration managed to burn my arm with a soldering iron. Probably shouldn’t have gone in!

Are you driving or operating on patients? If not, just suck it up. We've all gone to work on little sleep. Why would you want to get a reputation for being flaky, not to mention giving employers yet another reason not to employ parents of young children?

For me it would depend on whether you left colleagues to handle deadlines that would have been yours on top of their own.

In that case, I wouldn't stay home. I used to have daily and weekly deadlines. Unless I really was ill, I wouldn't leave that to everyone else.

It will get easier one day!

Call in sick - i've done it. No need to go into details, just say i haven't slept x

I know what you mean but in the end, what matters is the pattern. Staff who are taking sick days every month just means I can't put them on the really important projects, so it ends up being harder to make a case for them as top performers - which matters when we're asked to trim 10%. But once in a while, I really don't care why they're off. They could even just take a short notice holiday if there's nothing on, doesn't matter at all to me.