How much sick/childcare time off is normal?

[BeingAnEmployerIsCrap]

How much time off sick do you have on average a year?

How much emergency time do you have off, on average, for children a year?

How often are you called home from work on average a year?

I know your experiences do not have a direct relation to my issue but it would be interesting and helpful to understand what is normal rather than excessive.

I think it varies massively. For me. That six months - year after starting nursery/school was the worst. Especially one child seemed to be unwell every week and DH had the sort of job you couldn’t take time off for.

when all three of mine were at primary school, I’d say that one of mine would be off sick at least once a month.
(they’re now of the age where I don’t need to stay with them if they are).

Time off sick varies - some years I've had none, a couple of years ago I had several weeks due to medical appointments and 2 surgical procedures. I can work from home so if I had something like a bad cold or dodgy stomach then I'd do that but if it was a job where I had to be in then those days might have resulted in sick leave.

I've been really lucky and never had to take emergency time off. I've wfh a few times with unwell children here, and have been totally transparent about that.
In a usual year I'll maybe have 2 or 3 days sick.

I’ve 4 in primary and it’s not an issue for me as I have a nanny but I don’t think any of them have been unwell needing time off school or a pick up more than twice in the last 2 years. We had one week where 2 had Covid a year or so ago. And a couple of days 2 we’re off with query chickenpox (classmate has cancer so we were being extra careful).

Lucky so far (9yrs) mine are almost never sick.

Really varies. I work three -four days a week and personally take 2-3 days a year. But...in the last six months since I'm back from mat leave I'm off at least one day every two to three weeks. It's usually my youngest but occasionally my three year old too. It's winter here though which hasn't helped. It feels like a lot. My husband helps as much as he can and also stays home with kids, picks up from nursery when sick etc but it's tricky as his job is more senior and his work is less supportive.

I'm never off sick. Probably had a few days over the 21 years I've worked here.
My ds is never off sick either so I'm barely ever called home from work. I think I've been called twice as he's been ill at school, he's 12.

I’ve never taken emergency leave for any of my 3 kids so far. I’m p/t 3 days a week though and work are quite flexible if I have to shift days or make up hours later in the week. Both of us are hybrid so can wfh to cover older kid sickness. For the toddler we need to take time off or occasionally ask family for help.

We had a bad winter where i was off a few times within 6 months for my youngest. Diagnosed with asthma and thankfully well controlled since then. Week of for chicken pox at one stage. Many years without much last min time off at all.

Most years have to have some random AL booked for nativity, sports day, occasionally for school trip, now orthodontist for teen and annual review another medical appt. This is all planned but can feel overwhelming at points. Luckily understanding employer and I can make time up in evening if it is a busy period.

Sick for me probably 2 days every other year. Either vomitting bug or really bad cold.

Now I work from home I’ve had 1 sick day since early 2020 as I tend to be able to do at least some work unless I’m really really ill

When I worked in the office slightly more but varied year to year. Some years no sick days, other years a few.

DD doesn’t get ill very often thankfully. But she had chicken pox last year so that was a week off pre-school.

I’ve had a lot of medical appointments recently. But thankfully as I work from home I can just pop out for them without having to tell anyone or anyone noticing. I just work late to make the time up .

Thank you.
his work is less supportive.

This is really interesting (alongside those that do not expect one parent to take any slack) we try to be very supportive but it appears that this has been taken too far and it is just assumed that time can be taken, even when in the middle of a big job that can not be stopped.
Maybe being less supportive would help our business as colleagues are increasingly frustrated as they have to stay late to complete the work.

Jets we are very flexible regards appointments/short notice but you say you make up the time, there is never any desire to work on or make up time from this employee.

I never took childcare or sick time off, I did flex my hours occasionally, usually starting very early (6am) then exh started very late working right into the night

Funny how it's always the men who have jobs where they can't take time off or their employers are less supportive isn't it?

Excluding Covid, we've been lucky. I can count on one hand the days between both kids over 7 years.

I calculate the averages for our organisation. Average across all staff is 1-2 days per annum (sickness) - lots of people have none, whereas some are on long term sick.

Emergency leave/dependant leave is harder to calculate as some people choose to take it as annual leave, which doesn't show up on a report. Typically, it's higher for staff with nursery age kids - I'd say most end up taking time off/leaving early every couple of months or so. For people with school aged kids, it tends to be much less frequent - maybe a couple of times a year for some, and not at all for others.

I've taken two days off sick in 8 years because I was hospitalised.

I've been called home for dd three times total - she's ten. I carried on working when I got home.

I haven't taken any parental leave for child illness - I just wfh whilst looking after her.

Multi-tasking!

I think that's a communication failure - if you have not set out that your expectation is that in exchange for flexibility the hours will be made up, why should people know you're not granting them leave?

tick we certainly have failed with this person. Our other employees have no issue, and it is a good give and take relationship.

They have been invited to a meeting already and we will have a follow up, I just wanted to see a bigger picture and the replies above are what have been average for our other employees.

Some of would also do this but don't have a job that is possible to do from home

I’ve had no days of personal sickness this calendar year.

Ive had 4 days of carers leave due to 2 year old DS being poorly. My DH has had roughly the same, so between us, probably around a week. We parent completely equally so we try and split taking time off equally around our shifts. We have no local family. Nursery are (understandably) pretty brutal about not taking DC if there is a sniff of a temperature or vomiting/diarrhoea. It is rare for us to call DS in sick, what usually happens is we get a phone call at 10am requesting we come get him. Sometimes we say no and ask them to give calpol and see how he goes…but if it’s the symptoms listed above you have to get them, no arguments.

None
If it is not an emergency I do not leave work
iF my kids have a cold they are not going to die

I only work part time but never off sick. I do however have to take time off to look after children when unwell. I was recently called by the school to pick up my unwell child and had only just arrived at work. Thankfully they are understanding but it is a worry. Default parent here ‘coparenting’ with a difficult ex!

How would you feel if the school had to call the work switchboard?

we’ve done 6 years at nursery in total and I reckon less than 10 times I’ve been called at work to collect an ill child.

Now with hybrid working I can do pretty much my working day one way or the other around a poorly kid.

My husband is self employed and while we take the hit on earnings, he has done probably 75% of our sick days because he essentially doesn’t have a boss to report to.

Now I’m a line manager myself I will always ok these type of things because I know I value this as an employee. However, it’s always an unspoken agreement that work gets caught up one way or the other. Most of them go above and beyond in other ways anyway so it’s rarely an issue.

Theres been a couple of times I’ve had to have words along the lines of my goodwill being stretched and tbf it’s been reigned back in.