To think if your child is sick you take annual leave

[uptheauntie]

I (or my partner) have always taken annual leave if DD is sick and cannot go to nursery.

AIBU to think that if your child is sick and cannot go to preschool/nursery you should take annual leave to look after them, rather than claim you are working from home? Especially if there is no issue with you having run out of annual leave etc.

I just couldn't do my work properly whilst looking after/dealing with a sickly child.

*email

As others have said, it depends on the role you do and how demanding the child and their illness.

I have done 2 jobs where this would be entirely possible. My tasks were not 9-5 specific, so i could have grabbed time during the day to do the responding to emails, proof reading, research, drafting emails, making future appointments to speak and designing presentations etc. and then made up whatever hours i missed in the evenings and weekend, doing more of the above. However, plenty of other jobs i have done i wouldn't have been able to and had to be present 9-5.

Presumably if the company allows it then it is possible that enough work can be completed at home in that time - otherwise they'd say no.

I still don't see that it matters op, chicken pox, 1 year old, not needing to ask the boss, what does it matter as long as the work is done?

Was the boss pissed off then? Or say fine? If they said fine then presumably it was fine and there was enough work for the employee to do at home? If not fine then why did they say okay?

I am likely to have a sick 11 year tomorrow - I will work from home and said child will moan to himself about manflu and I will be on hand to dish out nurofen 4 hourly whilst 11 year old watches re-runs of 1970's football matches and gives me a potted life history of every single player who is playing in the World Cup whilst I make appropriate pretending to be interested noises. I fully expect to get a full days work done, no problem.

I have older children and only work 8:45 am - 12:45 pm - am home by one. My husband works in a field where he mostly deals with the US, who are mostly online / on the phone from two pm.

So yes, he works from home if the children are sick. I give the sick child breakfast, set up a laptop they can watch DVDs from and go to work. I do their lunch when I get back. He gets plenty of work done, and I am on hand by the time he needs his full concentration for calls to the US.

What's it to you? You sound very judgemental!

Where do you fit into this story, OP?

I have just been off with one of my DDs with chicken pox. I did quite a lot of work, on ans off during the day, then quite a lot more in the evening. What os your key concern? You sound a bit lacking in empathy.

The not asking is the issue, rather than the actual wfh.

I've worked from home with an 18 month old with norovirus, a 2.3 year old with chicken pox, and another ailment or two that I can't remember how old he was. I had no choice, my job needed me to be doing the work and it was doable though not ideal. So yes, I had a poorly feverish poxy boy on one arm while typing with the other, and I worked into the night (I often do anyway). I have a number of staff with small kids and I encourage them to do whatever works for them. They work incredibly hard and I trust them not to take the piss. It's a very high performing team with less retention issues than you'd expect in the sector. Feedback is that it in part due to the fact that it is an understanding, family friendly workplace where we recognise that our staff are people, not just worker bees.

I always end up taking annual leave (company has no flexibility on this) and doing the work anyway (job is deadline based, so no other option).

I am prepared to still get in the office at 8pm on a Friday night to meet a deadline. I will take texts while on annual leave abroad. I'll answer messages outside working hours. The flip side is, if the kids are sick I work from home, the kids have hospital appointment I make up the hours. As mentioned above, it is give and take.

However, I can log into the office from home, and not just my office, but into mine then onto other servers that I might need in other offices too.

Sometimes I take annual leave, sometimes I work from home. I do the same number of hours when I'm at home (probably more tbf), but not necessarily in the time I'd do them at the office. My manager is happy with that, my dc are happy with that, and so am I. I'm afraid what anyone else thinks about it is immaterial.

Nursery manager here. I have sent a child home with chickenpox. Her mother has worked from home and worked al evening once her DH got home. Definitely put in the hours and work required.

I sometimes work from home, but my manager and I give and take, she knows I won't be working 100% that day but she'll get my time back (and probably more) and its happened once or twice in last 3 years (dh does his share too, so it not just my work impacted). She trust me to know it is a perk, and not to abuse the privilege.

I need to be at the office 60% of the time. It is tough then if DC is ill as we do not have anybody we can ask for help. BUT I am very lucky in able to juggle with DP who works in the same place and live a 5 minute bike ride away. We basically do ill childcare ls a team like today - I did 7am -11am at work, DP 11am-1pm, me 1pm-3pm, DP 3pm-6pm. We will both be working into the night too.

I work from home other 40% of time if DC ill. Have often gone in on weekends to catch up on some specifics. Work is fine - they ask for flexibility and are flexible in return.

It sound as if you think somebody is on a skive. Perhaps be less judgemental and assume their line manager will know if it becomes an issue.

My husband has taken work from home days, primary age children don't need a lot of nursing if the only reson they're off is due to the 48 hour rule, and husband can always make up some of the work in the evening. He says he gets more done at home.

YABU to assume that because you couldn't manage it personally, others could not either. When mine are sick, they generally sleep all day (they are not allowed to have computer/movie time - i try to make the day as boring as possible for them). YWNBU if your argument was that one parent should stay home to look after their sick kids rather than try to palm them off to family or friends.

Yes, sorry, forgot to add that it depends whether they are school aged or not. Would definitely be difficult with a sick baby/toddler.

Well, in my job we don't have the option to work from home. We get five days paid carer's leave, after that it's unpaid. We can only take it as holiday if there are hours available on the schedule . Not sure why they haven't figured out if the kid is ill, he's not going to get better by saying I won't be paid for the time off!

Not only have I worked from home when my kids are ill (and tbh I really get more done) but when my son was seriously ill i worked from a fold up hospital bed next to his. During the day I was available for everything that the hospital threw at him and from 7pm I sat and worked and worked into the wee small hours. They key is your line manager being happy with it and trusting you. If they do then what's the issue? In general, committed workers don't take the piss and do whatever to get the work done, and good managers understand that. People aren't work robots, trust works boths ways and if someone you know is managing their time effectively perhaps you could take a leaf from their book instead of feeling resentful. Working from home really isn't watching Desperate Housewives and answering a few token emails...

DH worked from home for a day when DS had chicken pox and it was fine, he got his work done and DS slept a lot and when he was awake cuddled DH whilst DH worked on his laptop on the settee.

I think it really depends on your job whether you can work from home or not.

DH and I are very lucky as DS hasn't been sick very often and both our employers have been really helpful and understanding when we have needed to take days off/DH work from home. It is one thing I always remember with my employer no matter how bad a day I've had!

Yanbu.
my old boss was always working from home due to sick kids. Most of her work was on her computer in the office so she didn't actually get any work done at all, but lots of facebooking.
It backfired though, after complaining she brought her sick kids in with her. Not only did she spend all day swanning in and out of meetings leaving us to look after her feverish vomiting child but we all caught it. And she had the audacity to complain that we took sick days for it!

I work in a school so can't take annual leave. Iirr I get 3 (or 5?) days paid leave to cover this. I've never lost pay for it anyway either as a teacher or a TA.

Dh can work from home. He has done this before and it's very useful. He is able to get loads done anyway. No one could doubt it - his timekeeping and obviously the client files talk for themselves. He will also sometimes then go back into the office once I'm back from school and do a 2 or 3 hours.

As others have said it depends on so many things. I was originally given my works laptop and work at home kit to enable me to work when the dds were ill. When they were younger I would work when they were asleep and in the evenings. Now they are older I work while they watch endless crappy tv. We have no emergency family help so it's just me and dh to cover. He has the same arrangement as me so we take turns. And as it cuts out the commute we get a lot more done.

We never ask either. Just send an email round to our teams once we are logged on. I wouldn't expect any of my team to ask either. They all can work at home as I do if they want