AIBU to think working from home with chickenpox child is unfair?

[Wfhsucks]

So I called work this morning as my 5 year old son has chicken pox and they advised for
me to still work (from home) I am really struggling juggling everything and I don’t think it is fair as I couldn’t take him into the office and be expected to work?

If I offered WFH in this scenario to someone I was line managing, my expectation would be that they would try their best and would probably manage more like 5-6 hours of sending emails and keeping on top of things, rather than a full 8 hours of undivided attention and the most productive day they'd ever had in their job. Most people would then pedal a bit harder later in the week to ensure that by end of Friday they were back to normal.

This is for a standard issue medium pressure office job. Maybe not if you're like Secretary General of the UN.

Another option is getting a friend, relative, or even professional sitter to come and look after your child in your home while you work upstairs.

This feels very much like you just don't like wfh (clue is in the username) and this is simply another reason to complain about it. Most parents would probably be able to work while caring for a mildly ill child, if that child is old enough to rest on the sofa or in bed with periodic check-ins, food/drinks, etc. It depends on the child, the severity of the illness, and the type of work you're doing, of course, but if it's simply not possible, you're always free to take the day off. Your choice!

Did you want a paid day off, like a sick day? Or would you have been happy to use annual leave or have an unpaid parental leave day?

I’m 95% certain this poster is a colleague of someone who’s been told to do this. I’m 90% certain they also don’t have a child of their own, or it’s been a very long time, or they have a child under 5, as I can’t see why they would think so much needs to be juggled.

You should be pleased you work for such a caring employer. Obviously if you end up with a load of extra work as a result, you need to speak to your boss (but if they’d taken a day off unpaid you’d have had even more to cover), but it works both ways and I’m sure next time you don’t feel 100% but still feel like you can work, they’ll let you wfh instead.

Parental leave?

Your child will be taking up some of your time but mostly resting and sleepy on antihistamines and paracetamol. You will still be able to work an 80% day while attending to your child's water intake and medication.

If your child is more unwell take parental leave.

Well take the day as annual leave or unpaid. Your employer is doing you a solid in allowing you to WFH while you look after your sick child and you're whining about them? Give your head a wobble!

I think they are being flexible, I’d rather that than take it unpaid unless of course you’re unable to manage doing both.

Wow.

“what are they going to do about it” - well there’s plenty an employer can do about your attitude tbh.

Agree, it is more like a reverse. Colleague being given leeway and paid to wfh.

I don’t understand why you can’t just tell them you’d rather not take their option and book yourself some leave. From what you’ve said it sounds as if they know your productivity will drop. I manage a team of people who work flexibly and if they tell me they want to take a day’s leave next week I always ask whether they need to dip into their leave entitlement or could they just work extra in the week before and after. It’s just an option. What does your policy say?

I really don’t understand why you’re so het up about this. If you’re not coping you need to say your child is sicker than you were expecting and need to take holiday or dependents leave.

Often with a sick child you can just plonk them on the sofa with a film and they’re happy
to watch or have a dose. Your manager was presumably trying to give you a bit of flex knowing chicken pox is likely
to be a week at home for the child.

I’ve done a mixture of wfh with a sick child, taking 1/2 days of leave to shorten the day and parental leave.

You really don't want to have to take annual leave for chickenpox though, it lasts for ages. Especially if you have multiple children, and a sibling is going to come down with it in two weeks just as the first one is back to normal.

My employer would also allow WFH for this. Most people would start at 6am, and do a few hours while their child was still sleeping, work intermittently though the day, then a few hours in the evening if needed to make the time up.

Chickenpox took a full month to clear my DC to the point nursery let them all back, a month of unpaid leave would have been a serious blow!

I’m confused - what did you want them to say? In my workplace, if you feel able to wfh as a one-off, hen you would be allowed to, but if not, you have the option of taking annual leave or emergency dependents leave which would be unpaid.

That is very very rare in the UK. My employer is generally very flexible and family friendly and the best it offers is unpaid emergency leave. I think Scandinavia is quite different.

Id be bloody delighted if I could do this! I am a single oarent and stryggle to cover school homudays let alone child sickness. 9/10 i could easily wfh with an ill child but I have to take annual leave

Yes, seems to be one tracked. Ignoring anyone who suggests she just call back and take some kind of leave, just wants to insist that people are working from home are not working if their kid is unwell.

It’s give and take, I get to work from home and know I’m not going to be working at full steam as I’ll be popping in and out on them, but if I’ve got deadlines and work to finish then I’m likely to work through lunch or stay on a bit later, I’ve not had to take dependent or annual leave. I’m getting paid and it’s not a strike against me, as you can only go off so many times for sickness and sick kids before they start absence management processes. I don’t know what she’s moaning at

I get 5 days paid leave per year for dependents, I don’t think it’s that unusual in salaried jobs

If you cannot work from home you will have to agree how you will account for your absence.
Your employer may or may not have policies which you can look to.
But they are not going to just say ‘oh dear’ take the day off as in, not recorded as leave in some way.

So did you tell them you cannot work at home with him and instead will have to take unpaid leave? What did they say?

There offering you an option so u still get paid

But it’s a favour your employer is granting you? I’d assume you were telling me as a manager as you were hoping I’d say ok to work but you’d be cut a bit of slack. I’d not allocate any difficult or time critical tasks for example or require them in training.
If you wanted to take it off you’d need to ask for unpaid time off to care for a sick dependant or use annual leave.
Obviously you know your job and how poorly dc is.
We don’t have paid time off for looking after sick children and I’m public sector and pretty generous compared to private.

You could use your holiday? Or get your other half to take it

What was the outcome you were hoping for? (paid leave?)
I suspect they thought they were doing you a favour and gave you this option to save you from taking a day of parental leave (often unpaid) or using up your annual leave?

Tbh I don't think they're being unreasonable. Would you not be able to sit him in front of the TV while you work? Nothing's better when you're not well than some good tele, drinks and snacks. You can let them know that you will have to check on him every so often, but you should still get good stretches of time to work. I think that is a great solution.