How Does Your Family Handle Sick Time?

[WillyAL]

I’ve always felt that people abuse their sick time too much.

That happens, for sure. Some people regard there sick time as just a bit more vacation time.

*I told people during the interview that I didn’t believe in calling in sick, they had to come in and if they were sick I would send them home. Otherwise they were just hungover or out partying in some other town. *

Well, you lost me right there. A boss does not get to decide who is or isn’t sick enough to stay home. To insist that someone come in so that you can make your diagnosis is just a bit over the top. You might be able to get away with this in a restaurant full of high school or college age kids, but if your workers are adults who depend on their jobs to support their families, you could probably anticipate some well-deserved and potentially expensive push-back.

 

[Regina7]

In 15 years, I think my husband has taken 2-3 sicks days , despite a pretty loose policy. Several times, I begged him to stay home when I had an awful migraine. He’d stay but work from home.

Now hubby travels all week, every week. So I am literally on my own, especially since I don’t have family near.

Hubby has a strong work ethic, perhaps too strong. I sometimes feel that work comes before family (he rarely even uses all his vacation days). But he is working to provide for us. It’s a tough balance and one that has caused serious tension.

My solution is to find a great network of friends to help when I’m sick. And I do the same for them. Also, I teach my kids self-reliance, which some people criticize (they say kids should be kids). However, it’s nice knowing that, if necessary, my kids can entertain themselves and make food.

The kids helping themselves obviously didn’t happen when they were infants/toddlers. If I couldn’t find a friend to help, I usually suffered through it, all the while my resentment towards hubby grew. But, once your oldest is old enough to help out, life gets much easier.

It didn’t seem to matter how much I griped to hubby…he still worked. So I had to find my own ways to cope.