Is bringing a sick child to the office with you an acceptable practice?

Question

I am not a parent so I try to sympathize but I work with a woman who routinely brings her sick child(ren) to work with her. If a child is too sick to go to school, what makes it ok to bring them to the office and expose your co-workers to their illness? My boss doesn't do anything about it and I want to say something to HR. Am I wrong here?

Answer 1

A healthy child doesn't belong at work, let alone a sick one. Bring your sick dog to work and see how THAT goes over.

Answer 2

I'm not a parent yet either but I will be in about 5 1/2 months and I would NEVER bring my sick child to the office with me. Not only can the child get other people in the office sick, but it can be distracting not only to the parent but to the others that work with the parent. You are not at all wrong about how you feel, but if your boss hasn't said anything(which really surprises me), then I wouldn't go over him/her and go to hr I would talk to my boss first and voice my concerns because maybe there are special circumstances surrounding this woman's reasoning for bringing her sick child to work with her. If it continues to be a distraction and your boss continues to do nothing, then I would get more support from other co-workers first so that it doesn't look like you're just being an a**, and then go to hr and voice your concerns and maybe something will be done. Good luck!!

Answer 3

I work in a very flexible office and me and my co-workers do bring our children to work at times when we can't get them minded for various reasons. BUT the only time they have been bought in when they are sick is when they are only mildly sick, ie. a cold or cough - not vomiting or gastro, etc - that would be terrible! Also, the children are usually only there for a short amount of time while the worker (their parent), gets work to take home if he/she needs to, delegates their workload for the day and perhaps reads their emails/mail, etc. I am all for this, it is too hard these days trying to juggle parenthood and work and you often simply don't have a partner or a family member or a friend who can help out. However, if a child comes into the office often and they are quite sick and the parent is working there all day or for several hours, I would be quite concerned - 1. because the child shouldn't be sitting in a cold, uncomfortable office when unwell and 2. because the people who work there shouldn't be at risk of catching the child's illness or being bothered by an ill child. If it happens continuously, then yes I would say something, but weigh up how disruptive it is to you and how ill the child is first - you don't want to make an enemy!

Answer 4

No bringing a sick child to the office is not acceptable. It is wrong. I really think you should speak to HR and then suggest maybe this woman work from home from time to time, if that's possible, to keep this from happening again in the future.
If a child is sick at school, the parents are immediately called to pick up the child. Same thing in daycares. Sick children need to be taken home and cared for, or taken to the doctor to be given medicine to help cure the sickness. If she keeps bringing sick children to work, she is risking the possibility of getting a co-worker sick and missing out on work will cost you money. I think you should bring it up to your boss too. I know you want to sympathize with this woman but she was hired to do a certain job regardless of whether she has children or not. If her children are constantly getting sick and needing her attention, she needs to reconsider this position.

Answer 5

I didn't see this article, but I must say, I think the Manhattan mom is doing the right thing by having her 7 year old on some kind of diet. I say this because if her child does not soon get rid of these extra pounds, it is going to be that much harder and maybe even impossible for the child to lose this weight as an adult. These are just the statistics, the numbers and they do not lie. I was of a normal weight all my life, but have since gained a few extra pounds as I have gotten older. I cannot tell you how relieved I was to learn that, because most of my life was at a much lighter, healthier weight, I shouldn't have to much trouble losing the extra pounds. I would feel very sorry for that 7 year old if he or she doesn't lose the weight now and then tries to lose the weight much later in life, only to find it is much more difficult to do so... Hopefully, the mom can lighten up on the strictness of the diet as the child experiences some degree of success and loses a few pounds...:)

Answer 6

Well, it depends. How reliable is the worker? Are her children running around the office breaking things or harrassing other workers? Do they have a cough or something like TB? Are they wiping their little snotting noses on your shirt sleeve? How often is this taking place? Once a quarter, once a month, once a week? I mean, you have to look at the bigger picture. If it is a rare thing, then it probably is acceptable. Maybe the woman is a valuable employee to your boss and he feels it is more important for her not to miss work to meet a deadline or accomplish a goal that it would be for you not to get a cold. Now, if the kids are just running wild and interfering with the workers...then YES, I would say something.

Answer 7

It isn't acceptable. I recent poll found that most bosses would prefer sick workers not come to work, this is called presenteeism. Not only is a sick worker less effecient, they will be sick longer and can of course spread the illness around.

However as your boss thinks it is fine, you may also find that this woman has been threatened with being fired if she takes more time off for her sick child. Which places her in an awful position.

Have you considered talking to her directly. I would hate to see her fired.

Answer 8

Sick children should not be brought to their parent's work. If a child is not well enough to go to school, then she/he should be at home. Bring a sick child to work endangers the child and the parent's co-workers. Maybe approach the employee first, next your boss, then HR as a last resort.

Answer 9

U shouldn't say anything to ur boss about it as this may do some harm to your co-worker and even jeopardise ur relationship with her. The best thing to do in the situation is to call ur co-worker and advise her that its not too good to bring sick children to work as they wont get enough rest and stuff. You may suggest to her to ask for a day off tpo take care of a her sick child rather than bringinmg them to work.

Answer 10

I don't think it's ok, as a matter of personal preference. I wish sick people in general would stay home. Unfortunately our society doesn't really make accommodations for sick people (sorry, I digress).

Anyhow, I would first tell your boss this practice makes you uncomfortable and if they're too sick to be in school, perhaps they're too sick to be around adults too. See if your boss would be willing to make arrangements for this parent to work from home on those days or just call in sick to attend to the needs of her child(ren). If they're sick, they need to be at home and in bed anyway, not in some chilly, flourescent lit cubicle.

If your boss continues to do nothing, then talk to HR.

Answer 11

I think it depends on whats wrong with the kid and how often the kid is coming, plus how old the kid is. A 7 year old can and will sit down and do homework and draw if asked to and will be good. I guess i am bias concidering i FREQUENTLY went to work with one of parents. Yet i had special needs and if i was sick it was more times then not a virus so not contagious so it was a problem, I also was VERY well behaved. So i think it all depends on the whole situation. If the kid is contagious and not well behaved then yea report it or something but if not contagious and well behaved then i dont see a problem.