While parents may inevitably have to stay home from work to tend to one of their children who becomes sick, many are concerned that by doing so, they risk losing their jobs.
According to a recent poll conducted by researchers from the University of Michigan, nearly 50 percent of parents said that they had to miss work at least once within the past year because of an illness that their child experienced. Further, one-quarter of respondents said they had to call out of work three or more times because their child was under the weather. As a result, nearly 33 percent said they were concerned about losing pay or their job because of this.
Andrew Hashikawa, clinical lecturer in pediatric emergency medicine at the university's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, suggested that business owners would be doing their workers a huge favor by taking these eventualities into account in their employee benefit plan administration.
"Improving employee benefits related to paid sick leave appears to be important for many parents," said Hashikawa. "More supportive sick leave policies would allow parents to care for their sick children at home or give parents the opportunity to go to their child's usual healthcare provider instead of the emergency room."
