Technically not, though I usually make it in.
There is no such thing as a population health software emergency, so nope, I’m not essential.
If there is bad weather, we work from home. If someone’s power or internet access is out because of the storm, they don’t get dinged for the absence.
I like this setup.
I think people often forget how many other workers in a hospital are essential to its operations. There need to be cleaners, food service workers, X-Ray techs, lab workers, transporters, front desk staff, people to sterilize the instruments…sadly, these people are often paid low, hourly wages and will get docked for being late.
I work in a hospital but am not essential to patient care. Even so, we are encouraged to make it in, and even office workers like I am can show a hospital badge if the roads are closed and be allowed to continue on.
Not essential. Depending on where I’m caught and what’s on the To Do list, I may be able to do it from home - or even, I may do it better from home. Sadly my current client has recently implemented a “no work from home” policy, but my team gets to do it because we already had contracts including the right to work from home (several of us are considered to be “on location”, so we’re working remotely by definition).
My local healthcare system requires medical personnel who can have long rotations to have a home address within half an hour of their duty stations (depending on the rotation’s type, they can be on call in the home rather than at their station), but it also has a protocol in place for when someone can’t make it. I think other emergency services will have similar protocols.
Local TV news videographer - not only essential, but all hands on deck. Snow coverage days get great ratings.
The station books hotel rooms for staff that wants it if the event is significant enough, and provides 4wd contractors to deliver people to & from the hotel or their homes (if within a few miles). As field crew, I am provided a 4wd station vehicle and I am expected to make it to work whether I choose to stay at home or take a hotel room.
I always stay at home.
This year was different - my company vehicle was destroyed in an accident around Thanksgiving (tourist turned left from the right hand lane as I passed), and I have been in a rental ever since, and the rental is front wheel drive only.
So I drove my personal 4WD the past few days, but I got mileage so that’s fine.
I love driving in bad weather. Given extra time, proper equipment and most everyone else staying home, it’s a lot of fun to drive around the metro areas without anyone else on the roads. Makes life interesting.
Nope. As I once told my head of department on a sleety, icy morning, ‘Western Civ is not worth dying for.’
Tell that to the patriots of the American Revolution. 
I’m not essential, but I’ve never missed a day of work because of weather.
In my town, our average snowfall per year is about 18 inches, spread across about 3-4 winter storms per year. In the 20 years I’ve worked here, our company has only closed the office for snow one day. People are encouraged to not take undue risks to get to work and stay home if they feel the conditions are to hazardous to get out. We have about 2,500 people in our office location. I’ve never missed a day of work because of weather. Even on the day they announced they closure of the office, I was already at work when the announcement was made.
Need a more convincing argument than that; I’m a traitor to the cause these days 
I always go in to work. I don’t have the kind of job where I can work from home.
Here in Maine, schools are about the only places that have snow days, well and small businesses where the owners don’t feel like opening on a snowy day.
If I am scheduled to work, I go in regardless of the weather. In fact, I often get called in during snow storms because other people couldn’t make it. Good studded tires, and the common sense to slow down, make driving in snow about as uneventful as driving in rain.
In Saskatchewan, schools may have snow days, but they don’t close. There is always a skeleton staff, in case some kids make it in - don’t want little frozen corpses by the door, covered in snow.