Is encouraging employees to work when they are sick really a smart move? I recently read a couple of articles that showcased companies who offer end of year monetary incentives to their employees for not calling in sick.
Not only, are you not taking your employees’ wellbeing into consideration. You are risking the spread of contagious illness like the flu or stomach bugs that can easily bring down other members of your workforce leading to multiple absentees.
Many of us decide not to call into work sick and one of the main reasons we do this is guilt. So when employees are sick, should we not be encouraging them to stay at home? Having sick employees really is bad for business as it can lead to a vicus cycle of exposing others to illnesses. So, what is it that you can do to get your employees to stay at home and cut down on illness in the office?
Offer Flexible Working Options
If the job enables your employees to work from home, this would be a reasonable option. It allows employees to keep up to date with any projects or approaching deadlines without falling behind.
Some illness are worse than others, so depending on this you shouldn’t expect the same degree of productivity from your employees if they do choose this option.
Initiate Wellbeing Advice
Take a morning or lunchtime and invite a wellbeing advisor to come in and talk to your employees about self-care in the colder months. You could also supply vitamins, smoothies, fresh fruits, teas, and hand sanitizers in order to create a healthier work environment. It’s a low expense to pay to keep your employees healthy.
Offer flu injections
Offering onsite flu injections is a great way to keep employee absenteeism to a minimum. Also, by offering it onsite you will find the number of employees taking advantage of the service increase, meaning a win for everyone.
Take Action
If your sick employees refuse to go home, encourage your mangers to take action. Sit down with sick employees and explain to them they need to take time off to allow themselves to get better. Reassure them that tasks they may not be able to cover if off sick will be dealt with or that certain deadlines will be extended to put their minds at ease.
