Presenteeism Caused by Cold and Flu
According to new research, employers have a lot to gain by helping employees avoid seasonal cold and flu, and encouraging sick employees to stay home.
The study by Queen’s University found that most workers who are ill still feel obligated to go to work; many do in fact go to work, contributing to the phenomenon of “presenteeism”. Presenteeism is when a worker is physically present at work, but is distracted or ill, negatively affecting their productivity. Presenteeism has serious financial implications due to lost productivity.
Those employees who do attend work while ill expose other workers to cold and flu, contributing to the spread of infection, and further absence or presenteeism. Ceridian Canada reports that the flu costs the Canadian economy half a billion dollars annually through absenteeism and presenteeism!
What Can You Do?
- Encourage employees to frequently wash their hands with soap and water;
- Host company-sponsored flu immunization clinics;
- Promote health and wellness so employees have a better chance of resisting infection;
- Encourage employees who are ill to stay home.
I think a major problem with employees in all workplaces is we have limited amounts of flex days; therefore we only want to stay home & use flex day if we are extremely ill, rather than wasting a day off when were healthly enough to sit at our desk for the day.
According to data, we are contagious within 3 days of catching a cold, and often before symptoms are felt. http://www.askthedoctor.com/index.php/topics-a-z/41-cold-and-flu/58402-contagious-period-for-common-colds.html Obviously it is not much fun to be sitting alongside a co-worker who is streaming with a cold or hacking away. I think employees should be strongly encouraged to go home and rest. Above all, we should try to stay healthy and do what we can to combat colds and flu, especially during the Winter. My remedy? Boiron makes some great natural flu prophylaxis – take Influenzinum and Thymuline in a six week course at the start of flu season. Thymuline and Oscillococcinum for when you get a bad cold or the flu. This always works for me and my immune system has been compromised!