Healthy Employees Make for Healthy Businesses During Flu Season

 

With the current shortages and restrictions on flu shots, your employees may not be as well protected this winter and a flu epidemic can be seriously distressing for any employer. The last thing you need is for all your employees to be home sick during the holiday season! But even without a flu shot, you can still provide your employees with some knowledge and tools to help prevent illness this winter. The truth is, some of the best advice is the guidance your mom gave you when you were a kid. So, here's an update on the old stand-bys:

 

Wash your hands
The importance of hand washing cannot be overstated. Hands collect germs by coming into contact with common items such as doorknobs, phones and keyboards. Clearly everyone should wash his or her hands before eating, but hand washing is important all day long. One of the easiest ways to catch a cold or flu is by touching your eyes, nose or mouth after coming into contact with germs. But you needn't send your employees off to the bathroom sink every fifteen minutes. Instead, encourage them to keep their hands clean by providing hand sanitizer in your workplace. Hand sanitizers are alcohol based so they do not require rinsing and they dry quickly.

 

Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze
You could call this one common sense or, at the every least, basic manners, but its smart to remind workers that these good manners also have a practical application. The last thing you want is clouds of contagion circulating through the heating vents. To encourage your employees to prevent the spread of cold and flu germs through sneezing and coughing, provide tissue in the office and keep it nearby every work station.

 

Send them home if they're sick
On one hand, you want to optimize productivity and when your workers are out sick it can be a real drain on the company. Keep the big picture in mind. If you encourage Doug to stay home and cozy up in front of the television with some chicken soup and a blanket, you'll have a better chance of keeping Jordan, Karen, and Connie healthy and on the job. You could try telecommuting or sending your sick employees home with work, but chances are your sick employee would recover faster by staying in bed and drinking plenty of fluids.

 

And one more bonus tip
Consider providing flu prevention kits to your employees. A simple kit might include hand wipes or sanitizers, Vitamin C tablets, zinc lozenges and tissues. And you can make sure your employees stay well hydrated by providing bottled water in the office too. By spending a few dollars and emphasizing some basic health advice this flu season, you'll not only show you care, but you can protect one of your most valuable resources - your employees' good health - and save your business some money too.