There is a big cost to a business when employees are ill or unhealthy. There is lost production with absenteeism, but also when employees don’t feel well they are less productive which is even more costly because it take them longer to complete their job tasks. When a task that may have taken 15 minutes to complete if they felt well takes them 30 minutes to complete because they do not feel well, it is an increased cost of 100%.
Many employers and managers do not take this into consideration and think it is better to have a sick person at work than to not have them at all. I guess they have not considered the “domino effect” that it could have with everyone they work with. Most employers, if they gave it some thought, would rather have one employee out until they were well than to have multiple employees out over a period of time because the sick employee felt they needed to be at work instead of home.
Many organization are trying to help their employees stay healthier by developing “wellness programs” to educate and inspire employees to work on getting healthy and staying healthy. There are many things that employers and managers can do to promote good health, like lunch time walks or runs together, eating together at a healthy cafe or everyone bringing healthy brown bag lunches. Maybe you can find a local nutritionist who would be willing to come in on a lunch hour and talk about healthy eating.
We are heading into flu season and checking into getting current immunizations up-to-date is a smart thing to do.
There is power in numbers so encouraging each other to stay healthy is important. If you are in a management position let your staff members know they if they are sick, even if it would be a hardship on the department, that you want them to stay home and get better. No one appreciates a co-worker hacking and coughing next to them.
The article below has some good advice to take during flu and cold season. It might be a good thing to print out and pass around to co-workers or your boss.
Kommentit