PHCC Educational Foundation
Personnel e.bulletin for October 2010
Stay Home!
Keeping Sick Workers Away
Prepared for the PHCC Educational Foundation by TPO, Inc.
As another flu season approaches, employers are increasingly concerned about the threat sick employees pose in the workplace. When sick employees show up for work, known as "presenteeism," there is a significant and costly impact on an organization, not only in terms of passing along contagions to other workers and customers, but also in terms of diminished productivity, quality and attention to safety.
A 2007 CCH (www.cch.com) survey on unscheduled absences provides businesses with a clear look at the rate of unscheduled absences and their financial impact. “Employers need to understand why employees are coming to work sick and what they can do to help address this -- whether it's adapting policies, educating employees and managers or taking some other steps to make it clear that while they need employees at work, they also want a healthy workforce and workplace," said CCH employment law analyst Brett Gorovsky, JD.
Employees get frustrated when they find themselves around a colleague who is consistently coughing, blowing his/her nose or sneezing. An employee’s sympathy for a co-worker can quickly turn into resentment for fear that every cough or sneeze is infecting him/her. Those germs can decimate a formerly healthy workplace and cause a financial burden to a company.
For plumbing-heating-cooling contractors who provide service to customers in their home or office, a sick employee poses even more problems. A technician who spends a service call coughing, sneezing and displaying other symptoms of being sick will create a strongly negative and lasting perception of the service call and your company with the customer. A commercial service call by a sick technician risks the account if employees at the office catch something that “the HVAC guy who was sick” brought to the office. On a residential service call where small children or elderly are present in the customer’s home, a sick employee could even be posing a life threatening danger by showing up for work with a cold.
There are many reasons why employees don't stay home to recuperate. These include being overworked, “devotion” to the company, saving time off for future use or even being strongly discouraged by their company from taking sick time. According to 66 percent of respondents to the 2007 CCH Survey, having too much work/fear of missing deadlines was the most common reason sick employees come in to work. The lack of anyone to cover a sick employee's workload was cited by 56 percent of respondents, and company loyalty was a factor in 36 percent of presenteeism situations. The survey also found that just one in four organizations report they have a plan in place if a large percentage of employees become ill, indicating most organizations are not well prepared in the event of a pandemic. Overall, the CCH Survey found that 38 percent of employers report presenteeism being a problem in their organizations.
Most commonly, employees do not want to use vacation time and try to save sick time for later in the year. However, forty-six percent of survey respondents cited fear of discipline as a reason why employees come to work sick, while 25 percent report their company culture discourages using sick days.
Therefore, employers need to be very careful that their leave policies are not encouraging the wrong behavior, which can be counterproductive to a healthy workforce and have costly consequences. Since the height of the flu season is at the beginning of the year, many employees are concerned that they will use up all of their sick leave early in the year. In addition, if an employer takes disciplinary action regardless of the circumstances when an employee exceeds a sick-day limit, then an employee who has been out with the flu for several days may choose to come into work sick rather than risk disciplinary action.
There are indications that employers are taking steps to help overcome the rise in presenteeism. According to the 2007 CCH survey, a majority of companies with presenteeism problems report that they try to confront the issue by sending sick employees home, while other employers try to educate employees on the importance of staying home when they are sick. Some companies are trying to create a culture that discourages employees from coming in sick altogether or to get them to telecommute when they are sick. A few employers are giving unlimited sick days or allowing a portion of unused sick time to carry over from one year to the next to combat presenteeism.
We are seeing many employers setting up Paid Leave Bank programs, also known as Paid Time Off (PTO) which combines all time off (vacation and sick leave) into a single bank of days to be taken in the way best meets an employee’s needs. The PTO programs have been well received in that employees feel they have more control over how they use their time off, and it helps to eliminate the fear of depleting sick days early in the year.
It is impractical to think an employer will send an employee home with the first sniffle, employees at work who appear to be sick will need to be questioned in order to determine whether they just have a common cold or, conversely, something more severe and therefore potentially requiring a more drastic response. The stakes are high: Not only does a sick workforce affect morale and productivity, but it also could give rise to possible worker compensation claims from employees who can prove that they contracted H1N1 flu at work.
Employers are going to have to take multiple steps to deal with the presenteeism issue, because employees are showing up to work sick for different reasons. Here are some ideas for employers to encourage a healthy workplace.
Tips for Employers to Promote a Healthy Workplace
n Offer a flu-vaccination program. Look at your healthcare carriers who may provide a program for coming on-site to provide vaccinations to employees for a nominal fee.
n Look into your employee assistance program and healthcare support services. Determine if they offer a hotline or web site your employees can use to access facts and get guidance and information about healthcare issues.
n Establish and communicate guidelines: Help employees understand under what conditions they should stay home, and when it's safe to return to work. For example, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates individuals who get the flu may be able to infect others from the day before their symptoms develop, to five days after becoming sick.
n Provide tips on how to avoid spreading germs -- a good source is the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/stopgerms.htm#GoodHealthHabits. Use posters or offer the information on your corporate intranet.
n Ensure absence control polices are not counterproductive: Programs such as disciplinary action need to be assessed to ensure they don't unnecessarily pressure sick employees to report for work. Review your company's policies to make sure there are no provisions that unduly pressure sick employees to report to work (e.g., absenteeism policies that say employees who use up their accrued sick time may be subject to discipline, even if they have a doctor's note).
n Encourage a healthy environment: Ensure managers are fostering an environment in which ill employees feel comfortable asking to leave the workplace or, better yet, not report to work in the first place. Send sick employees home. Acknowledge the employee’s commitment, and stress that this isn’t disciplinary in nature, but that you are looking out to keep the rest of the organization and customers healthy.
n Set a good example: Managers should be urged not to come in sick as employees may then see the message to "stay at home" as not an option.
n Work with employees and your facilities group to keep common areas clean: Make sure these areas are cleaned regularly.
n Recognize helpful employees: Consider bonuses, rewards or other recognition for employees who step in to help do extra work for ill colleagues.
n Encourage all departments to cross-train staff, if possible, so employees will be able to cover for absent colleagues.
The government is also getting involved by actively encouraging employees to stay home at the first sign of flu symptoms, because the workplace could be the point where employees can easily spread germs to not only their colleagues, but within the community. In order to assist you in making it clear to employees and managers that they are not welcome in the workplace if they are sick with the flu, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published a new employer toolkit: “Preparing for the Flu: A Communication Toolkit for Businesses and Employers.” You can obtain this document at www.flu.gov/professional/business/toolkit.html.
Among the available tools at the HHS Web site are letter/e-mail templates, such as the “If You Are Not Feeling Well” template that you can customize by using your organization's official stationery or e-mail template, inserting the name and contact information of someone employees can reach for flu questions, adding the signature line of the owner, president, etc.
The latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offer specific steps for business owners and managers to take to protect their employees and to maintain continuity of their operations. Employers should tell employees to stay home if they are sick with the flu until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever (100° F or above) or signs of a fever (chills, feel very warm, have a flushed appearance, or are sweating). This should be determined without the use of fever-reducing medicines (any medicine that contains ibuprofen or acetaminophen). These new guidelines apply to all flu viruses including mild to severe flu conditions, not just H1N1.
Employers can download a poster at that identifies common flu symptoms and clearly instructs employees who have any symptoms to “tell their supervisor and stay home here: http://www.flu.gov/professional/business/businesses_poster_small.pdf
Regardless of the size or type of business you have, planning and taking action in advance can help protect your business and employees from spreading germs and creating a financial burden to your organization.
Plan Now
n Review your current pandemic flu plan or develop a new plan. Involve your employees in development and review of the plan. Share the plan and policies with your employees.
n Engage your state and local health department to confirm channels of communication and methods for dissemination of local outbreak information.
n Develop flexible leave policies to allow employees to stay home to care for sick family members or for children, in case schools dismiss students or childcare programs close.
n Share best practices with other businesses in your community.
n Work with companies in your supply chain as well as chambers of commerce and local associations to improve response efforts.
n Purchase supplies such as tissues, soap, and alcohol-based hand cleaners to encourage healthful habits in the workplace.
n Plan for how business can continue if many employees must stay home.
n Designate and train other employees in the event someone becomes sick to make sure you can continue your critical functions.
Take the necessary first steps now and then continue throughout the flu season in order to help protect the health of your employees and organization. It is always a good idea to review your current policies and systems in place on an annual basis to ensure you are complying with ever changing state and federal regulations, and ensuring the protection of your employees and business.
This content was developed for the PHCC Educational Foundation by TPO, Inc. (www.tpo-inc.com). Please consult your HR professional or attorney for further advice, as laws may differ in each state. Laws continue to evolve; the informationpresented isas of October 2010. Any omission or inclusion of incorrect data is unintentional.
The PHCC Educational Foundation, a partnership of contractors, manufacturers and wholesalers was founded in 1987 to serve the plumbing-heating-cooling industry by preparing contractors and their employees to meet the challenges of a constantly changing marketplace.
If you found this article helpful, please consider supporting the Foundation bymaking a contribution at http://www.foundation.phccweb.org/invest.
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