MNN - Mother Nature Network

With cases of the flu reaching epidemic levels, it is critical businesses maintain a healthy work environment.  A business can be severely affected by people coming to work when they're sick.

 

"We know illness can spread from person to person causing entire work groups to be affected," said Dr. Mary Capelli-Schellpfeffer, medical director of Loyola University Health System Occupational Health Services. "But less obvious is how job performance, organization, productivity, creativity and financial stability can all be affected."

 

Sickness can interrupt productivity by creating a distraction and causing both the infected employee and co-workers to focus on the illness instead of their jobs, as well as affect how outsiders, such as clients and customers, view the stability of the company, Capelli-Schellpfeffer said.

 

She advises businesses to encourage employees who are sick to use their sick time, because just being in a room and breathing when a person is sick can spread the illness.

 

"If you’re sick you shouldn't be in the workplace," Capelli-Schellpfeffer said. "It interrupts business and puts others at risk of infection."

 

To protect businesses from a flu outbreak, Capelli-Schellpfeffer offers the following tips:

 

 

"While news cycles and the public’s attention span about the flu rises and wanes, the flu is not going away," Capelli-Schellpfeffer said. "Though there is a cost involved in promoting wellness, it is small in comparison to the pricey hit companies take when their work force is impaired by illness."