The walking unwell

A rough economy can make some companies cut benefits… like the amount of paid sick leave their employees receive. A rough economy can also make people nervous about taking advantage of the paid sick leave they have earned; either because they don’t want to been seen as a slacker in an extremely competitive job market… or because they know times are tough and their company needs them.

I was inspired to think about this issue after reading a recent story in the New York Times which raised serious questions about the consequences (and complications) of people who work while sick… during the H1N1 pandemic (aka “swine flu”).

Implications: Employees who strive to courageously “play through the pain” for the good of themselves or their company could actually be doing far more harm than good. First of all, the H1N1 virus is to be taken seriously for your personal welfare. And you’re not doing the boss or the company any good by helping the virus spread farther and more quickly through the company workforce. So what are the alternatives?

I can’t believe that I haven’t seen this topic addressed, somehow, by companies who sell personal and home office equipment such as computers, networks, smart phones, etc. H1N1 presents a great argument in favor of telecommuting.

It has seemed particularly difficult, this year, to find out where and when vaccines are available (for both the seasonal and H1N1 inoculations). With so many pipelines of communication open these days (traditional media, the web, social networking), I cannot imagine why that information is so hard to come by… except that the vaccines are simply not available in enough locations. But one solution might be having the HR team at your company do some research about where employees can become protected against these illnesses, and post that information conspicuously throughout the workplace. (This isn’t too tough. Just visit Flu.gov.)

Another might be to partner with a local healthcare organization to bring the vaccines right to your workplace.

In an upcoming staff meeting, tell the workforce you take their well-being seriously… and you hope other workers will help pick up the slack, as you encourage sick employees to stay home.

Mike Anderson