Starting around April and going through until October, flu season presents a risk to your business continuity and staff wellbeing. To ward off the flu and help employees stay healthy, many businesses choose to offer free flu vaccinations.
Flu vaccine. Take the shot
Every year, there is a highly contagious variant strain of the flu virus that will cause widespread illness. That’s why the flu vaccine is reformulated, so it targets the strains of the virus predicted to be most prevalent this year.
A vaccine is a proactive measure. While not 100% effective in preventing you or your employees from catching the flu, the vaccine significantly reduces its severity, the likelihood of complications, and the duration of symptoms.
And while we don’t like to think about it, the COVID-19 virus is still very active in various new strains. That’s why it’s beneficial to get a flu shot and COVID-19 booster at the same time.
By encouraging your team to get vaccinated and insisting they stay home when they’re unwell, your business can build a healthier, more resilient workforce. Ultimately creating a health-first culture, and a more productive business.
The flu is not a cold
Although a cold and the flu can have similar symptoms, such as a cough, fatigue and sore throat, they are caused by different viruses. For some people, including young children and those with certain medical conditions, the flu can be very serious. Even fatal.
Absenteeism is the most obvious consequence of employees getting sick with the flu. A single employee struck down by the flu means lost work hours, delayed projects, and increased workload pressure on colleagues.
This can lead to burnout, decreased morale, and a decline in the quality of work. Beyond absenteeism is "presenteeism", where employees come to work while sick. A flu-infected employee may technically be present in the workplace, but their function, focus, and overall output is significantly reduced.
This means when an employee comes to work with the flu, perhaps out of a sense of duty or fear of falling behind, they become a super-spreader or may sometimes be called patient zero. Infecting colleagues and causing more people to become ill and take sick leave.
Flu symptoms
Symptoms of the flu are often much worse than a cold. It usually comes on suddenly and lasts longer. They include:
- Fever
- Cough
- Shaking chills
- Body aches
- Headache
- Extreme fatigue.
Symptoms are usually worse for the first few days, and it can take several weeks to recover.
Cold symptoms
The symptoms of a cold often come on over the course of a couple of days and include:
- Runny nose and sneezing
- Red eyes
- Sore throat and cough
- Headache and fever
- Body aches.
Within a few days, one sick employee can lead to a cluster of infections, resulting in multiple team members calling in sick at the same time. This domino effect can disrupt production and severely impact your business’s ability to meet objectives. The financial costs can be substantial, encompassing not only lost productivity but potential overtime or contractor costs to cover absent staff. It can even affect your reputation if deadlines are missed or customer service suffers.
Why are you here?
The work culture in many businesses often makes employees feel pressured to tough it out and come to work when feeling unwell.
People want to be seen and acknowledged as loyal and dedicated employees by coming in to work sick. While some business leaders would see this as admirable, others see it as a problem.
Small business owners especially cannot afford to have multiple people off sick for extended periods all because one person came to work and infected many of their colleagues with the flu.
Businesses must create a culture that prioritises employee health and wellbeing, clearly communicating that staying home when sick is not only acceptable, but expected. This involves implementing sick leave policies that allow for adequate recovery time without financial penalty or fear of repercussions.
The high importance of hygiene
The flu virus is highly contagious, spreading through airborne droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. It’s also possible for the flu virus to survive for up to 48 hours on hard surfaces.
Think of everything you touch, and everything everyone else touches after they’ve been coughing and sneezing. Door handles, lift buttons, the staffroom kitchen draws and counter, stair railings, shared bathrooms, and public transport handles and poles.
Providing hand sanitiser and promoting good hygiene practices can go a long way to reducing the spread of the flu virus among your employees. Combined with encouraging employees to get an annual flu vaccine, is an effective way to make sure your team stay healthy and productive.
Vaccine fatigue
The majority of people believe getting a yearly flu vaccination is important to minimise the chance of catching and passing it on to family and friends. While intent is high, action is considerably lower.
A reason for this reluctance to get a flu shot is vaccine fatigue. Over the past few years with the COVID-19 pandemic, people would line up around the block to ensure they got the latest booster shot. This has led to some complacency about getting vaccinated regularly. People view it as a chore rather than a necessity.
It’s important to remember a drop in the number of people getting the flu vaccination means an increase in the likelihood of catching the flu and infecting others like family, friends, and colleagues.
If an employee has the flu, they will need adequate rest and recuperation before being able to return to full health and working ability.
Sick leave
Full-time and part-time employees are eligible for paid sick leave if they can’t work due to illness or injury. All employees are entitled to ten paid days of sick leave after six months’ current continuous service regardless of how many hours they work a week or whether they are full time or part time employees.
If they have not had six months of continuous service, then they will be entitled if over the last six months they have worked for their employer for at least an average of ten hours per week and no less than one hour every week or 40 hours every month
For expert free initial advice on sick leave and your obligations as a business owner and employer, you can call the team at Peninsula 24/7.