Sick Sense

In the snug and well-populated confines of the average office environment, a contagious illness can spread like wildfire.

It starts when one person decides to tough it out and drags his cold germs into work with him.

Before you know it, half your staff is home in bed and the other half has joined in the office’s cacophony of coughs and symphony of sneezes.

If your company has experienced a scenario like this, you know that it’s pretty much impossible to keep things business as usual when you’re dealing with this kind of spike in absenteeism and drop in productivity.

And it seems that many companies are doing something to keep office-wide epidemics from affecting their bottom line. According to a recent poll, most employers in the United States took measures to protect their employees during the H1N1 flu outbreak.

Whether encouraging sick workers to stay home, providing hand sanitizer at the office, or even expanding sick leave policies, many companies took a proactive approach to mitigating the effects of the flu on their workers.

Half of employees surveyed noted that the H1N1 outbreak made their companies more prepared for serious health threats in the future.

With this in mind, and while cold and flu season is not yet upon us, it’s a good time to devise a plan to protect your employees.

No, you can’t put them in plastic bubbles to keep them from getting sick. What you can do is take steps to keep germs out of the office.

A few tips: