Why employees come to work sick and how to stop them
It’s common sense that when employees come into work with a contagious illness they are spreading their germs among everyone else. Nobody wants to get sick, but many employees insist on coming to work even when they are putting their coworkers in danger.
To stop this practice and make sure you aren’t in jeopardy of losing a significant chunk of your employees to the flu, you need to understand why your employees are coming in sick.
The truth is, employees are probably coming in sick because of culture issues in your business. Once you identify these issues, you can correct them and protect yourself from the dangers of widespread presenteeism in the workplace.
Reason 1: “You come in when you’re sick.”
Think back to the last time you caught a cold, flu or other illness. Did you stay home and rest up, or did you come into the office too? If you did, you may be suffering from another ailment: “hero boss syndrome.”
This is probably the easiest fix for any issues that may cause other employees to come in sick. Stop playing the hero when you’re sick. Stay home, rest up and set a good example for your employees on handling illness responsibly.
Reason 2: “There’s too much to do - no one can cover for me!”
It’s never a good time to get sick but every business has times when employee illness can really affect productivity and even business outcomes. However, no workload or deadline is worth coming in sick for. Even the most important clients will most likely appreciate a rescheduled appointment rather than meeting with a sick person.
If your employees are insisting that an upcoming deadline is too important to miss, consider allowing them to telecommute if possible. Increasingly, businesses are able to provide cloud access to their employees for work and virtual communications can keep everyone plugged in.
When employees must be present for their work to be done and no one can cover their shift, it’s up to the boss to handle things. Sick employees can do more harm than good if customers fall ill due to exposure to their germs.
Reason 3: “I don’t want to use my time off.”
This issue arises when strict rules govern how much paid time off/sick leave employees receive and how they are allowed to use that time. If there is no flexibility, then employees will be reluctant to use time off if they feel like they can muddle through the day.
A way to help alleviate this problem is to allow employees to bank time off, roll over unused leave and even use time off upfront and then gain it back over time. Also, try to avoid implementing disciplinary measures for missing work due to illness. Rather than punishing anyone that needs a couple of extra sick days, identify those that are taking advantage of sick leave policies and address the issues accordingly.
Reason 4: “If I don’t work, I don’t get paid.”
The main group of employees that feel pressure to work while sick are hourly workers that don’t get paid unless they clock in. This is a much more difficult problem to solve and speaks to a deeper issue in our work culture as a country. More than half of workers in the private sector earning wages in the bottom 25% do not have access to paid sick leave. These workers usually work hourly jobs, sometimes working multiple part time jobs. 60% of part-time workers don’t have any access to sick leave either.
This issue usually applies to large corporations with hundreds or thousands of employees. But you can help by offering paid sick leave to all of your employees, whether they are full or part-time.
Prepare for the worst and then try to prevent it
Just 25% of employers have a plan in place if a large number of employees had to be absent due to illness. Planning now for this possibility is better than reacting to an emergency. You can find tools and resources for pandemic planning here.
The best way to prepare your business is to prevent widespread presenteeism and absenteeism due to illness through employee health and wellness programs. Read our e-book on employee wellness here.