Flu season has hit early and hard this year.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the current outbreak could be the worst in a decade. Things are so bad that states such as New York and Massachusets have declared public health emergencies.
All of this has prompted a debate about paid sick days. While it might seem like a no-brainer that sick people should stay home, for the 40 percent of workers who can’t even earn paid sick days, staying home hardly seems like an option. In fact, those without a paid sick leave option are most likely to be exposed to — and potentially share — infectious diseases such as the flu.
The pervasive fear among workers that their job is in jeopardy if they have to miss work because they are sick. Even in workplace cultures where employees are treated like valued assets, most employees will go to work unless they are literally unable to get out of bed.
Ultimately, sick employees can spread sickness to their colleagues and lose productivity as a result of compromised immune systems. The more people who go to work sick, the more sickness spreads and the bigger drain on productivity sick employees become.
Instead of falling prey to “sick trooper syndrome,” try these ideas to encourage employees to keep their plague at home:
This originally appeared on the Infusionsoft Culture Corner blog.
