Employees across the country have a message for their co-workers during this H1N1 flu season: Don’t come in if you’re sick.
A survey shows 91% of Americans said they want their co-workers to remain at home if they’re infected with H1N1.
And those workers have support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency recommends people with flu stay home until their temperature drops below 100°F without pain relievers for 24 hours to reduce its spread.
Other findings from the Mansfield Communications survey of 2,029 Americans:
- 69% of workers said they’d received no communication about policies in the workplace pertaining to H1N1
- 84% believe the recession creates more pressure to show up for work, even if they feel sick
- 47% said they’d still engage in public activities (riding the bus, picking up a prescription or grocery shopping) even when they were infected with H1N1 and required to stay home from work, and
- 84% were likely to report a colleague who had flu symptoms.
Recently, SafetyNewsAlert.com asked our readers how prepared they were for a swine flu outbreak:
- 52% somewhat prepared
- 29% not at all prepared
- 17% well prepared, and
- 2% don’t think swine flu will affect their company.
So if you’re like many businesses playing catch-up when it comes to flu preparedness, the federal government has a Web page with suggestions.
Now, we’d like to hear from you. What should a company’s policy be about workers who have the flu? Should they be required to stay home? What happens when so many workers are sick that it affects productivity? Let us know in the Comments Box below.
