When you run a business, you get to know very quickly that your employees are your biggest asset. They are the people there at the frontline putting in the hours to ensure that your business stays up and running come what may. It is important then that you do everything you can to keep them happy, healthy, and working, and this means making a real effort to reduce employee sick days.
You might be surprised to know that employee sick days coast the US alone more than $576 billion annually. They also cause any number of headaches for companies relying on their staff, but what can you do to minimize sickness absence in your workplace? Quite a lot actually…
Promote Well-Being in the Office
If you want your employees to be sick less, you need to take the lead and help them with that. You can do this by promoting the benefits of a healthy lifestyle in the office. You can do this by inviting speakers who know about the topic, such as doctors, into the office to discuss wellbeing and how your employees can manage theirs better.
Give Them Great Insurance
Offering your employees an excellent health insurance package, like the ones at Archer Health, may not be the cheapest option, but it will pay you back ten-fold when your employees are absent less. You see, when people have a decent insurance policy, they are more likely to visit a doctor with symptoms early on before the problem worsens, this means their health is less likely to deteriorate and they can carry on performing their duties effectively. It’s also a great way to show your appreciation and attract the best candidate for the job roles within your company.
Provide Healthy Food
Instead of offering your employee nothing but candy bars and soda in your vending machines, make sure there is ample opportunity for them to pick up a healthy piece of fruit or a soothing cup of green tea while they’re in the office. If you make more healthy stuff available, they’re less likely to gorge on junk and they’ll be a lot healthier and able to fight off illness as a result.
Give Them Mental Health Days
Depression, according to the World Health Organization, is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and a common cause of employee sick days. Although you can’t always prevent depression from occurring, allowing your business’ employees to take personal time where they can relax, meditate, and have some breathing space is a great way to minimize serious incidences of stress, anxiety, and depression in the workplace. The cost of letting them have that day will be far less than if they have to take weeks off due to poor mental health, after all.
Allow Working from Home
Allowing home working is a good way of encouraging sick employees to stay away from the office where they may end up infecting even more people as a result. Right now, we have all the tools we need to make this possible, so why not use them?
Excessive employee sick days really aren’t inevitable!
