Flu is one of the main causes of workplace sickness and can cause great disruption to the productivity of a business. Absenteeism means a workplace isn’t as cohesive or as efficient, which can also cause friction and impact on morale, and ultimately this will be evident in your bottom line results.  

While there is an annual ‘flu season’ between October and March, it makes sense for an employer to safeguard their employees and promote workplace health and wellbeing all-year round. Flu can strike at any time, and having a strong culture of health and hygiene implemented means your business is in a good place to manage, reduce and absorb any impacts. 

How an employer can promote good workplace health

The employer has a central role to play in keeping a workplace healthy throughout the year, and while it is in their best interests to promote good health and hygiene from a productivity point of view, it also positions them as a considerate employer, which brings loyalty and stability and ultimately will attract a better standard of employee. But here we have listed the key things an employer can do to promote all-year-round good health in the workplace: 

  • Promote a culture of health and wellbeing – First of all an employer can be very vocal in prioritising health and wellbeing, so that employees won’t feel they might be penalised or discriminated against if they are absent with an illness. This means the employer needs to be supportive and have programmes in place to help employees when a health issue emerges. 
  • Strong sickness policies – As part of promoting this kind of workplace culture, the employer needs to have a strong and robust sickness policy, whereby employees don’t lose out financially and won’t feel they need to come to work if they are ill with flu or any other health issue. Offering remote working and flexible working hours helps employees to contribute from home if they are able to, and means they won’t feel guilty or be tempted to attend work if they are ill.  
  • Flexible and remote working – Although this doesn’t work for all businesses, reducing the number of people physically in an office or a small environment does prevent crowding and makes it harder for a virus to be transmitted. Enabling people to work from home or to work earlier or later as suits them, means the chances of transmitting a flu virus are reduced.  
  • Encourage good hygiene – This became very prominent during the pandemic but remains just as relevant today. Providing hand sanitiser and tissues in break rooms, toilets and washrooms encourages people to maintain good hand hygiene. Meanwhile, employees should be educated on hand hygiene with signage and encouraged to wash their hands frequently.  
  • Commercial cleaning – A professional commercial cleaning company will be able to maintain good hygiene in the workplace by cleaning surfaces and frequently touched equipment. Daily cleaning of offices and high traffic areas, including shared equipment and touchpoints, such as light switches, door handles and handrails, can significantly reduce the chances of virus transmission.  
  • Good air quality – Viruses are transmitted much easier when air becomes stale and is not circulated, or replenished with fresh air. The ideal solution for good air quality is for the business to invest in an air conditioning system which is continuously removing stale air and replacing it with fresh air. But other more affordable ventilation systems or air purifying systems are available, while simply opening windows periodically can improve air quality also.  
  • Flu vaccinations – A flu vaccination programme is the most effective mechanism for managing a flu outbreak and is the best way to reduce the chances of employees contracting flu. A flu vaccination reduces the severity and duration of any symptoms and prevents transmission between employees, it also creates a herd immunity situation whereby new strains of the virus may even die out. The key is to make it easy for employees to have the vaccination using an on-site vaccination service such as FluClinic2U. This ensures that employees can be vaccinated quickly, without having to take time off work and while minimising disruption to the workplace.   

A flu vaccination programme from FluClinic2U

All the above steps can help to promote good health and maintain a healthy working environment throughout the year. However, if you book a flu vaccination programme with FluClinic2U, you have the best chance of preventing a flu outbreak in the workplace and are doing everything you can to protect and support your workforce.  

Our flu vaccination programmes will protect your employees, reduce absenteeism and improve productivity and morale. We can also provide a specially formulated vaccine each time, which is designed to combat the current strain of the virus and to protect the employee against the most prevalent strain in circulation. As a good employer you can implement a series of steps to promote health and wellbeing in your workplace, and introducing a flu vaccination programme is the best way to offer comprehensive protection against the flu virus, so book a programme with FluClinic2U today.