From a business perspective, how did your company manage last year’s flu season? Was absenteeism higher than in the years’ before? What financial impacts did your business experience due to absenteeism? How prepared was your business for the flu season? Did your business organise flu shots for employees? No matter the size of your business, you need to ensure that your business is fully prepared for the next flu season.

Key Lessons from the Last Flu Season

While we are still in the 2025-2026 flu season and therefore don’t have the figures yet, there are lessons we can learn from the last season that can be applied to what we know so far about the current season, to help with planning for the 2026-2027 flu season. The 2024-2025 flu season saw high intensity and lower adult vaccination numbers. With flu season impacting UK companies productivity, the emphasis for next season will be on the importance of effectively planning to improve employee health and workplace productivity. Here are some points to consider:

  • Start of flu season: Case reports showed the flu season started in mid-November, the numbers accelerated sharply in December and peaked before New Year 2025.
  • Higher severity: The 2024-2025 season showed increased overall activity compared to 2023-2024, accompanied by elevated rates of hospitalisation.
  • Declining vaccination numbers: The number of vaccine uptakes in adults was lower in 2024-2025, despite the high risk influenza poses to people of all ages. More concerning was that the uptake dropped to as low as 37.8% amongst frontline healthcare workers.
  • Effectiveness of vaccinations: While the data showed moderate effectiveness in primary care, ranging from 30% to 70%, depending on age and setting, the vaccine helped to prevent between 96,000 and 120,200 hospitalisations. This means that even if employees caught the flu, vaccinated individuals experienced a milder, shorter illness.
  • Inaction: Flu-related absenteeism can negatively impact organisational operations, and the 2024-2025 flu season showed that inaction, or rather, the lack of protection, could lead to significant productivity losses. Research showed that respiratory infections alone cost UK companies as much as £44 billion each year, thereby emphasising the importance of health-focused policies and workplace flu shots.

Actionable Strategies

The health of your employees should be at the forefront of business strategies when it comes to flu seasons. It would be in your company’s best interest to invest in these actionable strategies to help your employees during the next flu season:

  • On site flu vaccination clinics: You can begin by organising workplace flu shots to help your employees weather the storm. With the assistance of an on site flu vaccination clinic, you can offer your employees free, on site flu shots; a highly effective and convenient way to increase uptake and help protect productivity. This season, the flu vaccine is available until March 31, 2026.
  • Communication: Targeted communication can help encourage staff to get their flu shots. Use the “EAST” principle (Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely), to convey the message that the flu vaccine offers your employees many benefits.
  • Flexible work/leave: As the saying goes, “prevention is better than cure”. One way you can prevent the flu from spreading is by implementing flexible working and paid sick leave policies. If your company is structured in a way that can fully function while employees work from home, encourage it. This way, you can reduce the spread of the virus from those who believe they may be infected, and also discourage presenteeism, which has been shown to affect productivity negatively more than most realise.
  • Prioritise early vaccination: As we conclude the 2025-2026 flu season, one thing is clear; you should plan to vaccinate earlier rather than later. This season started as early as October with a “super flu” doing the rounds. This emphasised the importance of early vaccination, with the NHS recommending that the main vaccine campaign for those over 18 starts from October – before the peak of the season – for maximum effectiveness.
  • Outsource occupational health: To make it easier for your employees to get vaccinated, you can utilise external flu vaccination services from a reputable workplace flu vaccination provider. This is where mobile flu clinics make things simpler, as they come to your place of business to vaccinate staff and provide them with all the information needed to stay healthy during the flu season.

Is Your Company Ready for the Next Flu Season?

By implementing a workplace vaccination programme, you can not only reduce employee absenteeism during the winter months, you will also demonstrate your commitment to your employees’ wellbeing. To minimise the risk of influenza spreading at your workplace, contact FluClinic2You today. Our specialist team of pharmacists and nurses will come to your premises to vaccinate your employees quickly, simply, and efficiently.