Tips for preventing flu outbreak in the office

If your business is anything like most, you can't afford to get bogged down by illness this flu season. It decreases productivity, costs you in employee sick days – not to mention it leaves your employees feeling miserable. By sticking to some basic rules, you can effectively help keep your business operating as usual.

Employers keeping their offices safe 

Small-business owners have to do their part in staying healthy, but should also do what they can in terms of getting the word out about staying healthy as an organization. Utilizing large group meetings, intranets, bulletin boards and more are all ways to get information out about flu symptoms and wellness tips. Staples has a few more tips for business owners, including being flexible when it comes to sick employees. If a worker reports feeling under the weather, take it seriously and allow them to work from home or take the day off. This will help prevent the illness from spreading to the entire office, which could be detrimental.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that employers also encourage all employees to get a flu vaccination, and if possible, employers should consider holding a vaccination clinic right in the office. Keeping accessible resources in the office is another huge help. This includes tissues, hand sanitizer, informational pamphlets and more. Along with the encouragement of flexible sick days, the CDC advises employers to send home any employees who are sick or appear to have symptoms of the flu.

Don't force yourself to work if you're feeling under the weather this flu season.

How employees should stay healthy 

While employers have a personal duty to keep their employees safe and their workplace clean, the employees themselves have their own responsibility to remain healthy. These include following some pretty basic guidelines such as washing your hands regularly, wiping down surfaces that you frequently touch and coughing into your elbow as opposed to your hand, according to Staples. 

You tend to see a lot of masks being worn during flu season. It may seem like a pretty smart way to keep germs from getting spread, but Inc. brings up the fact that these masks can actually end up having the opposite effect. With so many people running to the store to purchase masks, there's been a shortage of masks for health professionals and those who truly need them. This can lead to the more rapid spread of flu and other illnesses.

Specific cleanliness tactics in the workplace

Forbes talked to some business leaders to get a better idea of the unique tactics they implement to keep their offices as functional as possible during flu season. Jason Barbour of Metabolic Meals noted that his company uses external contracting to keep the regularly used common areas clean. This third-party company cleans the bathrooms, conference rooms and other high-traffic areas after hours to ensure that these are staying as clean as possible for every new day. They also have a "Corporate Healthy Meal Program" that allows employees to order food for themselves and their families, promoting a healthier workplace overall.

By employers and employees both working together to keep everyone healthy, the amount of people affected by the flu this season could be kept to a minimum. This will ultimately help your business to function as smoothly as possible, keeping employees productive, in the office, happy and healthy.

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