Want Employee Wellness? Change Your Sick Policy and Other HR Hints
Posted on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 by Frank Roche
[Photo credit: Bronx]
Alright, I’m cranky.
Three people were coughing their heads off on my R5 train this morning. You know why? “They have the flu” is the easy answer. The real answer? Their companies have crappy sick policies. I don’t even know them and I know that.
You’re talking about wellness at work. I’m pretty certain about that. But mostly when you’re talking about wellness you really mean that your employees are too fat and they smoke too much. (I say this as I stare at a bag of Boston Kreme donuts.) There are other things employees can do to be well and save money. Here are a few:
- Stay home when you’re sick.
- Cough into your elbow.
- Wear a seatbelt. (That goes double in a taxi. More about that soon.)
- Watch out for home injuries. 2.5 million eye injuries happen around the home.
- When it’s dark, drive with your freaking lights on. (That means you, guy in the black car barreling down Sugartown Road this morning at 6:40 am.)
Mostly, I have something to say to the HR Policy Police. If your sick policy makes it so that your employees come in sick to avoid a “non-excused absence,” think about that, will you? What’s worse — one sick person or 100 sick employees? How does it make any sense to have people come in and infect their coworkers?
And if you have any employees on the R5 — especially the one I take in the morning — please change your policy to keep Swine Flu Mary off the train.
John H.
Sep 29th, 2009
Frank, put the bag down, walk away slowly and no one will get hurt.
Frank Roche
Sep 29th, 2009
@John….lol…no one was hurting during the making of this blog post.
adowling
Sep 29th, 2009
@John, I’ll take possession of those donuts so Frank doesnt get hurt.
We implemented a temporary illness policy a few weeks ago. If you’re sick, keep your butt at home and go visit your doctor. If the doctor says you’re contagious, the time off doesnt count as an occurrence. If you choose to come to work coughing your head off, we reserve the right to send you to visit your doctor.
The policy, far more elegantly worded than above, has gone over wonderfully. So far no one has abused it and the hacking coughs we were hearing have subsided.
Frank Roche
Sep 30th, 2009
@Adowling Now that’s the way to do it! I’m delighted to hear that common sense works…that really makes my day. Continued good luck with that…super to hear that people are doing the right thing (and so are you in HR). Very cool.
Jennifer
Oct 1st, 2009
Ok, as a Bostonian, I’m happy to hear the donut comment.
It’s so true, stay at home if you’re sick!
@Adowling – any chance I could get a copy of your policy? I work for a small company (33 employees) and if someone gets sick, it goes through this office like wild fire. I’d like to propose something like your policy to the owner.
Many thanks.
Jennifer
Oct 1st, 2009
On a side note, we call the train the “T”.
adowling
Oct 1st, 2009
@Jennifer – Sharing is caring, whats your email address?
Jennifer
Oct 2nd, 2009
That’s awesome, thanks so much! My email address is jkriley@comcast.net. Much appreciated!