sickness and productivity

I have not been able to blog for a couple of weeks due to a persistent sickness. This illness has lasted almost six weeks - the longest sickness ever. However, because of this sickness, it has made me think of ways to prevent another bout of this magnitude.

I saw a study that showed that green buildings save companies money because people are sick on average 2.8 days fewer than they had been when they worked in regular buildings. Interestingly enough, companies are still not prepared to invest more money in green buildings...yet.

I think, though, that we are entering into a period of pandemics. Between SARS, and now the H1N1 flu virus, we are becoming more aware of how the environment can affect our health. When people begin to be sick for weeks, productivity will show a dramatic decrease - not just a 4% difference as was proven in the above study. When that happens, greeen buildings or any type of product that prevents the spreading of viruses will be of high demand.

The other issue around sickness is whether employees should stay at home. The obvious response is that employees should stay home so that they don't spread the disease to others, but how many employees are self-employed or are paid for hours on the job? Too many. How do we deal with people that are legitimately sick? Moreover, we are due for a pandemic so with any upcoming "pandemics", do employers provide enough sick time for employees to fully recover or will employees have to return to work still sick and still contagious in order to maintain their pay and/or holiday time?

Something to think about ...

Labels: productivity, sick leave

posted by Brenda Northey @ 3:02 PM