I could only laugh at the various articles I’ve read in the press recently about workers taking sickies because of swine flu.
Naughty old workers!
But that was topped by some interesting online discussion from the HR community on how to deal with such recalcitrance.
As you might imagine, there were some strategically valuable ideas like, “you could always get your occupational health department to check out from employees’ GPs whether or not they’ve had their one allotted prescription for Tamiflu.”
Fantastic. Now if any of my HR friends ask me for advice, I’m well briefed.
Except, actually, I’m not. Because – Hello? – don’t any of these guys get what’s happening in the bigger picture? A few points.
1. Swine flu is for real.
The virus is finding its way across the UK, giving its victims a rough few days in bed. For many, that’s a hospital bed. As much as it’s being played down, some people have died.
The government reckons that, at worst, there could be 100,000 new cases every day starting from this month. Meaning that 13% of all UK workers will be off for up to 7 days.
To complete this gloomy little picture, Oxford Economics figures that a six-month blast will cause the UK’s GDP to shrink by 5% – that’s on top of the 2.5% already forecast.
Oh, and lawyers reckon that you could be sued if you don’t take appropriate precautions to ensure that you’re not responsible for causing one of your employees to be ill.
My point is, guys, if this scenario unfolds as it’s currently being predicted, you’re going to have a lot more to worry about than whether or not you’re able to prove if Joe Bloggs managed to get Tamiflu.
2. It’s about time people stayed out of the office.
Yeah, I know that some wayward workers sometimes swing the lead about why they’ve had time off work. But there’s an opposite trend that no-one seems to be worrying about. I’m talking about the macho thing where we struggle into work despite how shit we’re feeling. Be honest, it’s the culture in lots of organisations, particularly amongst professional workers. Dose yourself up on your analgesic of choice, like all the flu medicine adverts suggest, and sneeze your way in on the tube. Don’t keep your bugs to yourself, share them around.
One of the good things that’s emerging from the flu pandemic is that people are actually being advised to stay home and stay in bed when they’re ill. Of course, there’s a financial and economic driver behind that attempt at deep caring, but take it for what it’s worth: a piece of common-sense advice for both now and the long term.
3. If people are taking sickies, ask why?
My dear HR colleagues, if you suspect that your staff members are taking advantage of the current pandemic to take extra paid time off work, you have to ask why?
What would compel people in the current economic climate to do such a thing? Particularly if they are dependent on their jobs to pay the mortgage and other essential bills. Have you stopped to ask how they might be feeling about working for you right now? Have you had any conversations with them since the last round of redundancies to hit your firm? What happened to those fancy plans you had for employee engagement? No place for them at the moment? I thought not.
That some employers’ minds go first to mistrust is symptomatic of how many of them think of and indeed deal with their people as if they are small children whose behaviour needs to be closely monitored.
The moment you start treating your employees like grown-ups, you’ll start seeing better results. When people get swine flu, or those around them do, they’ll act responsibly for themselves and for you. They’ll come back when they’re ready and it’s right to. They won’t be feeling guilty or that they have to make excuses.
And for the long term, they won’t be tempted to take as many sickies in the first place, because they have none of your poor parenting to rebel against.
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