How to Keep Staff Safe During Cold and Flu Season

When it comes to your workplace, cold and flu season can really take a toll. As illness spreads around your business, you’ll be faced with decreased productivity and reduced morale. Fortunately, there are essential steps you can take to keep your team healthy and well throughout cold and flu season. Here are a few effective strategies to try.
Make Handwashing a Priority
For such a simple gesture, handwashing is surprisingly effective at combatting illness. Washing before meals and after using the rest room greatly limits the number of germs being spread around for improved health and wellness. Employees must use soap and running water and scrub hands for 20 seconds to eliminate germs. It’s also helpful to have hand sanitizer around the office for use between handwashing sessions.
Ask Ill Employees to Stay Home
While it’s good for your staff to be committed to their duties, ill employees must stay home. Coming to work sick will only spread illness around and contribute to even more delays at your business. In general, staff should wait at least three days after their symptoms begin before returning. This is especially important when it comes to fevers, which can mean a person is highly contagious. As a result, team members must wait 24 hours after their fever has subsided before returning.
Encourage Flu Vaccinations
Flu vaccines greatly reduce illness in the workplace. Accordingly, you should encourage your staff to receive one on a yearly basis. Provide resources to workers to ensure they understand the benefits. You can also consider hosting a vaccine clinic at your place of work to make it easy for team members to become vaccinated. While healthy people are less likely to experience serious complications because of the flu, vaccinations stop the spread and keep more vulnerable people healthy.
Having your workplace professionally cleaned is also effective at reducing germs and bacteria. Since 1951, Maintenance Service Systems, Inc. has assisted businesses throughout New Mexico thanks to our efficient and effective cleaning services. Our team also has experience with a variety of workplaces, including offices, healthcare clinics, and more. Call (505) 219-2685 to schedule an appointment or contact us for more information on what we can do for you.