There are a few months of the year when coughing and sneezing becomes common everywhere. If you are a working professional and start hearing people cough and sneeze, you will know that the cold and flu season is here. According to a recent study, it was found that almost twenty percent of the US population gets flu during the flu season.

Although it may not sound much significant to most people but imagine being a business owner. What would you do is you lose one-fifth of the workforce? Although it is unlikely that all of them will get sick at the same time but their absence will surely create an impact on your work. You can expect a loss in the productivity due to sick leaves of the workers and when you hire temporary workers to replace the sick employees.

Just by taking proper steps, you can actually prevent the flu from spreading around your work premises. Otherwise it will keep on attacking your wallet every year. Here are a few measures you can take and make the office a healthy place for work:

Send reminder to employees to get vaccinations

To get started, you can ask your employees to get vaccinated. You can guide them about where and how to get vaccinated as well. It is quite common to see people not paying much attention to vaccinations and get ill because of their negligence. There are many websites that can guide you about the nearest vaccination centers and flu clinics in your area. There is no harm in offering some incentive to the workers who get vaccinated.

Set a strict sick policy

One of the most common reasons for the flu and cold to spread around the office is when sick people do not take a day off and come to the office for work. Being the business owner, you must ensure that this does not happen. Generally, workers show reluctance in taking a few days off when they are suffering from flu and cold because they feel that they can still work.

To overcome this problem, there is no harm in letting the sick employees work from their homes. By doing so, you are actually keeping the germs out of the office without losing anything. In case your employee decides to come in when he is sick, simply send him back home. There must be no excuses.

Remind your employees to keep their hands clean

According to a recent research, it was found that the hands are one of the dirtiest parts of the body. Think for a moment about all the surfaces you touch the entire day. This makes the hands ideal for carrying germs and bacteria from one place to the other. Therefore you must train your staff to keep their hands clean. There is no harm in washing hands after every few hours.

Ensure the availability of sanitary wipes, tissues and hand sanitizers

The easiest thing to promote a clean and hygienic environment at your work place is to ensure the availability of sanitary wipes, tissues and hand sanitizers. This also works as a constant reminder for the workers to make effort in living a healthy life. Once you do this, you will see that the employees are less likely to get sick now. This is because they will start using it more frequently when these items are readily available at their disposal. There is no harm in keeping the extra supplies around the workers’ desks so that they are in their reach when they need them.

Put special emphasis on desk cleaning

As mentioned earlier, hands are one of the dirtiest parts of the body. This also signifies that the desk items are some of the most touched items in the office. The office management must provide sanitary wipes to each employee so that he can use it for wiping down his workplace at least on weekly basis. Once the staff is trained to keep their desks clean, it will really help in keeping the bacteria and germs to a minimum level. The staff must also be trained to keep their keyboards disinfected as well.

Put a limit to mass sharing

The workers and employees are quite accustomed to sharing office supplies like pens with their coworkers. Though there is nothing wrong in it, but it is important to reduce this sharing to a minimum level during the flu season. The more hands an item touches, the more germs it tends to accumulate. It is better to remind the employees to keep a proper stock of all the items they need on their desk.

Seek professional services

When it comes to keeping the office clean, it is important that you seek assistance from a reputable company that offers commercial cleaning services in Fayetteville, NC. Whether it is about cleaning the HVAC system or the standard weekly cleaning, these companies can actually make your work environment a healthier one.