Employees who try to work through a sickness may not only be harming their own well-being, but also their colleagues. Human resources departments can take a number of steps to discourage presenteeism, including promoting paid-sick-leave policies.
"Offering paid sick time benefits our employees and our company," says Angela Earle-Gray, director of HR at Chroma Technology, a Bellows Falls, VT-based manufacturing firm. "Our employees do work that requires a great deal of focus and concentration. If they were to work [while they were] ill, there is a high probability they would make more errors, which would potentially cost us more than the cost of paid sick time."
HR also should promote financial wellness programs to help reduce employee stress over financial concerns. One study by Alliant Credit Union found that a worker with financial problems spends 15 minutes every workday dealing with them. Altogether, that comes to 62.5 hours every year. Having flexible work options and cross-training employees on different tasks can lessen employees’ concerns that if they do take a sick day there will be no one to fill in for them.