Employers Warned About Germ Season

Employers of America, the quarter-century-old association for employers, managers and supervisors, has published a poster designed to promote work place health. The posters started arriving at northwest Arkansas companies in September and will eventually be distributed throughout the nation.

Jim Collison, president of Employers of America, said his Mason City, Iowa-based association serves as an outsourced human resources department for many small companies with limited resources.

Collison said most workplace illness is caused by employees who come in while they’re sick, although many sincerely think they’re helping by not taking time off. Especially in right-to-work states like Arkansas, where the traditional “Protestant work ethic” is predominant, Collison said companies and workers need to learn they both benefit when a sick employee gets a day of rest.

According to the March 1999 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, an average of 75 million work days and 53 million school days are lost annually because of influenza. The flu also costs American businesses more than $12 million annually in direct and indirect costs.

The publication also reported that employers can save as much as $46.85 per vaccinated worker in health care costs. If the employer pays for the shots, the net savings is still about $38. But that savings doesn’t include the productivity saved by having employees at work more often instead of home sick.

Employers of America has about 800 members nationwide. The organization may be joined for an annual fee of $149, or for a discount by going to www.employerhelp.org.

Collison said that while studying workplace illness he’s made a number of observations, including one from watching men in restrooms.

“A lot of men don’t even bother to wash their hands,” Collison said. “And an extremely high percentage who supposedly do, really only quickly pass their hands under water then shake them off. That doesn’t do any good at all.

“Of course, I haven’t seen what they’re doing in the ladies’ room.”