According to a recent survey of conducted by Kimberly-Clark Professional, 87 percent of manufacturing industry professionals polled said they are concerned about declines in productivity at their workplace due to absenteeism or presenteeism related to a flu pandemic.
“Small and large industrial companies alike are challenged to maintain high output even when workers are healthy and productive,” says Marianne Santangelo, senior customer marketing manager, Kimberly-Clark Professional. “This can be difficult when large numbers of workers are out with colds or the flu.”
In fact, 46 percent of the 94 manufacturing industry professionals polled said that their organization has been impacted in the last 18 months by employee absenteeism or productivity declines related to flu outbreaks or other contagious illnesses.
Preventing the Spread of Illness
While concerned, manufacturing companies appear to be prepared for this year’s cold and flu season. Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of the industrial workers polled noted that their company or facility has a program or strategy in place to try to limit the transfer of germs in the workplace. The vast majority (97 percent) pointed to hand hygiene education as the primary tactic employed, while about 78 percent said employees are prompted to go home or stay home if sick.
Not leaving it up to chance, almost 43 percent of those polled said that supervisors are encouraged to recommend that sick employees go or stay home, while 37 percent said that the decision is left up to the individual employee.
“The message is getting through to companies that simple steps like frequent hand washing and staying home when ill are some of the best ways to prevent the spread of germs in the workplace,” Santangelo said.
Santangelo pointed out that close to 90 percent of the industrial workers polled thought that frequent hand washing was one of the most important things to do to prevent the spread of germs at work. Moreover, 82 percent thought it was one of the most important things to do in preventing the spread of germs from the worksite to employees’ homes and families.
Hand washing is a key theme of a new Kimberly-Clark Professional program called the Healthy Workplace Project, a comprehensive approach to hand hygiene aimed at reducing workplace absenteeism and the productivity and business losses that occur when workers are sidelined by colds, the flu and other contagious ailments. It aims to break the germ transmission chain by providing a host of materials to educate and engage employees as well as tools to help employers reduce absenteeism.
For more information, visit http://www.healthyworkplaceproject.com.
