Swine flu fears force corporate America into action. Businesses tell sick workers stay home; Hand-sanitizer use soars

Swine flu fears force corporate America into action. Businesses tell sick workers stay home; Hand-sanitizer use soars
Deerfield real estate agent Brenda Ferdman was visiting a client's home Thursday morning when she did something far more alarming than take a few photos. She started to cough. This didn't sit well with the client. "She was very concerned that I had the swine flu," Ferdman said. "I assured her that it was just an allergy."
The American workplace this week is starting to resemble a cross between a hypochondriac convention & those first few days of elementary school, when students are taught to wash their hands, cough in elbows & throw away used tissue. As the number of confirmed cases of swine flu grows & concerns mount, corporate America is grappling with how best to keep healthy employees well and at work in slimmed-down workplaces, & how to keep the sick ones home. Corporate-wide e-mails containing tips from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention are prevalent. Managers are making sure bathrooms are well-stocked with paper towels. Anti-bacterial hand sanitizers are being strategically placed where employees come in contact with the public. So far, it appears many employers aren't willing to relax sick-time 8 vacation-day policies, but talks of non-punitive, liberal leave policies are starting to take place behind closed doors, said Russell Robbins, senior clinical consultant at HR consultant Mercer. Companies are trying to prevent things from getting worse. They're reviewing sick leave & work-from-home, Robbins said. Many companies have put the brakes on travel.
Northfield-based Kraft Foods Inc., in addition to posting prevention tips on the company's intranet & on bulletin boards in its mfg. plants, has suspended employee travel to, from & within Mexico. Motorola in Schaumburg has asked employees to reschedule non-essential trips to Mexico and to review health-related information before going there. Companies also are advising managers and their employees to be on the lookout for flu-like symptoms within their offices & act accordingly. "Stay home, that is definitely the message. We've instructed people to talk to their employees, & if they feel sick, stay home," said a Walgreen spokeswoman. Navigating through that discussion, though, can be difficult. Is it swine flu that's keeping you from the office, a late night out or just a mental health day? DePaul University warned its managers Thurs. that because of privacy issues, they can't ask an employee who calls in sick about their symptoms or tell them when they should return to work. "We're not giving medical advice. We're advising employees to consult with physicians," said DePaul spokeswoman Denise Mattson. There's also a dilemma of how to handle employees who don't feel well but would rather go to work than use their sick days. Sears & Aetna are among companies allowing people to work from home under those circumstances. Other employers maintain, however, that if you're sick, you're sick, and your job is to get yourself better.
The swine flu outbreak comes at a particularly vulnerable time for businesses stretched thin. In offices, employees with healthy children whose school has been closed may be left with no choice but to put children in someone else's care & show up to work. "Over the years we've had situations where a company could afford to grant a day off or pick up day-care costs. But today is a different economy. Those are expenses on top of employee benefits, on top of paid time off, on top of sick-leave time. To throw one more piece of benefit into that mix is just going to push everyone over the top," said Robin Imbrogno, who owns The Human Resource Consulting Group in Seymour, CT.
Some employees are taking matters into their own hands. Brian Handler, a Chicago-area Sprint Nextel consultant, is scaling back in-person calls & stocking up on hand sanitizers & wipes. But when he does have a meeting, there's one gesture he can't avoid. "We always have to shake hands, so I'll roll the dice on that," he said. Meanwhile, the phrase "swine flu" already has made its way into the vernacular.Wintrust Financial CEO Edward Wehmer trotted out a swine flu metaphor Wed. while discussing loan quality at his Lake Forest-based bank holding company. "We're pretty sure among some of our bad loans, we have some swine flu carriers out there, so we'll deal with that as well as we can," he said.