Time to Recover

 

Written by Jenny Catton

 

In some companies, taking a sick day is seriously frowned upon. But the problem with this culture is that it encourages staff to drag themselves into work when they are not well. This means staff often stay unwell for longer and increases the risk of passing germs on to colleagues.

 

So rather than trying to battle through a day at work when you’re feeling under the weather, it’s far better to take a day off to rest and recover at home and then come back to work feeling refreshed. Not only will you be protecting your own health but you’ll also be helping your company – after all, no business wants to run with a sick workforce.

 

If you find it difficult to take a day off when you’re feeling ill, try the following strategies:

 

• Make sure you know what your company’s policy is on taking a sick day. Do you need to telephone by a certain time or speak to a particular colleague? If you know what the policy is, you’re less likely to feel stressed at the thought of calling in sick.


• Check that any key information held on your computer is accessible to your colleagues – that way they will know how to find information without having to phone you at home.


• Don’t feel guilty – if you are genuinely sick, then it’s in your company’s best interests that you stay home and get better. Switch off your phone, go to bed and take time to recover.

 

For advice about staying healthy at work, visit: www.stayinghealthyatwork.co.uk

Categories: feeling, nbsp, recover nbsp, sick, sick day, time, work

Could Wellness Programmes Be Costing The Sick?

Workplace wellness schemes sound like the answer to all of our prayers – a discounted gym membership or help quitting cigarettes, all for less money and right on-site at work? Great news to many. And this great news is something that’s becoming increasingly popular for a number of large companies who are offering this as an incentive to work for the company itself. But for businesses, the deal is about to get even sweeter – not such great news for the employees. A new health reform law will soon let employers reward their workers’ efforts to get healthy with discounts of up to 30 per cent of their healthcare costs, up from 20 per cent previously. They’ll also be able to penalise employees who fail to meet their health goals by the same amount, which has been designed to ‘weed out’ sick workers and lower the amount of days companies need to pay for employees being off sick.

Around 61 per cent of employers give workers financial incentives to get healthier, which is up from 36 per cent three years ago according to surveys. One in five uses penalties, and many more companies say they’re going to introduce this plan next year. Most current plans offer the carrot rather than the stick, but if poorly designed workplace wellness programmes can shift the cost towards those with the greatest healthcare needs, it could potentially discriminate against sick workers. This way of working would work similarly to this – if employers raise deductibles from £500 to £2500, workers can then earn ‘credits’ worth £500 each to lower the deductible if they meet certain targets for four factors, such as body-mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood pressure. This will wind up back to a £500 deductible, but if you’re on the wrong end of those tests, then your costs have immediately gone up.

Some people claim that the only way to reduce health costs is to motivate people with money, which will mean incentives will only apply to things workers have control over. But there’s a fundamental question behind all of this: how much should people bear the cost of their own healthcare? People are buying health insurance on their own and pay as much as 23 per cent higher premiums if they smoke or are obese, according to research. Such incentives are routine in other insurance markets – no-one questions why good drivers pay lower rates than the teens who smashed up their first car. Workplace wellness incentives should actually make people healthier and shouldn’t just be a way of shifting costs onto sick workers. There’s strong research to back up the fact that the higher the deductible, the greater the barrier is to accessing care. Someone may not be getting the basic primary care or care they need to treat a chronic condition, and if that’s the case, the sick workers within a company actually get sicker. This costs the health system in the long run, which is a lose-lose situation.

 

In order to tackle this situation, companies need to put more thought into their workplace wellness programmes and ensure that the result of the plans are to encourage healthier lifestyles in their employees. Tricking employees into doing something just to make your company more money could wind up being foolish in the long run, as it will come back as a cost in another way and could end up making your employees even more sick than they were to begin with.

Categories: blood pressure, employees, health, illness, people, sick, sick workers, Wellness, Wellness programmes, work, workers, Workplace Wellness

Sick During the Holidays?: How You Can Cope

It’s not easy being sick, especially during “the most wonderful time of the year.” It’s the worst timing ever considering there’s lots of good food and you’ll be spending time with family and friends you haven’t seen in a while. But all the preparations–overtime before going on break and nonstop cooking for Christmas–can take its toll on you and before you know it, you’re down with colds or worse, the flu. The cold weather isn’t helping either. It will only take your cold or flu from bad to worse. But don’t get depressed, you can still enjoy the holidays if you make the most of it. Just take some necessary steps so that you can cope and get better sooner than later.

Get Drunk on Vitamin C

Some people dive into medicines the second they find out that they are sick. I prefer going the natural way–lots of water and loads of vitamin C. If you don’t like Vitamin C supplements, you can just drink freshly squeezed orange juice or you can eat other citrus fruits that are rich in vitamin C. Water therapy is also important so make sure you hydrate and drink a lot of water. I think the organic way is more preferable that going straight to medicines, since it can help build up your immune system and the next time you get down with a cold or flu, you might have a faster recovery time.

 

Stay Out of the Cold

As much as you relish making snow angels with your family or having snowball fights with siblings and cousins, if you’re sick, you have to sit this activity out. If you’re not a fan of the cold, then this shouldn’t be a problem. If you do love the cold, there’s always a next time and if you get better earlier, there might be just enough time for one last snowball fight. If the snow has already gone by the time you are well, you can always go to an ice skating rink with friends. A bright spot on your getting sick is that you can stay warm and toasty indoors and sip hot cocoa in front of the fireplace. Or you can catch up on your reading and curl up with a good book near the hearth.

 

Be Vigilant

If in the worst case scenario, your little cold turns out to be pneumonia, it’s safer to go to the hospital so that your condition will be monitored better. Try not to feel too depressed because your emotions can often affect the state of your health. If you are frequently depressed, your immune system will also suffer and you will be prone to sickness. Try to always look at the positive side of things. When in the hospital, be vigilant so that you won’t get hospital acquired infections (HAI). One way of preventing HAI is through the use of a needleless connector. In hospital, you will have no choice but to take the medication that your doctor prescribes for you. However, you can still reinforce this treatment with water therapy and vitamin C. Enough sleep is also a must so that your body can rest and recover sooner rather than later.

 

About the Author

Based in San Diego California, Tiffany Matthews is a professional writer with over 5 years of writing experience. She also blogs about travel, fashion, and anything under the sun at wordbaristas.com, a group blog that she shares with her good friends. In her free time, she likes to travel, read books, and watch movies. You can find her on Twitter as @TiffyCat87.

Categories: cope, holidays, hospital, sick, time, vitamin, Water, water therapy