It’s the time of year when sounds of coughing and sneezing can be heard throughout the office. No one wants to catch the cold or flu, but what should we do if a co-worker is obviously fighting an illness?
In a perfect world, a work environment should encourage employees to stay home when they’re not feeling well. In reality, we only have a limited number of sick days and have to meet the demands of our jobs in order to keep them.
If you are the ill person’s manager, you may speak with them and ask them to go home. If you are not the manager, then you should not make any comments and focus on protecting yourself. Wash your hands frequently, get plenty of rest, eat nutritiously, and take extra vitamins to increase your immunity. You may even consider working off-site or in another area of the office if possible.
It is really difficult to prevent acquiring illnesses with the emerging new diseases that plague our environment. However, one can minimize such illnesses by staying healthy. In the instance that one gets sick but still needs to work, he/she should at least be considerate of others around him/her and practice personal health measures not to infect others. Thank you for this reminder.