January 2005  Email this  Print this
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INTERVIEW
'Tis the Flu Season
Dr. Catherine Baase is global medical director for Dow Chemical and a member of the advisory board of the Institute for Health and Productivity. The flu costs U.S. employers more than $11 billion in lost productivity annually. What's the outlook this year? Even in years when we have vaccine, it's difficult to predict how many people will be affected. That's because the virus tends to mutate, so the vaccine's coverage will be better in some years than in others. In a year without the vaccine, there's no way to know.
What's Dow doing to prevent an outbreak among its workers? For employees at high risk, we've tried to help them locate vaccine. For others who can use FluMist, the inhaled vaccine, we arranged with Aetna, our insurance carrier, to cover the vaccine's full cost. We're also looking at acquiring quick-screen tests, like those used for strep throat, to determine if someone has the flu.
How do you feel about office employees working from home? We have the technology that allows them to communicate with the office, so we don't mind if they work from home if they're starting to feel ill or are recovering from the flu. We encourage people to avoid coming back too soon, when they may still be infectious.
How does Dow account for sick days versus work-at-home days? We're kind of on an honor system. If you call in and say you're working at home because you're sick, then it's a workday. This may not work if you're in manufacturing, but if you have an office job you just check in with your supervisor.
Your approach seems very generous. We don't want people to come to work if they're ill or if someone in their family is sick, because they won't be fully productive. And healthier employees are happier. --Pat Mertz Esswein |
MAGAZINE
