Why sick time saves you money

Some employers offer sick time to their employees but may wonder if that is such a good idea. It might seem that offering sick leave to employees can cause employees to take advantage of the employer and that the employer would end up losing money. But offering sick time actually saves an employer money. This article discusses five reasons why sick time saves an employer money.

Less sick employees

If even one sick employee comes to work instead of using their sick leave and staying home they could spread their germs and cause a lot more employees to become sick. There are many different types of illnesses that can be spread easily around the office. Having an employee sneeze on office equipment that many other employees use, can cause many hands to become full of germs. If the employees do not wash their hands before eating or touching their eyes or face, the germs can make them sick too.

Usually when one person gets sick, the entire office has had the same illness after about two weeks. And most employers will attest to the fact that one employee taking sick leave is much less of a setback than having many more sick employees not coming to work and costing them money.

Seeing a doctor

Studies have shown that when employees are able to use sick time, they tend to see a doctor sooner rather than later. This means that they can start to get better sooner and return to work quicker. This can also save an employer on healthcare costs if their employees get health insurance through them. Instead of letting the illness get worse and cause other problems, it is taken care of quicker and the cost will usually be less to take care of the illness at the beginning.

Sick employees at work cost money

Sick time can save a company money when employees use it because sick employees can make costly mistakes if they come to work. Most illnesses, and the medicines that people take to stop the symptoms of the illness they have, can make people groggy and less aware of what they are doing. This can be a big problem for companies, especially if they have more than one sick employee.

And it can be very dangerous for sick employees to go to work if they are doing any type of manual labor. A body is weaker when it is fighting off an illness and employees might not be as strong or be able to perform tasks they normally would be able to. These mistakes may not only be costly for the company, but they can also be very dangerous for the sick employee and his or her coworkers.

Don't use it a lot

One thing that employers need to realize about offering sick time to their employees is that offering it is not going to make their employees get sick more often. Generally employees only use two or three of their sick days each year. These few days that their employees take off can save a company a lot more money than having a sick employee working day after day.

Get better sooner

Offering sick leave gives sick employees the opportunity to get better sooner. If sick employees have to come to work, not only are they more likely to make other employees around them sick, but they will also get better from their illness slower. Having a sick employee work day after day can cause more problems and cost a company more money than if they were to just have the employee take a day or two of sick leave to rest and concentrate on getting better.