CCH Outlines 10 Steps to Keeping the Workplace Healthy in the Height of ...( RIVERWOODS Ill. Feb. 27 /- With a...),Health

RIVERWOODS, Ill., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- With a persistent new strain of flu affecting workers nationwide, employers may need to be more assertive to help keep the workplace healthy at the height of flu season, according to CCH, a leading provider of human resources and employment law information and services and a part of Wolters Kluwer Law & Business (http://hr.cch.com).

Based on a CCH Survey, about half of employers (54 percent) send workers back home if they show up for work sick. Other common approaches for discouraging sick workers on the job, according to the survey, include:

-- Educating employees on the importance of staying home when sick, used

by 40 percent of organizations;

-- Fostering a culture that discourages employees from coming to work

sick, used by 34 percent of organizations; and

-- Using telecommuting programs to allow workers to work from home, used

by 30 percent of employers to deter "presenteeism," a term used to

identify when workers come to work ill.

"With 87 percent of employers reporting that sick employees who show up for work are suffering from colds, the flu or other short-term illnesses that may be easily spread, it's apparent that companies have to get tough when it comes to telling employees to stay away," said CCH Employment Law Analyst Brett Gorovsky, JD.

"At the same time, they have to provide options that allow employees to do the right thing, such as flexible absence control policies, educating managers on handling workplace illness and making sure employees know that showing up and infecting others -- whether colleagues or customers -- is not behavior that will get rewarded," he added.

Among the suggestions CCH outlines for helping organizations maintain healthier workplaces include:

1. Offer a flu-vaccination program: 66 percent of organizations CCH

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