Working Wednesday: How Much Will the Flu Cost You?

 
Most Business Owners have a question before them when deciding a benefit package for their employees. How many, if any, paid sick days should I give them? That is a real serious question.

1. If you give paid sick days, will your workers take them the first week in January? I have actually observed this. Luckily, the company was a large one, could absorb the workload for those calling off, and most employees were smart enough to save the days later in the year when they were really sick. Those that had taken off "sick" immediately then had to come to work later when they felt lousy.

2. Are sick days a luxury? Some owners believe so. It is the fault of the associate for getting sick in the first place. They should be at work every day they are scheduled. No excuses. Sick days are not like vacation days whereby the employee has earned them for successfully completing scheduled time at work.

3. Should a person with a fever come to work? You remember the rules of a childcare facility or school. Do not bring a child to childcare or to school until the fever has been gone for 24 hours. Does this apply to adults?

4. When does contagious symptoms/illnesses apply? Currently the United States is going through a flu epidemic. Do you want a person to come to work and infect others? Are they spending more time in the bathroom than at their work station/office? Will productivity be affected? Will some employees have to go home, or not show up at all?  These are tough questions to answer.
To see the interactive map of how states have/are affected through this flu season,
see: http://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/fluview/main.html
 To see full information, see http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

5. Here are some suggestions to think about.
A. NUMBER ONE: Take time to hire the best people. Not just people with the best skills for the job, but just plain best people. Look at the total picture. Can the best person who has just a little less skills be taught the difference? Ethics do count. Look at the total picture. Who has common sense already? Do you want to spend your whole time lecturing people about when to show up for work or do you want people to already know about responsibility?

B. Look at when you give out benefits package. Do you want to start it at Day One or after Probation has been completed? There are positives/negatives to both. If you have done your job with (A), then Day One shouldn't be a problem. Paying a decent salary to start with/attracting the right kind of people for your company is a discussion for another day. In the meantime, Please do not reward your employees for attendance. When they shake your hand and agree to work for you, they are agreeing to show up for work. Rather, take that "bribe" fund and use it for good wages.

C. Respect goes both ways. Things come up. No one really plans to get sick. I would rather have one person out than a whole department working at half strength. I had an employer who gave paid sick leave but let it be known they expected everyone to come in anyway, except for unusual health problems. So I came in and got 7 people sick over the course of several days. They wanted to get back at the employer for being so unkind and all went home with the contagious "creeping crud". Work slowed down to a trickle. The virus ran its course, they all returned when the symptoms stopped. I did what was required of me. I even tried to stay away from my co-workers, to no avail.
Think of your employees not just with productivity in mind, but as human beings. Also, be practical.
Tell people if they have the flu, etc. to stay home. Practice good hygiene at work. That will help those that are healthy to stay healthy. Buy lunch or snacks during a flu epidemic for example, that have good vitamins and liquids that will help those stay healthy or are recovering. It can be simple, it doesn't have to break the bank. But it will show you value their work and you value them as people. And they will try harder to accomplish the tasks at hand while people are absent and the workload is tighter.

It is a return on your investment because you understand "The Panoramic View".

Alone in the Car: Congress, I Need a New Credit Card

I have been watching the Lo-o-o-ong debate in U.S. Congress concerning the "Fiscal Cliff". The Fiscal Cliff is a phrase describing certain tax cuts and spending cuts that were to expire Dec. 31, 2012. Both houses of Congress couldn't come to an agreement whether to extend the personal tax cuts or what if any government spending cuts would also occur. President Obama also tried to influence the vote with discussions at the White House. There was something of a compromise at the end.

The President now wants the debt ceiling to be raised by Congress. He has issued many Executive Orders and not sure why he can't issue one to grant a higher ceiling, but nevertheless, at this writing Congress is still required to pass a law to raise the government debt ceiling. Currently the U.S. Government debt is $16,432,632,102,288.69.  
Here is the web site for the debt clock: http://www.davemanuel.com/us-national-debt-clock.php

In the President's News Conference (full print coverage: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-14/we-are-not-deadbeat-nation-full-obama-transcript), Obama wants the ceiling raised so bills can be paid for services and merchandise already rendered. His words: "We are not a deadbeat nation".

Don't you just love word smithing? We are trillions of dollars in debt!! All he wants is the capability to go to creditors/other nations and borrow more money to pay the bills we shouldn't have spent in the first place.

Hence, the title "Congress, I Need a New Credit Card". That is what it means to us regular Main St. folks. When one credit card is maxed out, just get another credit card. Then another and another until finally it catches up and bills must be paid.

But not the U.S. Government. Congress just keeps approving programs. Sometimes the law lists no funding and leaves it up to the States to figure out where the money will come from. They have to comply, it's the law. But the feds don't give them any money to see that the law is fulfilled. It is called "an unfunded mandate".

Well, now we have a BIG credit problem in Washington, D.C. And who is going to pay it? From what I can see, no one. 1. They argue about stop spending. 2. They argue about raising the debt ceiling. 3. But no one is arguing about how to pay off the current creditors. So the amount due just keeps going up and up and up. What happens when they knock on Washington's door? All 3 problems are huge.

Make sure you have reliable friends, relatives, groups you belong to. They may become very important in the days and short years ahead. Plan with them and organize yourselves to grow a garden, discuss financial planning, etc. Combine your small resources in making purchases together.

Look out for each other in times of weather emergencies, etc. Any practice of this kind now will prove to be so important in the future.