Posted By S Mack Please can I ask if anyone's company has a written or verbal policy of requesting employees do not come to work with illness' such as the common cold with the overall aim of keeping the sickness absence down. Along the lines of prevention is better than a cure. I am sourcing figures of sickness absence rates due to the common cold type illness etc. I know that these type of figures are also dependent on recording of illness etc. If anyone has any experience in this matter, a sample policy or stats I'd be grateful if I could have a look at them. I know that I can't avoid colds completely but I'm really sick of people coming into work & clearly passing on it to others when a short absence of one person could prevent the whole merry go round the workplace. Regards, S Mack

Posted By Ron Hunter Interesting. Many Organisations put great effort into 'back to work' interviews and related reactive processes with a view (some might say a sinister view) of reducing absence levels. I wonder if any Orgnisation has developed any similar intervention process which challenges people who turn up for work when they are clearly unfit to do so ? Now that would be a refershing perspective to describe in policy and arrangements! Down with "mucous troopers"!

Posted By Merv Newman My ex-employer did have an, admittedly, unwritten policy : "if you judge that you are unfit for work give us a call and we will see if we can help" But there was parallel prressure to come into work if you had "only" had an accident. Also, when I first started travelling, I was explicitly ordered not to drive if I felt tired or road conditions were, in my judgement, dangerous. "Book a hotel, give us a call in the morning saying when we could expect you" I exercised that right once while driving back from Switzerland and again, sort of, when Heathrow got snowed in the week before Xmas. I slept on the floor of terminal 1. Best suit and a (hard) briefcase for my pillow. And the cleaning machines come around about 3am. Slept fairly well actually. I remember it well. (Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra "High Society") Merv

Posted By Philby' Is there anyone out there from British Aerospace....I know my old landlord, many moons ago about 1986, who worked at BAE Warton used to have time off as if it were going out of fashion. Sure enough when questioned it was 'policy' to stop people coming into work with a sniffle to stop the spread of infection and, therefore reduce absence! Having said that, I have to agree with the previous poist....its usually too late Philby'

Posted By Peter Longworth I thought the cold virus had been eradicated. It certainly has in our company because everybody seems to phone in with flu nowadays. Maybe its because people used to continue working with a cold whereas with flu you were laid up for at least a fortnight.