Employees taking sick days cost the economy around $150 billion in the US alone annually. It is fair to say that it is one of the biggest challenges businesses now face, especially smaller businesses for whom having even one employee off sick can have a huge impact.

The good news is, there are lots of things you can do to reduce sick days in your business, including the following:

Keep the office clean

It is a simple one, but if you invest more money into good commercial cleaning services, you will see fewer employees calling out sick because there won’t be as many germs in their working environment that can cause them to become sick. So, as a starting point, focus on cleanliness in the workplace.

Offer healthy benefits

Offering your employees healthy benefits such as subsidized gym memberships and free healthy food in the works canteen is a great way to encourage your employees to live a healthy lifestyle, and the easier they are, the less likely they are to need to call in sick. It’s by no means a foolproof way to reduce sick days but for those employees who do use these benefits, you are likely to see an improvement.

Reduce workplace stress

Stress and burnout are two of the most common issues that cause staff to call in sick. If you want to reduce sick days in your business, then, it is a good idea to see what you can do to reduce workplace stress. From allowing more flexible working to be available for anyone who wants it to offering free meditation sessions, there are a number of things you can do to this end, so check them out and see what you think is most likely to work for your employees.

Make remote working a thing

If you do not already offer remote working, then you should consider doing so. Why? Because people who do not feel well enough to come to work may still be able to do something at home. They might be coughing and spluttering and having to take regular naps, which they could not do in the office, but when working remotely, they may be able to make it work for them.

Monitor patterns

If you monitor patterns in when your employees call in sick, you can hopefully mitigate against them. For example, if one employee always calls in sick on a Monday morning, you can have a talk with them and get to the bottom of why that is, or if you have a lot of sickness absences in the winter months, you could maybe determine that workloads are too much for your employees during that time and get some temporary help to lighten the load and avoid stress-related absences during that time.

People are always going to get sick; there is nothing you can do about that, but when it comes to sick days, you can take action and reduce the impact they have on your company. So, what are you waiting for?