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Companies taking precautions to ward off flu

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent, 1/4/04

In the past, corporate managers often gave kudos to employees for coming to work with the flu and toughing it out.

But not anymore. With the influenza outbreak widespread in 45 states, including Massachusetts, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, companies are being urged to use common sense and send sniffling, coughing workers home until they have recovered.

''If you have the flu, we recommend your staying out of work for five straight days, the time when you're most contagious,'' said Roseanne Pawelec, spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Health.

Easier said than done since companies are always concerned about productivity and employees are still anxious about the economy and keeping their jobs. For example, in 2003, only 1.9 percent of employee paid hours was for ''unscheduled absences,'' the lowest percentage in 13 years, according to a survey by CCH Inc.

Still, companies and their workers are getting the message, human resources executives and corporate medical directors say, that precautions should be taken since the flu season will not be played out until spring.

At the same time, a number of companies and organizations are recommending that sick employees work from their homes via computer if they wish.

Corporate offices and plants can be incubators of all types of viruses, said Rosalyn Stone, chief operating officer of Mount Kisco, N.Y.-based Corporate Wellness Inc., a provider of occupational health services.

''We often spend as much time with coworkers as we do with family members,'' she said. ''Thus, the workplace is as likely a source of the flu as the home.''

However, intense media coverage of the flu has meant that a high percentage of employees nationally were immunized last fall, said Stone, who is also cochairwoman of the CDC's Workplace Flu Prevention Working Group.

''Usually, 20 to 30 percent of a company's work force will receive the flu vaccine,'' Stone noted. ''But last fall, some companies reported a 50 percent participation rate.''

Most of the nation's vaccine supply has been depleted, but the Centers for Disease Control this month will distribute an additional 375,000 doses purchased in Europe. The centers also have an option to acquire 3 million doses of a nasal spray to combat the flu. Some companies are already offering employees the FluMist nasal vaccine spray.

''Many companies want to do everything they can now because they're afraid of the flu situation becoming even more serious'' in the next three months, said Judy Singler, director of occupational health and Employee Assistance Program services at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge.

The cost of not taking precautions? Increased absenteeism and declining productivity as workers nurse themselves or family members back to health.

Although definitive data is unavailable on the economic costs of the flu nationally, a rule of thumb is that ''$7 is saved for every $1 spent on a flu shot,'' said Stone, the Corporate Wellness executive.

Large companies and medical centers are in the forefront of fighting the flu because of their resources. In Greater Boston, they include Gillette, Raytheon Co., Tufts New England Medical Center, and Massachusetts General Hospital. But smaller companies, such as Lightbridge Inc. of Burlington and Centra Software Inc. of Lexington, are also working to ward off the flu.

Gillette immunized 1,800 out of 4,500 employees in Massachusetts last fall, medical director Brooks Watt said. ''But we figure that 60 to 70 percent of our employees received the vaccine, given the number who got the shots elsewhere,'' said Watt.

Since the company has run out of vaccine, it is offering the FluMist product, Watt said, to employees under 50 who are in good health, in line with CDC guidelines. Because the nasal spray contains a live virus, it is only recommended for healthy individuals between the ages of 5 and 49. (The cost is the same as a flu shot, or between $17 and $20.)

The marching orders for employees who get the flu are very direct, he said. ''Go home and rest until you're well enough to return to work.''

That policy is just ''common sense,'' said Charles Hackett, chief medical officer of Waltham-based Raytheon, the giant defense contractor that has 11,000 employees in Massachusetts and 76,000 worldwide.

Raytheon has given the flu vaccine to about 45 percent of its work force, compared to 30 percent in 2002, Hackett said.

''We budgeted more than $350,000 for our flu immunization program and estimate that our return on this investment will be about $1 million a year'' - money saved from keeping employees healthy and on the job, Hackett said.

Raytheon also posts on its intranet site articles about the flu and tips on keeping healthy, such as regular hand washing, he said.

At Tufts New England Medical Center, use of alcohol-laced hand tissues is routine, said Deeb Salem, chairman of the department of medicine. Hospitals are ''different from other businesses because doctors and others are always around patients who are ill with other things,'' he said. So far, few patients have been hospitalized with the flu, he said, adding that most of the medical center's 4,000 full- and part-time employees have been immunized.

At Massachusetts General Hospital, probably 75 percent of the workforce of 14,000 have been given flu shots, said Jeanette Ives Erickson, chief nurse executive. ''There are always some who don't want the vaccine for different reasons,'' she said.

The hospital, which has only had a dozen or so flu patients thus far, also distributes fact sheets to employees on proper hygiene, Erickson said. ''This is one time, for example, when shaking hands is not encouraged.''

Lightbridge's intranet site has links to healthcare provider Blue Cross-Blue Shield so that employees can access information about the flu, said Kathy Betts, the company's human resources vice president.

The software company had ''a tremendous response'' to its flu shot offerings last fall, ''when 60 percent of our staff'' was immunized, Betts said. There are 300 employees in Burlington.

All employees, she said, know that ''we don't want sick people coming to work. And, when possible, they also know that they're free to work remotely from home. Above all, we trust them to use good judgment.''

Centra Software, a provider of software aimed at facilitating Internet conferences and virtual classrooms, also permits ill employees to work online from their homes, spokeswoman Ellen Slaby said. Two hundred staffers work in Lexington.

As in previous years, 75 percent of the employees opted for the company-sponsored flu shots in the fall, Slaby said. None of the employees given the shots have yet gotten the flu, she said.

Jim Botto, director of contracts for Centra Software, received his first flu shot in some time last fall.

''I had read articles about how serious this flu is, and I'm old enough to worry about it,'' said Botto, 62, who lives in Melrose. ''So, I took advantage of getting the shot at work, which was very convenient.''

Despite companies and employees taking the best precautions, ''There's still a lot of anxiety about the flu and that won't go away soon,'' said Singler of Mount Auburn Hospital.

Davis Bushnell is a freelance writer and can be reached at Bushnelldv@aol.com.

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