School is winding down and the weather is heating up—that must mean summer is upon us. And while we at YES! Your Human Resources Solution look forward to these warm summer months, in this blog entry we stop to remember that no business office is immune to employees struck down by summer colds! Although some say summer colds are particularly nasty, summer is hardly the height of cold and flu season, which makes it a great time to examine sick leave policies and ways to mitigate the consequences of employee absences.

Unscheduled employee absences can place a burden on coworkers and on the business as a whole, especially in operations with only a handful of employees. How prepared is your business to handle unscheduled absences? Ask yourself these three questions:

Does your business have a policy for employee absences? If a sick-leave policy is not part of your employee handbook, set one now! Even if you have a small business with only a few employees, a clearly written policy will keep everyone’s expectations level. A clear policy also works to ease workers’ concerns about fairness and to protect employers from sick-leave abuse and lawsuits.

So what should go in this policy? Specify how sick leave is accrued and how much is available per year, and whether employees can “borrow” against future leave. Also state the procedure an employee must follow when calling out sick. Who must be notified, by what means (Is e-mail OK? Text message?), and how soon in advance of the employee’s shift? Also outline the procedures an employee must follow upon returning to work after an illness. Must the employee fill out an absence verification form? Is a doctor’s note required for lengthy absences?

Is your business prepared to handle absences? When a critical employee calls out sick, business operations should not grind to a screeching halt. There’s a one-word panacea to prevent this: cross-training. Calling a sick employee at home to clarify small details of the job is not conducive to that employee healing faster. So make sure at least one other staff member is trained as a back-up for the critical aspects of each job, such as designating a back-up to answer the phones when the receptionist is out of the office. And what’s great—this panacea works for vacations and extended leaves, too!

How is your business working to reduce absences? Employees call out sick for any number of reasons, whether those reasons are medical or mental health related. You can take charge and play an active role in reducing employee absences. Consider implementing an employee wellness program. Wellness programs are a great way to educate employees about healthier lifestyle choices. Stress management classes, weight management strategies, and smoking cessation plans are just a few of the ways employee wellness plans can help improve overall employee health. You can also do your part around the office to increase health awareness and reduce the spread of germs. Placing hand-washing signs in the restrooms or distributing hand sanitizer are small steps that could make a big difference once cold and flu season rolls around.