Employers: Save Money By Giving Workers Free Flu Shots So They Don’t Get Sick and Die
Author: Nick
Category: Money
Topics: health, insurance, work
If you run a business with even a handful of employees, it makes financial sense for you to give all of your employees on-site, free flu shots. That’s what I figured out today as I sat in a conference room getting my free flu shot paid for by my employer.
What am I talking about this time? Consider the following statistics about influenza:
- Each year, 36,000 people die from the flu in the U.S.
- More than 200,000 people are admitted to the hospital due to flu symptoms.
- Depending on the severity of the flu season, anywhere from five to 20% of Americans get the flu each year.
People dying and ending up in the hospital is certainly a horrible thing, but you don’t even need to look that far to see the consequences the flu can have on your business. If 20% of your employees are getting sick each winter, they’ll quickly rack up those sick days. Those sick days can have a heavy impact on your company’s bottom line.
Let’s do the math using some fairly conservative numbers. Say you run a company with 100 employees, and the average fully-loaded employee cost is $25/hour. Now say it’s a particularly mild flu season and just 10% of your work force (10 employees) gets the flu, and each one calls out sick only two days (8 hours/day × 2 days = 16 sick hours/employee) as a result because you’re a mean boss and they don’t want to get fired for using too many sick days (jerk). Finally, let’s peg the cost of a flu shot at $25 per person.
- Cost of flu: 10 employees × 16 hours × $25/hour = $4,000
- Cost of flu shots: 100 employees × $25 = $2,500
Now if one of those employees should end up hospitalized, you could find your company paying a lot more for health insurance the next year. And heaven forbid one of those employees dies, the price of employee life insurance will spike, not to mention the cost of hiring a replacement. Free flu shots would more than pay for themselves should either of those events transpire.
Sure, some workers get free flu shots through their insurance anyway, but many more have to cough up a co-pay or simply pay the full cost themselves. Add to that the inconvenience of driving to a doctor’s office or flu clinic, and many people just won’t spend the time and money to protect themselves from the flu. But if those flu shots are free and just down the hall, those workers are far more likely to get themselves inoculated.
Employees, tell your boss you want a free flu shot. You could even print out this article and place it on his or her desk with big red circles and drawings of little stick figures throwing up. If that doesn’t do the trick, then your boss is a schmo.
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24 Responses »
1.
Mrs. Micah
November 14th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
The place where I work was offering free flu shots with reimbursement today. That is, you get the shot but you have to pay and get reimbursed. It’s weird, but I wouldn’t be around to be reimbursed so I didn’t qualify. :-p
2.
The Saving Freak
November 15th, 2007 at 8:51 am
This is a great example of preventative medicine in the marketplace. Employers so often will not spend the extra dollars to keep their employees healthy. A good example is the lack of chiropractic care for people who stand all day or do a lot of lifting. If people were given the option to go to chiropractors on a regular basis as part of their health care plan they could avoid a lot of back injuries and keep their employees working much more efficiently.
3.
dr.xnlb
November 15th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Flu shots are a gamble and not a guarantee. No telling which of the many, many strains of the virus will be going around.
I’ve always let my own immune system fight it.
4.
FinanceIsPersonal.com
November 15th, 2007 at 11:41 am
I haven’t gotten a flu-shot in 3 years now, and the one year I did get the flu-shot before that, I ended up getting the flu anyway. Funny how that works. I think keeping good hygiene and washing your hands a lot is much more impotant than getting a flu-shot with vaccines for mutations of the flu virus that might not even be in the wild anymore.
5.
Las Vegas Real Estate Guy
November 18th, 2007 at 3:23 am
I actually have worked at a place that did give out free flu shots. They had a van that stopped by and gave anyone who wanted one a free shot. It did seem to help as far as sick time out.
6.
Jerry
January 10th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I think this is a great idea. I also think it might help to have a wellness coach or nutritionist come to talk about ways that lifestyle and diet could be enhanced to boost immunity. This requires some change but it does provide some insurance against illness if you’re willing to modify some bad habits. And, it could lead to fewer and fewer sick days!
Jerry
http://www.leads4insurance.com
7.
JHUMMEL
January 22nd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
THE ACTUAL STATISTICS OF FLU RELATED DEATHS ARE ONLY IN THE HUNDREDS, NOT THOUSANDS.
THE CDC PUBLISHES THESE ON THEIR WEBSITE…
THE FIGURE IS MUCH HIGHER BECAUSE INFLUENZA RELATED DEATHS ARE COMBINED WITH PNEUMONIA DEATHS – PNEUMONIA RELATED TO FLU ONLY ACCOUNT FOR ABOUT 5% OF THE FLU RELATED DEATHS.
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