3/14/2025

Supporting workplace health: Seven tips to prevent respiratory illness

Taking steps to prevent the spread of the flu and other respiratory diseases helps reduces absenteeism and protects the well-being of staff.

Denise Lam

Flu Season Coronavirus theme with hygiene and viral objects

Keeping your team health and productive is crucial for business to run smoothly.

Winter is on its way out, but we haven’t escaped cold and flu season quite yet, which in Canada typically runs from November to April. Keeping your team health and productive is crucial for business to run smoothly. Both employers and staff play vital roles in this effort.

Taking steps to prevent the spread of the flu and other respiratory diseases not only helps maintain productivity and morale but also reduces absenteeism and protects the well-being of staff.

Here are some tips to help safeguard your team this season and prevent the spread of respiratory illness.

Use these expert tips to protect employees from respiratory illnesses

Enhance housekeeping and sanitation controls. Most respiratory diseases are spread by touching contaminated surfaces. Ensure you have a full inventory of cleaning supplies on hand and institute frequent cleanings of high-touch surfaces and shared spaces, such as door handles, phones, keyboards/keypads, countertops and point of sale/payment terminal (e.g. Interact machine).
Ensure your ventilation system is doing its job. Good ventilation can help reduce the buildup of infectious respiratory particles in the air. Increase fresh air flow in your HVAC system and change or upgrade your filters. Open doors and windows when weather permits to improve airflow. If available, you may consider a standalone air purifier as well.
Promote good hygiene. Some of the best respiratory illness prevention begins with these simple practices:

Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, or cough/sneeze into your elbow.
Wash your hands regularly with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Advise employees to stay home if they are sick. Make sure people who are sick with a respiratory illness, go home or stay home until they are well.

Although a sick employee can create scheduling challenges, ensuring they stay home when ill is not only important for protecting the wellness of others, but also helps ensure your workplace continues to thrive. Research shows that working while sick can cut productivity by one-third or more; both the quantity and quality of the work suffers.
Offer curbside pickup/online shopping. Minimize contact between staff and customers by offering curbside pickup/delivery.
Check-in. Regularly check in with your team and ask how they are doing. You may learn they are feeling unwell before they come forward about an illness on their own.
Create a culture of health and safety. Foster an environment where health and safety is prioritized and open communication is encouraged.

Share accurate health information from trusted sources so that staff understand who’s at greatest risk of becoming ill, how the flu spreads, and preventative measures they can take. And ensure employees feel supported in taking preventive measures. Consider posting locations of local clinics or pharmacies offering the shot, and/or offering staff time off work to get immunized.