How To Avoid Getting Sick At Work

What’s the best way to miss out on potential client and customer opportunities?

Answer: Getting sick.

It’s an inevitable part of life, but there’s no denying that getting sick puts a major damper on business operations, no matter whether you’re self-employed or you run a company with hundreds of employees. Especially during the busy holiday season and start to the new year, your absence can result in a major loss of revenue. This page covers the various ways in which businesspeople can avoid common situations where sickness spreads, and as a result, be more successful during this winter season.

#1: Minimize points of contact with other people

Germs that make you sick can transfer between individuals via surfaces. For example, both coins and paper bills can carry viruses, protozoa, and bacteria. 

With COVID-19 cases spiking across the nation due to the Omnicron variant, which can be transferred between individuals via surface contact, it’s wise to make an honest assessment of the physical exchanges you make with colleagues, customers, and clients. 

Are all of these exchanges completely necessary? For example, if you and coworkers are splitting a lunch bill, it may be equally viable to share funds via a service like Venmo, which requires no physical exchanges on your part, rather than exchanging traditional cash.

Another very common surface in which germs can spread is paper business cards. Chances are, you hand out and receive at least a few cards every week. Handling a card from another individual puts you at risk of getting sick.

To get all of the benefits of conducting information transfer without dealing with potential fallout from sickness, consider upgrading to a Mobilo smart business card. Instead of handing your paper card to another individual, all you have to do is tap your Mobilo card against their smartphone. Through NFC technology, your information is automatically populated into a contact entry on their phone. 

Along with being more efficient, Mobilo is better for your health–and the health of the people whom you interact with. 

Contactless information transfer is just one of four modes included with every Mobilo smart business card. Click here to learn more about the power of Mobilo.

#2: Wash Your Hands and Carry Hand Sanitizer

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Getting germs on your hands is no big deal. Your skin provides an adequate barrier--which is why we don’t constantly get sick just by being out in the world.

Problems occur when the germs enter your body. The ways in which they do this vary. Two common examples are when you touch food without washing your hands, then eat it, or when you rub your eyes with dirty hands.

To avoid transferring germs from your hands to the more delicate parts of your body, make sure to wash your hands frequently. When a sink isn’t available, a small bottle of hand sanitizer can achieve the same effect. Along with keeping yourself healthy, keeping your hands clean is a good way to show that you care about the health of the other business associates you’re interacting with, too. 

If you run a company, handing out bottles of hand sanitizer to employees is a cheap way to avoid a potential loss in productivity due to sickness.

Just be sure to not overwash your hands--doing so can lead to negative effects.

#3: Always get adequate sleep

For working professionals, wintertime is often underscored by the holidays. Consumers are shopping en masse, which means you’re working overtime to capitalize on the increased potential for revenue.

Although it does often make sense to work more around the holidays, the increase in time spent working cannot come at a cost to your sleep quality. Getting enough sleep is key to staying healthy. One of the easiest ways to get sick is to be tired constantly, which weakens your immune system. 

Note: Extra coffee is not a substitute for healthy sleep. Too much coffee can also affect your quality of sleep, especially if you drink it later in the day.

#4: Don’t forget to exercise

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With the busy holiday season and the colder weather, it’s easy to get lax on your workout regimen. But exercising strengthens your immune system, which means it’s a key piece of the puzzle in staying healthy during wintertime. 

Although you might not exercise as frequently or as hard as you do during warmer months, be sure to get some sort of exercise to strengthen your immune system. If you work from home, consider doing squats or push-ups every hour or so that you work. You’ll get an increase in focus and you’ll be more capable of fending off germs. 

#5: For Employers, Provide Employee Guidance

If you run a company, it’s equally as important for your employees to stay healthy. Without your entire workforce operating at full capacity, internal processes move more sluggishly. Inefficiency can and often does lead to lackluster business performance.

Send out a memo with the aforementioned talking points to ensure employees are taking the necessary precautions against sickness despite the expected increase in workload around the holidays. A gentle reminder never hurts.

Takeaway

Due to the unprecedented spread of the Omnicron variant, working professionals should be first and foremost concerned with how they spread and receive germs from other individuals. Switching to Mobilo smart business cards can help you to eliminate spreading germs and network more efficiently at the same time. 

Beyond Mobilo, be sure to keep your hands clean, get enough sleep, and maintain a healthy exercise regimen so that your immune system can better fight off any germs that slip through the cracks. If you run a company, be sure to communicate these best practices to employees as well.