Sanitisers an effective absence management tool claims research

Introducing alcohol-based hand sanitisers to the workplace could be an effective absence management strategy, as a new study has indicated that they can contribute to a reduction in absenteeism due to illness.

People Management Magazine reports that a new study from the Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine at the University of Greifswald can help keep employees free of common infectious diseases. In the study, published in BMC Infections Diseases, researchers evaluated the absenteeism rate of 129 employees and monitored their health over the course of a year.

The researchers found that when the employees were split into two groups - one that regularly used hand sanitisers and a control group - they found a .71 drop in the number of days per year employees were absent due to sickness. Whilst the control group were absent from work an average of 2.87 days over the course of the year, the group who used hand sanitisers between three and five times a day were absent for 2.07.

"Absenteeism and reduced productivity at work is a major problem for national economies worldwide," said lead researcher, Nils-Olaf Hubner MD. He says that the economic impact of colds and gastrointestinal illnesses - which can quickly be spread among staff - was often underestimated. According to Hubner, the high prevalence of those illnesses in the working age population can potentially lead to substantial productivity losses due to their impaired work performance and the occasional if rare absences from work.