Domestic and General has offered staff at its Nottingham contact centre nurse-administered flu vaccinations in an effort to tackle sickness absence.
The organisation provided 150 jabs on a first-come, first-served basis for the second year running. The offer was communicated to employees using emails, line managers and posters in employee break areas.
The initiative was piloted last year after internal research found that, between 1 September 2010 and March 2011, 400 employees were absent at the organisation due to cold and flu-related illnesses. According to the organisation, this accounted for 15.79% of all absences and would have cost nearly £42,000 in sick pay.
In the period between 1 September 2011 and 31 March 2012, a total of 281 employees were absent for cold and flu-related illness, a reduction of almost 2,000 working hours.
David Colley, senior HR advisor at Domestic and General, said: “When we offered the free jabs last year we had a fantastic response from our employees and we knew it would be worth running again.