Good staff health is good business

Last Word

THE dramatic rises in Covid19 infections in Europe and the United States highlight the dangers of complacency and, a particular problem in the US, downright defiance of rational rules of preventative health.

Zimbabwe could face similar soaring rates very easily. We managed to keep infection rates low and death rates low by what many might have thought at the time as being extreme measures, a near total lockdown being the most commented upon.

But it worked.

The rapid liberalisation of the rules so that most of the economy could reopen was possible because most people were prepared to accept that changes in behaviour could accomplish many of the same ends without massive economic damage.

So the compulsory masking, the efforts to enforce social distancing, the temperature checks at all larger businesses and supermarkets, and the awareness programmes have become the norm.

But people are slipping. Masks are worn less these days. And masks appear to be one of the major tools in battling infections. But to be effective, masking has to be near universal in anything remotely resembling a crowded area. Masks seem to offer some limited protection to the wearers, and at the very least help to ensure that if you do get effected fewer viruses attack you at one time, so your body has longer to generate antibodies and other natural defences while your viral load increases.

But a significant part of masks is protecting others from the mask wearer. Some experts say the bulk of the protection is this social protection. Considering the number of people in any community where the virus is active who have no symptoms or only very mild symptoms this is an obvious plus.

The fact that the masking and social distancing, however badly done, actually work can be gauged by the drop in other “normal” infections. Almost every winter colds and mild flu sweep through many schools and workplaces. We all suffer, but have never really done anything about it. This year was noticeable for the far lower numbers of people with colds. You cannot quantify this, since no one collects statistics on the common cold and even people with minor “ordinary” flu often do not see a doctor, but most larger businesses can if they think about it see a healthier workforce.

But, if we are to avoid a second wave or spikes in infection we are going to have to maintain our public health measures.

The other option is to risk a second hard lockdown, and we doubt if that many businesses could survive easily such a move, since many are still recovering from the first.

So business houses are going to have to keep up the pressure on staff, check out their customers and ensure that they obey the rules, and generally think pro-actively. Staff also need to be pressed to obey rules outside the workplace.

If you walk the streets of central Harare, or take rides in Zupco buses, you will notice those who do keep their masks on and those who don’t.

Oddly, women tend to be more compliant, perhaps because they think more about their own health than men. And perhaps they are not trying to prove it is macho not to wear a mask.

This macho thing in the US is odd. After all, perhaps the most macho types in American culture are the Marines. And they wear helmets and body armour when in combat, not because they are wimps but because it means fewer of them will die.

Another gain from Covid-19 has been an effort to revamp the public health system. It had reached a level that was a distinct danger to us all. Government put in more money, and the private sector did step forward.

That attitude must be continued. Private medical care is pretty good in Zimbabwe, but it comes at a high price, with even medical aid rates being beyond the reach of most employed people unless they get some assistance from employers.

And employers cannot feel they have “done their bit” if they leave it at subsidising medical aid for their staff.

The problem of public health is that your staff live next door to others, who may not be insured and may not be able to afford private care. So the disease next door hits your employees, and they pass it around your workplace.

This problem of illness and infection hitting the rich and the poor alike is the reason why even in colonial times, when company hierarchies were largely race based and darker people did not have the vote, urban councils put in clinics and public health systems funded on the rates, and sometimes even topped up with special levies on larger employers. Industrialists and shopkeepers went along with this simply to have a healthier environment.

But employers can still take precautions at work to help have a healthier workforce, which is pure economic terms is more productive, and could perhaps go further. It would not be that hard, for example, in some industrial area for local businesses to set up a combined health clinic for their staff.

The old idea of a company doctor or company nurse might be a bit expensive for many medium and small businesses, the norm these days, but in combination they could afford something.

At the very least, sick staff will not be queuing for hours at a municipal clinic kilometres away but will be just down the road, and the staff of such a clinic can be leant on not to issue sick notes to malingerers.

Other options are upgrading municipal clinics. Wilkins Hospital was largely fixed up with foreign aid and local businesses providing the capital and equipment.

It should, agreed, never have been allowed to deteriorate as much as did, but the growing emergency put on the pressure. Similar programmes for the ordinary system could help.

To an extent such programmes would need to be administered by business organisations since few would trust the efficiency of local authority administrators. But the possibilities exist.

Whatever a business, or group of businesses, decide to do, the financial costs can be thought of as an investment into productivity. Healthier workers in a healthier environment can slash the sickleave bills.

Of course it should not be necessary. We all pay taxes and rates but there is a lot of catching up to do and the budgeting programmes do not always give adequate funds to parts of the health sector.

So for their own safety businesses can help out, take some control and responsibility and probably pick up a bit of loose change through better productivity and effective PR.