Every year 10,000 workdays are lost due to employees suffering from allergies. Allergy affliction runs much deeper than the common runny nose or watery eyes. Lack of sleep caused by allergies can lead to general fatigue, listlessness, weakness, and exhaustion, which in turn impair employees abilities to perform normal work and social functions. Unlike afflictions with similar symptoms, such as the flu, there is no getting over an allergy.
Hay fever affects a company s bottom line in a variety of ways.
First, an employee may take a sick day due to illness. Second, the employee may go to work but perform at a sub-standard level. In addition to this, there are safety concerns. Employers and workers should take into consideration that heavy manufacturing positions and jobs requiring driving can be ripe for disasters at the hands of employees performing below level because of drowsiness. Because allergies rarely pose life-threatening problems, benefits management often ignores allergies.