(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Corporate Human Resources Departments are the latest entity to develop a coronavirus response plan on the fly, but employees aren’t necessarily helping.
To prevent spread of the disease, health officials are urging people to wash their hands and to take a sick day if they are not feeling well.
But that pound of prevention is flying in the face of the American worker's tendency to refuse to take a sick day.
A survey from the Robert Half company found that 93 percent of employees go to work even when they are sick. Of that group, more than half worried about falling behind on a project. The rest were reluctant to take a sick day.
HR experts say employers need to stress the importance of not infecting the rest of the office.
"Companies need to be really open with people about the fact that coming to work sick is an issue of low productivity, but you're also in a situation where you could spread it to others, which could affect your department and your workload," said Robert Half Regional Vice President Michelle Reisdorf.
She suggests companies develop a policy that allows employees to work from home when they're sick, and to develop an action plan so that the work actually gets done.