If your employer offered staff a free flu vaccine last year but not this year ...

[autumnsunshyne]

... have they given a reason?

My employer offers it (as a benefit) and so does my husband's. My son has recently started on a graduate scheme with a big (top 10 in size) consultancy firm which recently removed it from the list of employee benefits on its website. I'm idly musing as to why that might be and wondering if many other employers have done the same.

Presumably cost. Not just the cost of the vaccine, but also the cost of the HCP to administer it, the admin cost of collating medical info to be able to send notification onto the employees GPs that they’ve had it, providing the batch number, expiration date, which arm it was given in etc.

My employer (a university) and my husband's employer (an energy company) don't do any of that admin - they just give staff a Boots voucher code.

Cost may be an issue, but presumably more so for a university than for a major financial consultancy firm.

My top theory is my son's company didn't have high absentee rates due to flu last year, so maybe the cost-benefit analysis didn't stack up. That may be because, on average, they have younger, fitter staff who are spread around the country (rather than all concentrated in central London or a head office) and who tend to work from home when they're ill rather than taking time off.

We get a free Bupa voucher so we can get the jab. I always do, but I don’t know what the uptake is.

Maybe they didn’t find any reduction in the sickness rates so it wasn’t worth it?

It’s only about £15 so I would still get it myself if it wasn’t offered.

Maybe low uptake?
But I've seen flu jabs advertised for £10. Its not really much of a benefit for high earners. Would make more sense in lower paid jobs.

I work in a uni and it's no longer offering it free but we can get a staff discount at a local provider. Its definitely cost related. I'm not bothered because I never took it up before.

He does have Bupa, including dental cover, but I can't see mention of a flu jab there.

Yes, he should get the jab anyway, but the advantage of having an employer scheme would be that it would be more incentive than just his mum encouraging him. 🙂 At 21 he naturally sees himself as indestructible.

Company I work for was at least honest.

“It’s not our responsibility to fund you having a flu vaccine”.

As others say cost. The benefit to companies where it is possible to work from home when sick has also changed the financial risk/benefit ratio as they are less affected by sickness. (And yes I know that working from home isn’t going to happen with genuine flu, but I’m willing to bet it’s still calculated in).