If you’re offering paid sick leave, consider that it has some hidden advantages for your company. If you’re not offering paid sick leave, you may want to reconsider.

Of course, factors such as company size and resources will dictate whether you can or should offer sick leave. But consider these statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality:

• Employees who don’t have paid sick leave tend to ignore minor health problems, which then explode into larger ones, meaning the employee only treats the problem when it’s an expensive emergency that drives up the cost of your health coverage. Fact: When a typical ailment is treated by a doctor, the cost averages $1,060; the typical ailment treated in an emergency setting costs $1,756.
• Paid sick leave tends to result in lower comp costs and fewer missed days overall. Again, workers who are getting paid will take time off to treat a minor health problem before it becomes worse. And research shows employees who have paid sick leave get injured on the job 28% less often.