Imagine this scenario. You’re sitting at your desk on Monday morning, digging through the mountain of emails that has amassed in your inbox since Friday afternoon, when the phone rings. It’s one of your direct reports. She says she has the flu; however, there’s a big project that must go out today, so she asks if she should come in. You tell her to stay home and get some rest.
Then the phone rings again. It’s another employee calling in sick, reporting the same symptoms. Talking to other managers, you find out that a large number of employees are very ill and unable to come to work. Could your company have a serious virus outbreak on its hands? What impact will a widespread illness have on productivity? Is your organization prepared to deal with the situation while keeping the business going?
Too often, employers don’t give due attention to pandemic planning until they’re actually facing a crisis. However, the prevalence of the H1N1 flu—and the media attention afforded to it—has brought the necessity of planning to the forefront.
By September, the U.S. had already reported more than twice the number of flu cases as last year, most of them the H1N1 strain. While the impact on Canada so far has been less dramatic, the World Health Organization has noted that the “pandemic (H1N1) influenza virus continues to be the predominant circulating influenza virus, both in the northern and southern hemisphere.”
How should employers prepare? According to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they should designate a pandemic planning coordinator or team and determine how to keep employees and stakeholders informed. They should provide access to resources and supplies to help control the outbreak. They should establish emergency policies on telecommuting, sick leave and travel, and set guidelines on direct contact between employees. And those are just a few aspects to consider. (For more on pandemic planning, see the checklist on page 38.)
Whether or not H1N1 directly affects your organization, it’s critical to make the necessary preparations to ensure business continuity and the health and safety of employees before a problem becomes a crisis. Otherwise, it may be too late.
Alyssa Hodder is Editor of Benefits Canada.
alyssa.hodder@rci.rogers.com
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© Copyright 2009 Rogers Publishing Ltd. This article first appeared in the October 2009 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine.