Personnel(ly) Speaking

A Monthly Newsletter from

Personnel Management Systems, Inc.

September 2009

To Flu or not to Flu?  That is the question.

The Swine Flu. The H1N1 Influenza Virus - hard to know how serious to take all of this.  Certainly the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) want us to take it very seriously. This newsletter is not intended to provide medical advice (remember we are HR people) but we believe that it is prudent for businesses to at least put some steps in place in case this whole flu situation really does become serious.

Business Objectives

Businesses need to consider a number of objectives when determining how best to respond to a widespread flu outbreak. For example:

• How can we reduce the spread of flu amongst our employees?
• How do we maintain operations if a significant number of our employees are home sick?
• How do we compensate for possible disruptions in our supply chains? What if our vendors are seriously impacted by a flu outbreak?

To complicate things, the CDC expects there to be a wide range of disease patterns throughout the country.  Employers will have to base a lot of their decisions on local conditions.  A companywide policy may not suffice if you have more than one location. 

Proactive Prevention

Obviously, preventing a serious outbreak would be the ideal situation.  Here are some steps that companies can take now. (Yes, you’ve heard some of these already).

• The flu spreads from person to person through respiratory droplets – think coughing and sneezing.  Do not be afraid to remind your employees to cough and sneeze into their sleeve or a tissue, not their hands.
• Contaminated hands are the enemy.  Encourage and remind employees about good personal hygiene.  Provide lots of tissues, soap and water, and hand sanitizers throughout your workplace.
• Regularly clean surfaces and items that people frequently touch. This includes workstations, doorknobs, countertops, telephones, keyboards, copy machines, printers, the water cooler, the coffee pot, etc.
• Janitors.  Be sure and have a conversation with your janitor about the use of disinfectants and the cleaning of public areas, restrooms, etc.
• Encourage employees to get vaccinated for the seasonal flu as well as H1N1 when vaccines are available. Consider giving employees paid time off to get the shots and perhaps even paying for the costs.  Check to see if your health insurance plan will cover the injections.
• Sick employees should stay home!  This is not the time for employees to show how dedicated they are and come to work if they are sick.  The opposite is true.  The flu is very contagious.  One employee could singlehandedly take down your whole operation.  Advise employees that any sign of a fever or other flu-like symptoms means they should stay home and remain home until at least 24 hours after they are fever free.   Expect sick employees to be out three to five days even if antiviral medications are used.  Consider telling employees to stay home if they have sick family members.
• If an employee becomes sick at work, send him or her home.
• If schools are closed, do not allow employees to bring their children to work.
• Review your sick leave policies now to ensure they are flexible and not undermining your goal of keeping sick employees home.

Plan To Stay in Business

This may seem dramatic but staying in business may require some contingency planning just like you would do if you were planning for earthquakes, fires, etc.  Think about what you would have to do if a significant number of your employees were absent.  Ideas here include:

• Working remotely.  Certain positions can be performed remotely.  Make sure your technology infrastructure is set up so people can work from home.  Train your employees on how to access data remotely and continue to perform critical functions. 
• Cross Train.  Document critical procedures and make sure employees are crossed trained on critical job functions.  Do you have extra keys, passwords, important telephone numbers, etc. so your business could continue to function if a significant portion of your staff was ill?  Would the remaining employees know what to do? 
• Temporary Employees.  You may be able to staff some positions with temporary employees.  Identify ahead of time which positions could be staffed this way and what agencies you will use.
• Suppliers and Vendors.  Make sure third parties that you rely on also have contingency plans.  Ask them how they will be able to continue to provide critical functions to your organization in the event of an outbreak.  Perhaps even identify alternate suppliers.
• Social Distancing (a CDC term not ours).  Interesting concept.  The idea here is to recommend to employees that they put at least six feet of distance between themselves and others.  Of course this is impossible in some job settings but may be appropriate in certain situations.  For example, you might decide to cancel non-essential travel, schedule conference calls instead of face-to-face meetings, avoid large gatherings, etc.

The CDC has lots of information for individuals and employers (www.cdc.gov).  Local health departments are also an excellent source when looking for resources.

Let us know if we can help. Stay healthy.

Personnel(ly) Speaking is a monthly comment on HR issues of importance.  It is intended to provide general information and must not be construed as legal advice.  Reproductions are allowed as long as credit for this information is given to PMSI.  We welcome your comments, questions, and concerns.  © PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, INC., Corporate Office (425) 576-1900, Colorado Office (720) 497-0200, www.hrpmsi.com.