Planning for a Pandemic
If you’re feeling wretched, will you still come in to work? If doing so would make nearly all of your employees sick, would you still come in? And if all of your technicians were out with the flu, what would you do?
The US Department of Homeland Security has published a short guide on preparing for the flu, specifically aimed at small businesses The recommended first step: plan.
Decide how you’ll handle sick employees. Can anyone work from home? Do you have a way to discourage employees who feel sick from coming in to work? Or do your policies encourage people to work even when sick? If so, now’s a good time to reevaluate those policies.
What tasks are absolutely essential? Make plans for how to deal with those if the person responsible is home sick.
Work to keep your employees healthy. Encourage them to get the seasonal flu vaccine, if appropriate. If they’re eligible for the H1N1 vaccine, encourage that. Provide hand sanitizers, disposable towels, hand soaps – means to encourage people to wash their hands frequently. Frequent hand washing has been shown to reduce the spread of disease. Educate your workers on preventive measures: staying home when feeling sick, keep hands away from the face, hand washing (of course), and cough etiquette (cough into your sleeve, not your hands). For a quick guide to cough etiquette, see this video.
Decide what you’ll do if the health department recommends minimizing face to face contact. Is there a way to keep employees apart from each other? That might not be a problem during work, but what about at lunch? Consider staggering lunch times or setting up additional lunch areas.