PREPAREDNESS FOR BUSINESSES AND HOMES
WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT
11.1
Bird Flu is a very human issue, and ultimately
will be a very human tragedy. It is
the workforce which will be directly affected by Bird Flu, not systems, machinery or
physical locations.
11.2
Systems,
machinery and physical locations will of course eventually fail if they do not
receive workforce intervention for preventative maintenance or repair management.
11.3
The
World Health Organisation advises that management should plan for up to
50% workforce absences for periods of about two weeks at the height of a pandemic
wave and lower levels of workforce absence for a few weeks either side of the peak.
11.4
Either way, the strain on current workforce management will be enormous. Unless adequate plans are made to replace and cover
for absent critical staff, business operations will start to fail.
11.5
Care must be taken when making contingency plans
for employees. There will be a tendency for staff to feel their positions may
be under threat. "Why would they make plans to have someone else do my job?"
11.6
Therefore
consider open discussions on workforce management with staff on:
11.6.1 Deputy management training - ensure all critical positions have a deputy manager trained to oversee operations when the incumbent is absent from work.
11.6.2 Back up staff - contact retired or ex-employees and management who may agree to work on a temporary basis if the incumbent is absent from work.
11.6.3 Outsourcing Human Resources - consider what internal functions may be out-sourced in the incumbent is absent from work.
11.6.4 Succession planning - all critical employees and management should have succession planning in place. Analyse your current succession planning strategy and fill any gaps that may exist.
11.6.5 Leave arrangements - it is common workforce management practice to declare 'no leave' periods in high season or to encourage the workforce to take leave during low season. Consider asking staff to save leave for a time when they may not be able to come to the office anyway.
11.6.6 Agreed unpaid leave - it is common workforce management practice for Companies to ask staff to take unpaid leave, particularly in times of crisis. Consider asking staff to volunteer to take unpaid leave when they may not be able to come to the office anyway.
11.6.7 Cross utilisation - endeavour to train staff and management across multiple functions and skill sets. This will allow flexibility when assigning staff to fill roles of absent employees.
11.6.8 Interim Management - prepare 'temporary' management arrangements so that should senior managers become absent you can call upon the required skill sets to caretake positions until the manager's return.
11.6.9 Return of 'immune' employees - employees who have caught and survived Bird Flu will be immune to the strain and can be deployed at front line areas without fear of repeat infection.
11.6.10 Employment ordinance - it is the employer's responsibility to provide a safe working environment for its workforce. Whilst this is a very 'grey area' when it comes to Bird Flu, there were instances after SARS where employers were held liable. The insurance industry paid out over US$15m in SARS related claims. Check your corporate health care insurance exclusions.
11.6.11 Adopting the advice included in this section, with particular attention to protection measures, should assist employers with their regulatory compliance. Please note however, it's is the employer's responsibility to ensure they are complying with their local employment requirements.
|
Protection measure |
Where applicable. |
|
Hand hygiene, cough etiquette, ventilation |
Everyone, all the time. |
|
Organisational policies |
Every organisation, all the time. |
|
Social Distancing |
Everyone, whenever practical. |
|
Protective Barriers |
Institutions where regular work practice requires unavoidable. Relatively close contact with the public. |
|
Disposable Face Masks |
Workers/Visitors in any community |
11.7 An influenza pandemic may affect regions of the world differently in terms of timing, severity and duration. Some regions may be hit earlier, longer or harder. Businesses with overseas or regional offices may need to consider rotating service delivery from hard hit areas to influenza-free areas, or areas that have been declared to be in a post-pandemic period. Restrictions on movement of people from region to region may be imposed, and rotation of staff may therefore be difficult.
11.8 Businesses with overseas offices, or which have outsourcing human resources arrangements from overseas (e.g. call centres), may be disproportionately affected. Not all countries have the means to cope with a pandemic. Employees and staff contracted overseas may have increased rates of illness and absence.
11.9 Staff Travel Policy
11.9.1 Once a pandemic is recognised, the border and ports may immediately be closed to all incoming persons (including crew), possibly for several days.
11.9.2 It is likely that quarantine measures will be instituted before movements resume. It is possible that all incoming people will be required to complete at least 8 days quarantine in specially designated places before being allowed landside.
11.9.3 If staff travel overseas for business reasons, the plan will need to include consideration of their management in the event of a pandemic. For example, on declaration of a pandemic, if any staff had recently (within the last 4-5 days) travelled to countries known to be affected by the disease, the company should:
11.9.4 Advise the employee not to report for work for the duration of the quarantine period. Ask them to follow instructions for self-checking for influenza symptoms, which may include advice to telephone (rather than visit) their doctor to seek advice immediately if symptoms occur. They should report their travel history to the treating doctor. Ask them to document all the people they have been in contact with.
11.9.5 Check on the staff member during his/her absence from work.
11.9.6 Set up a process for ensuring that the employee has completed the time duration and is healthy before allowing them to return to work.
11.9.7 Border closures overseas may also cause disruption to return travel.
11.10 Review company insurance coverage and check what exclusions are in place.
11.11 Consider setting up crisis counseling for staff. Volunteers will very likely exist within the current employee base. Staff who have contracted Bird Flu and recovered will be a great resource for crisis counselors.
11.12 If possible provide day-care facilities for staff who are unable to come to work due to schools being closed and there being no one to care for their children.
Email this page to someone?Enter recipient email address below:
| 05/15/2008 04:00 PM |
| Detection Of Mortality Clusters Associated With Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza In Poultry: A Theoretical Analysis |
|
Rapid detection of infectious disease outbreaks is often crucial for their effective control. One example is highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) such as H5N1 in commercial poultry flocks. There is no quantitative data, however, on how quickly the effects of HPAI infection in poultry flocks can be detected. Here, we study, using an individual-based mathematical model, time to detection in chicken flocks.
|
| 05/05/2008 07:00 PM |
| Learning From The Influenza Virus' Tricks |
|
Influenza is currently a grave concern for governments and health organisations around the world. The worry is the potential for highly virulent bird flu strains, such as H5N1, to develop the ability to infect humans easily. New drugs and vaccines to halt the spread of the virus are badly needed.
|
| 04/26/2008 01:00 AM |
| Indonesia Runs Large Scale Bird Flu Drill |
|
Indonesia is running a large scale drill simulating an outbreak of human to human bird flu that involves thousands of villagers, health workers and government officials, rehearsing for a potential pandemic. The drill started today, Friday 25th April, and is scheduled to run for three days.
|
| 04/25/2008 04:00 PM |
| Heading Off A Bird-Flu Pandemic: We Need Broadly Protective Vaccines That Can Be Rapidly Produced And Administered |
|
Widespread vaccination likely will be the cornerstone of public-health measures for controlling an H5N1 bird-flu pandemic, say Andrea Gambotto, M.D., assistant professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and his colleagues, in this week's edition of The Lancet. However, any vaccines must be broadly protective and rapidly producible to be effective against H5N1, which is devastating in humans, the authors write in a journal Seminar.
|
| 04/18/2008 08:00 PM |
| Identification Of The Common Mechanism Underlying Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome May Lead To New Strategies Against Bird Flu |
|
The Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 killed between 30 and 50 million people. In the infected patients, the ultimate cause of death was acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This fatal condition is a massive reaction of the body during which the lung becomes severely damaged. ARDS can be induced by various bacterial and viral infections, but also by chemical agents. These could be toxic gases that are inhaled or gastric acid when aspirated.
|
| 04/18/2008 06:00 PM |
| New Vaccine May Give Long-term Defense Against Deadly Bird Flu And Its Variant Forms |
|
A new vaccine under development may provide protection against highly pathogenic bird flu and its evolving forms, according to researchers at Purdue University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who discovered the new preventative drug and have tested it in mice.
|
