As the 2009 fall flu season draws closer, the US Department of Health and Human Services is advising business planners to assess business functions to “determine the threshold of absenteeism that would be potentially disruptive and plan ahead to take increasing measures as absenteeism escalates toward those thresholds.” This sage advice was the topic of a recent Archer Business Continuity Management Working Group session, led by myself and BCM Working Group member Jim Baird.

Our discussion focused on what companies are doing to protect their employees and business operations in the event of mass employee outages related to the H1N1 virus (better known as “swine flu”). This is an area of business continuity planning that may be overlooked, except when situations like the recent swine flu outbreak force the issue of workforce outages to our attention.

Our BCM Working Group members all reported that they have developed recovery strategies to address a decrease in staffing levels for their business, whether those outages are the result of pandemic flu or other factors. Participants also reported the following flu-specific preparedness activities:

- Many of our members are reviewing their recovery strategies to evaluate loss types associated with employee absences. They are assessing whether their pandemic plans will be effective.

 

- Some organizations have been working with their local emergency management groups to gain priority access to the H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available.

 

- Other companies have asked their facilities management providers to deliver plans for addressing the virus, and they have been stockpiling key supplies such as hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes.

 

- Some businesses are instituting “social distancing” guidelines (e.g., keeping a 6–8 foot distance from others if symptomatic and limiting face-to-face meetings as a precaution).

 

- HR departments are considering increased absentee thresholds for employees who are ill or have child-care issues related to forced school closures.

 

What is your organization doing to prepare for the fall flu season and other types of “human outages”? Please share your commentary here on the Archer Blog.

I also invite you to join us tomorrow at 1 p.m. Central for a Business Continuity Management webcast, which will feature a discussion with Jim Baird, president-elect of the Partnership for Emergency Planning. I’ll also be delivering a live tour of Archer’s advanced BCM solution, which offers a 3-in-1 approach to business continuity, disaster recovery and crisis management. I hope you can join us!