Every morning the national newspapers are reporting the Swine Flu pandemic with increasing alarm. The number of infections is rising rapidly and, although very small in number, so are the fatalities. Swine flu has a firm grip on the UK and many other western economies, so are there any practical steps that companies can take to defray the damage to business continuity? Gary Simon, FSN’s managing editor looks at the issues.
Thankfully Swine Flu in the UK is generally not a killer though some alarmist reports suggest that around 65,000 may eventually die. However, what has become abundantly clear is that those infected will have to stay at home, either because they risk infecting others or because they are too ill. If even modest predictions are to be believed then businesses can anticipate up to 20 percent of their workforce being off work at any one time in the autumn.
Of course this ignores the additional individuals who have to take time off work to care for those that are too ill to leave on their own. So the magnitude of the impact could be severe - at least for a significant period of time.
Since flu pandemics are usually decades apart few businesses will have any contingency plans in place to counter the effects of flu and frankly, even where businesses have other business continuity plans in place (and very few bother) everyone knows they are rarely tested or put into action.
So where should you focus your efforts. Of course any HR planning needs to balance the needs of employees against the needs of the business. According to the Local Government Employers (LGE) organisations need to consider the likely impact on the business, the groups most likely to be affected, (for example the disease appears concentrated on younger healthy workers) and the extent to which alternative workforce planning becomes a necessity. At what percentage of absence does the pandemic present a real problem? What would happen if it was even more severe?
As in all contingency planning it is essential to have the contact details (especially mobile telephone numbers) of all employees but do these details need to be circulated beyond the HR department?
What products and services are a priority? Is it possible to shift employees from one product/service area to another? Is there an inventory of skill sets to help make the decision? How could you scale back without impairing quality of service or increasing risk to an unacceptable level?
Do you have access to lists of retired employees. Peversely this flu outbreak is affecting the older generation the least, so is there a pool of trained ex-employees who could be brought into service at short notice.
Of course those fortunate enough not to be infected could be working much longer hours to compensate for those who are, so consideration will need to be given to remuneration, overtime pay and incentives to maintain sufficient levels of productivity.
What would happen if the building needed to be closed down because of rampant infection. Could the business continue from alternative premises or employees homes? What would need to be done to make this happen?
A big worry for organisations is that some employees will take advantage of the situation, taking leave unnecessarily, a position that could be exaggerated by the government’s intention to lengthen the period of absence that may be taken by self-certification (ie. without a doctors letter) from 7 days to 14 days.
But according to the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Directors) employers who manage sickness absence consistently “have nothing to fear” from emergency plans to allow staff to self-certify sick leave.
Senior public policy adviser Ben Willmott said that the government’s contingency plans for certifying sick leave would be a “common-sense and pragmatic” response to an escalation in the flu pandemic. “The plans have been designed to help prevent the spread of infection and reduce the workload on healthcare professionals during what would be a very challenging time. It seems a proportionate response,” he said.
The plans, which would allow people with suspected swine flu to extend the amount of time they can take off work without a doctor’s note from seven to 14 days, are currently under review by the Cabinet Office and would be enacted for a limited period of time, most likely six months, if the number of cases in the UK rose dramatically.
Willmott said the proposals would not create any problems for employers who already managed sickness absence well, adding that it “will only be a small proportion of employees that would seek to take advantage of these changes”.
“When you are managing absence there is a fine line between providing support to people who have genuine health problems and taking consistent action against the small proportion that are taking advantage of occupational sick pay schemes. That does not change regardless of changes to self-certifying rules,” he added.
Indeed LGE recommend developing protocols on the treatment of employees who are absent in the pandemic including those employees who are absent due to childcare or other caring responsibilities.
“Review absence monitoring systems and issue clear guidance to employees on reporting arrangements and make arrangements for dealing with requests from employees asking to work more flexibly during this period,” prompts the LGE.
Inevitably some employees will take advantage and line managers need to know how to handle disciplinary and grievance issues in the event of a pandemic .
Lyndon Bird, technical services director of the Business Continuity Institute, said recent stories in the media about swine flu had been “a wide awakening” for employers, many of whom were now beginning to understand the need for emergency planning. But he warned many firms would still be unable to cope.
“They are not prepared for the numbers that might happen. Lots of organisations have business continuity plans but they have not been stress tested,” he said. But he added there was still time for business to get their plans into shape, urging them to focus particularly on technical infrastructure and communications. He also advised firms to prepare for high levels of employee absence through “cross-functional training” so that healthy staff could be redeployed to key business areas.
