Friday, May 1, 2009

Tip of the Day: Revisit, revise your disaster preparedness/response plan

In light of the swine flu outbreak, it's a good idea for employers to review and perhaps update their disaster preparedness/response plans to specifically address what individual employees and your company as a whole will do in case of a pandemic.

I recently spoke with Aon Consulting's Ken Groh, who shared his advice for how HR/benefits pros -- generally the lead authors on such plans -- should shape/reshape their policies should the number and severity of swine flu cases worsen. Click here to download the podcast, and here to download Aon's resources and news updates on swine flu.

Of course, the best source for info and updates is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention swine flu Web site.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Haven't listened to the podcast yet, but I'm really interested in how an event like this could put a sharp point on the whole presenteeism issue. It seems employers like to talk out of both sides of their mouth about curbing presenteeism. Sure spreading illness at the worksite will sink productivity, but do employers really stress the need for workers to stay home -- and do they make it feasible for them to do that. Are they given extra time/resources to complete assignments, do they lose standing for doing so. Add in the fact that if an employer facilitates an unhealthy environment -- in an epidemic does not actively and aggressively discourage presenteeism -- has the liability quotient risen dramatically?