Swine Flu: Many Companies Preparing on Global Scale for A(H1N1) Flu Pandemic
May 2009
Many global companies have activated a pandemic response plan to the threat of an A(H1N1) pandemic, according to a new survey.
The survey of 121 The Conference Board members across 44 cross-industry networking peer groups found that more than half (55 percent) have a pandemic response plan and have activated it in response to the current A(H1N1) outbreak.
In addition, 66 percent of companies are responding at a global, enterprise level, rather than locally. Thirty-one percent of survey participants are responding at a national level, only in affected countries where their company is currently operating.
Although most companies are having discussions with all levels of government, one-third of those surveyed have not engaged with government at all.
Almost all companies are taking special steps to communicate more frequently and in more detail about a possible flu pandemic with employees, and 87 percent are using media such as Web sites and blogs to accomplish this.
Eighty-one percent of those surveyed have actively encouraged employees who do not feel well to stay home. Most (93 percent) of survey participants will allow employees to work off-site during a pandemic health emergency.
Half of respondents report that their companies are restricting business travel, particularly to Mexico. However, half of respondents have not put restrictions into their travel policies.
