Employers Brace for Swine-Flu Outbreaks
Cross training, hand sanitizers become priorities
ByBETSY MCKAY AndDANA MATTIOLI
Swine flu has made Friday afternoons a lot busier for some employees of Hormel Foods Corp. As they wind down the week, staffers in the food maker's logistics, transportation and customer-service department take time to learn one another's jobs.
The cross-training is meant to ensure that Hormel, based in Austin, Minn., can keep operating if many employees specializing in one task contract the flu simultaneously, says company spokeswoman Julie Craven.
Hormel's Friday-afternoon training is an example of how corporations around the world are girding themselves for swine-flu outbreaks. The illness, also known as H1N1 flu, has infected millions of people and killed at least 5,700 world-wide.
Worried they could face throngs of ill and absent employees, companies are devising plans to keep their offices and factories running. They also hope to prevent or limit the spread of infection in the workplace by installing hand-sanitizer dispensers and thermal scanners, ordering workers to wipe down their desks and phones, and asking employees who don't feel well to stay home.
So far, outbreaks appear to be more common in schools than workplaces. But the number of cases is rising, and deliveries of a new vaccine against the virus are slower than officials had hoped.
Eighty-one percent of attendees polled at a September conference by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota said their greatest concern about H1N1 flu was employee absenteeism.
Only a third of 1,057 businesses across the U.S. surveyed by the Harvard School of Public Health in July and August said they could avoid operational problems over a two-week period if half of their work force was out because of H1N1.
To pre-empt high absenteeism, many companies are trying to get workers vaccinated, particularly those who travel internationally, says Myles Druckman, vice president of medical services for the Americas for International SOS Assistance Inc., a medical- and security-assistance company based in Trevose, Pa.
Many employers hold vaccination clinics for seasonal flu, but obtaining H1N1 vaccine is difficult because governments are controlling supplies and steering them to those considered at highest risk, he said.
Another challenge: persuading sick employees to stay home. Many hourly workers have limited sick time, after which they aren't paid, says Nina Stillman, a partner with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP who has advised clients regarding H1N1. Higher-ups consider themselves essential, she adds.
"What do you do with the senior executive or senior partner who says, 'No, I'm going to tough it out?' " Ms. Stillman asks. "Employers are going to have to realize they're going to need to enforce their positions. If you're not feeling well, go home."
Texas Instruments Inc. has relaxed its sick-leave policy to encourage employees with flu-like symptoms to stay home, including hourly employees who aren't paid if they don't work. The Dallas semiconductor maker normally limits the number of sick days hourly workers can take without losing pay. This winter, TI is letting workers take as many sick days as they need for flu by borrowing against future allowances, says Lisa Luna, manager of occupational health.
Some companies are stocking antiviral drugs to treat flu-ridden employees. Clinics run by Continental Airlines Inc. at hub airports in Houston, Cleveland and Newark, N.J., dispense Tamiflu and Relenza to employees who test positive for flu, says Julie King, a spokeswoman for the airline.
Monsanto Co., a St. Louis agricultural-products firm, has an emergency supply of at least 300 doses of Tamiflu in the event of a shortage, says Emer OBroin, vice president of environmental safety, health and human rights.
The company started securing the drug in April through its doctors amid concerns about tight supplies if the flu spread widely.
Monsanto is working with local health-care providers to obtain the vaccine for high-risk employees, including pregnant women and those with asthma or respiratory problems, once it is available, Ms. OBroin says.
Abbott Laboratories, a health-care company with 72,000 employees, in September began distributing H1N1 travel kits to employees traveling on business as well as to salespeople, who often visit hospitals or doctors where H1N1 patients may be treated. The kits include tissues, antibacterial soap, disposable thermometers, respirators and other items. Abbott spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch says the Abbott Park, Ill., company encourages employees with flu symptoms to stay home. Hourly workers would follow the normal sick-day policy, he adds.
To keep people from getting sick on the job, Convergys Corp. has asked agents at its 82 call centers globally to wipe down their desks, headsets and phones with sanitizing wipes at the end of their shifts, says Carol Fox, senior director for risk management and business-continuity planning.
The Cincinnati company says it initially thought that absenteeism could be as high as 20%, but so far "we aren't seeing that at all," Ms. Fox says. |
