Even though the severity of the current flu pandemic is not as everyone had feared, I am still hearing of increasing cases of the illness, and they are getting closer to home. Having spoken to people within business circles it is also starting to affect offices, and I heard of one man who was asked to stay at home because his wife had contracted the H1N1 virus. He was healthy and able to work, but was restricted from coming into the office.
These cases I think will become more and more common, particularly in the winter months. So how can organisations minimise their decrease in productivity? In a white paper I published recently on our GemaTech website titled ‘The adoption of flexible working is the key to your business surviving the current swine flu pandemic’, I stated that even the Health and Safety Executive as well as the Department of Health have issued advice to employers which include considering home-working and tele-conferencing to reduce face-to-face contact.
When mass absenteesim starts affecting customer service and the key systems and processes which an organisation relies upon, enabling people to work from home will go a long way to protecting brand and organisational reputation.
Author: Karen Jones
Tags: business, Department Of Health, flexible, flexible working, h1n1, pandemic, swine flu
