A recent study showed the threat that most preoccupies the world's business leaders is a global influenza pandemic. This is why you need to start asking these questions now so your business can be prepared for a possible bird flu pandemic. A bird flu pandemic will not discriminate. Everyone from the janitor to the CEO would be affected. Worst-case scenario could leave millions sick and any where from 5 million to 1.5 billion people dead around the world.
The World Bank, which has estimated that a bird flu pandemic lasting a year, could cost the global economy up to $800 billion. The economic toll on the world economy will be catastrophic. There would be major economic losses due to worker absences and interruptions in supply and delivery chains. Even a ìmildî pandemic would have lasting effects on your business. Because a global flu pandemic is such a threat, current business and disaster response plans may not be adequate to deal with it. What steps should you start to take now to prepare?
As with any worst-case scenario you should be aware of the risks and have a contingency plan in place before you need it. By planning now you will help keep your business running, your employees safe and head off possible legal issues. Some of the steps you may want to consider are:
Establish a pandemic coordinator or team with responsibilities for preparedness and response planning. Provide current avian influenza information to all employees. Identify and make available information on community resources.
Identify key essential areas and current employees responsible. Cross-train other employees in those areas so they are able to fill in for sick employees. Have written documentation for those employees filling in for others.
Identify key suppliers and alternative sources for critical materials and supplies. Increase raw material inventories to keep production going for several months. Plan for ìjust in timeî inventory shortages. Products and inventory from Asian countries may not be available if Asian factories are shut down due to illness.
Play "what if?" What if Joe in accounting was out sick for a month? Or Sam in IT died? Who could fill in, how would the business run? It is estimated that between 30-60% of the workforce will be out sick.
Maintain a healthy work environment. Encourage hand washing, offer hand sanitizers, consider quality air purifiers. Limit face-to-face contact with employees and customers. Limit large group meetings, shared workstations and public events. Limit or eliminate non-essential business travel. Make use of conference calls and video conferencing.
Review employment policies to see if you can require employees to stay home if they are sick. Establish new sick time policies. Check employee agreement clauses for business closure plans, hours of work and position changes. Establish policies and procedures for sending staff home, staff leaving work on their own, unauthorized absences and returning to work. Plan to offer additional sick time pay or wage and salary advances to staff unable to work. Plan for family member illness, community quarantines, school/business and public transportation closures.
Offer telecommuting options to as many employees as possible. Offer flextime and other creative job options.
Back up essential files off site, provide access to a network of key employees.
Establish a communication plan for employees and business contacts. Include key contacts and tracking for employee status. Employees will be hungry for up to date information about their business, jobs and co-workers. Good communication with your employees is essential to avoid rumors, panic and misinformation.
To encourage employees to stock up on food and supplies for an extended home stay, purchase supplies for them in bulk to take advantage of discounts, offer the savings to employees. Or offer them a SAMís Club or Costco membership at no charge.
Taking these steps today will help your business be prepared for a possible bird flu pandemic, survive for the duration and return to business as normal faster than those who are not prepared.
Preparing For Flu Pandemic
If you have been paying attention to the news lately you may of heard of the threat of bird flu and a world pandemic. What would this mean and how would it affect your financial holdings. The World Bank, which has estimated that a bird flu pandemic lasting a year could, cost the global economy up to $800 billion dollars. The economic toll on the world economy will be catastrophic. That is a forecast no investor wants to hear. Even a ?mild? pandemic could wreck havoc with your investments.
During a flu pandemic millions of people would be unable to work due to illness and taking care of sick family members. Schools and businesses would be closed, transportation reduced or halted. Ill truck drivers, rail and warehouse workers would bring interstate commerce to a grinding halt. How many air traffic controllers could be out sick before flights were cancelled? International travel would all but be eliminated. Businesses hardest hit would include retail, trade, education, travel and tourism, public entertainment and anywhere large groups of people would gather such as sporting events and concerts. Import and exports markets would be devastated.
With millions out of work and unable to pay their bills including rent and mortgage payments, financial institutions facing mounting defaults would have no choice but to suspend debt owed until the pandemic was over. Other financial institutions would face similar threats of collapse until business returned to normal. But, how long would that take? Thousands of businesses may never be able to recover resulting in the loss of millions of jobs. Large and small businesses alike may loose key employees who would be difficult to replace. Moving forward businesses would face labor shortages due to the millions who died, making a return to full productivity difficult.
The global economy could take years to recover. Individual business recovery could be painfully slow. Government spending to aid recovery would go through the roof, yet they would be receiving less in tax revenue from businesses that closed and individuals out of work. The stock value of the largest businesses could collapse devaluing millions of investor's portfolios. Investors may dump their stock holdings in favor of cash and hard assets like gold and silver. Housing prices could plunge as millions of homeowners go into default. Financial panic could wreck the markets in short order.
Many essential items could be in short supply due to loss of production capacity. Gas and oil deliveries could take months to return to normal production. Consumer spending would be down further delaying economic recovery.
Global instability would be the rule rather than the exception. 3rd world countries devastated by the pandemic could face new internal struggles for power as whole armies could be wiped out by the flu. International trade relations we once had may no longer be there.
A world pandemic would set the dominos in motion. One event would trigger another; one financial collapse would bring on the next one. The results would be nothing short of catastrophic.
As an investor your first course of action is to stay informed. A bird flu pandemic may not happen for years, but health experts say it will happen, it is just a matter of time. But then there is always natural disasters and terrorism to worry about. The more you know about a possible bird flu pandemic the better position you will be in to adjust your portfolio accordingly when the time comes if not sooner.
Diverting a portion of your assets into stocking up on essential food and supplies may be a prudent move, since a pandemic may keep you housebound for months at a time. No well-diversified portfolio will help you out when the grocery stores are closed and you are waiting in line for a government hand out.
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