Businesses Urged to Prep For Likely H1N1 Outbreak

As the H1N1 virus spreads, businesses are encouraged to develop contingency plans in order to protect employees and maintain operations.

Dr. Brad Johnson, vice president of physician services and an emergency medicine physician at Mercy Medical Center in Rogers, said one of the key ways to prevent the spread of the virus in the workplace is for employees to get vaccinated, not only to protect themselves and their families, but the people they are interacting with on a daily basis.

Johnson said employees should get vaccinated for the traditional flu in addition to H1N1 as the vaccine becomes available.

Other ways to prevent the spread of the virus, he said, include the usual customary things such as hand washing and cough etiquette.

“Probably the biggest challenge people face is ‘Do I come to work sick?'” he said. “We’re a bunch of overachievers and we don’t like to miss work, but if you come into work ill, you risk spreading the virus to the rest of the team and that’s not doing the organization any benefit.”

Johnson said he encourages businesses to have contingency plans that allow employees to do some work from home if necessary.

The typical downtime for those that contract the virus is five to 10 days.

One of the obstacles facing workers is the fear of missing work, particularly if they don’t have paid sick days. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 39 percent of private-sector workers do not receive paid sick leave.

The University of Arkansas, which employs about 4,475 people, updated its sick leave policy in September to reflect the anticipated increase of H1N1 cases.

According to the University’s policy, employees with flu-type illnesses, or employees caring for immediate family members with flu-type illnesses, will use accrued sick leave. If they exhaust accumulated sick leave, they will use annual leave. If both annual and sick leave are exhausted, they will be allowed to accrue negative leave balances.

The University of Arkansas had 532 reported cases of H1N1 from Aug. 10 to Oct. 31.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the country’s largest employer, was recently criticized by the National Labor Committee for its sick leave policy, which includes giving demerits to workers when they miss work due to illness.

In response, the company issued a clarification of its policy, stating that no one will be fired for contracting the illness or caring for a family member with the illness. 

Johnson said H1N1 has affected several people in Northwest Arkansas.

Emergency room volume at Mercy in October was up 25 percent over the same month last year and most of that is directly related to H1N1 or flu-like viruses.

Despite the number of cases that have already been reported, Johnson said the majority of businesses are not prepared.

“This came up on us quickly,” he said. “Most organizations haven’t thought about what they will do if one in four members of their workforce is incapacitated.”

This is a good opportunity for businesses to develop contingency plans if they don’t already have one, Johnson said.

“There will be other illnesses, or things that might affect the workforce in the future,” he said.