Working in a flu pandemic
Friday April 06 2007
According to the report, it would be prudent to assume 40pc absenteeism over the worst two weeks of each of three waves of infection. The potential effect on the economy and on society is frightening.
The US Congressional Budget Office believe that a flu pandemic would make 75m to 90m people sick in the United States, with as many as two million deaths. The Trust for America's Health estimates that the US could suffer a 5.5pc decline in gross domestic product, its second worst recession since World War II.
The US Government recognises the role that eWorking (working from home) can play in this scenario.
By allowing its employees to continue working while effectively quarantined, it would give federal and state agencies some chance of continuing to function.
Worryingly, while our government's Business Continuity report recommends that enterprise sector bosses prepare policies on flexible working locations, their National Pandemic Influenza plan makes no mention of it.
Inquiries suggest that such policies are at the discretion of individual government departments and, in many cases, of individual managers.
As the largest employer in Ireland, the government should be setting an example.
I believe that the best way to do this would be to publicly discuss how they themselves are implementing the recommendations. This will inevitably lead to the identification of issues (such as the effect of this extra traffic on broadband services) but we could all learn from the process. RANALD MILNE, EWORK SOLUTIONS, DRUMCONDRA
