Participate in Avalution's Pandemic Preparedness Assessment

Organizations are actively rethinking how best to prepare for a public health event with mass absenteeism implications. 2009 presented vastly different assumptions, which caused a number of significant strategy changes / shifts in many organizations.  Avalution Consulting’s flexible approach to pandemic preparedness centers on four key activities:

1.       Develop requirements and assumptions specific to your organization
A pandemic – severe or mild – will result in varying impacts to different organizations. Some might be see demand for products and services spike, whereas others could experience a significant slowdown. Some organizations are “thin” in terms of staffing with minimal cross-training, whereas others have inherent flexibility. Avalution works with organizations to develop planning assumptions and identify unique requirements that may be present during a public health event.  Some of the questions we explore with our clients include:

·         What does a pandemic mean to the organization?

·         What may be impacted, for how long and to what extent?

·         What are the assumptions unique to your organization, both domestically and for any locations overseas?

·         What are the critical elements of the business, particularly those heavily dependent on people and those that are potential single points of failure impacting critical value streams?

·         What are the most critical products and services for your most critical customers?  Can you meet their expectations?

·         Are organizational activities executed in a way that would contribute to significant impact in the event of a pandemic?

·         Who are the organization’s stakeholders – both internally and externally?

2.       Identify appropriate risk treatment strategies
It’s not all about writing a plan – it’s really about developing realistic, actionable strategies that can slow the spread of the disease in the workplace, minimize fear, increase stakeholder confidence and meet stakeholder expectations.  With these objectives in mind, Avalution’s professionals work with our clients to address the following issues and connect pandemic preparedness efforts to business continuity and operational risk management efforts. 

·         Does your organization have human resources policies that contribute to pandemic preparedness, addressing key issues that could impact business continuity risk management?  Alternatively, are there gaps or content that could “get in the way” of effective, timely decision-making?

·         How should your organization handle decision-making, and further, is there a succession plan in place?  Is it clear who is authorized to take the lead on internal and external communications, and are you prepared to address customer and employee inquires?

·         Is your organization’s executive management team clear regarding their roles and responsibilities, and are they aware of the organization’s pandemic preparedness strategies?

·         What and where are the critical staffing needs?  Are there single points of failure, and if so, are these professionals more vulnerable to personal issues than others?

·         Does your organization have the resources necessary to meet its obligations, which may include resources ranging from personal protective equipment to product / service-related raw materials?

·         Is a process in place to track employees that travel both domestically and internationally?

·         Is a process in place to monitor global health alerts (and critically analyze the information presented) based on the location of your international interests, specifically suppliers, outsourcers, and customers?

·         Are there technology limitations that will impact the organization’s ability to enable some employees to work from home?

·         How are critical products sourced, both domestically and from overseas locations? Also, how are they shipped? Are there supply chain single points of failure?

·         Can joint crisis management/recovery plans be developed or expanded with key suppliers?

3.       Prioritize the implementation risk treatment strategies based on organizational need
Organizations can take specific actions and implement advanced planning measures to limit the impact of a pandemic event based on its risk tolerance and exposure. Possible risk mitigation actions include:

·         Activating an inventory allocation decision-making process – determining how to allocate product to customers assuming limited supplies and limited warehouse staffing.

·         Enhancing the employee assistance program and considering expanding the employee assistance program to address the employees’ family’s needs.

·         Implementing contingency plans in the event of a supply chain disruption.

·         Reviewing customer contracts for ‘force-majeure’ clauses as a method to manage legal risk.

·         Establishing customer assistance policies and processes.

·         Creating an emergency work at home or flexible work policy – and considering how management will modify the payroll and time off policies if a pandemic event occurs.

Developing response strategies is important, but knowing what strategies to implement and when to do so is critical to reduce the spread of the illness at work. Although each risk mitigation strategy is unique, and organizations are approaching this issue differently, some commonly considered concepts include:

·         Implementing healthy workplace actions and awareness campaigns.

·         Changing the culture of the business with actions such as closing conference rooms and the cafeteria, as well as other places where employees congregate.

·         Moving people to less-concentrated areas.

·         Adding safety stock for critical product.

Prepare for recovery in the event of high absenteeism by:

·         Identifying alternate staffing resources and cross-training existing staff; document alternate staffing options in business continuity plans.

·         Documenting performance expectations and alternate methods of performance in the event management cannot staff key roles.

·         Identifying possible out-sourcing options.

·         Increasing work-from-home capabilities.

4.       Implement solutions and develop awareness programs
Once pandemic preparedness strategy options are identified and prioritized, the organization should prepare to immediately implement these strategies or (realistically) defer them based on a public health trigger. 

A key component of this is the Crisis Management Team, responsible for managing the ongoing response to a crisis, including a pandemic influenza.  In addition to crisis management, a crisis communications plan is important to establish defined communications to stakeholders. Elements of an organization’s crisis communications program should include:

·         Defining emergency notification processes

·         Creating channels to coordinate and communicate with public authorities and media

·         Identifying communications teams located at each domestic and international location

·         Defining and developing targeted stakeholder communications processes and content

·         Considering the activation of a cross-functional customer response center

Beyond developing and documenting strategies and plans, exercising these new threat-specific plans is important, as is rolling out awareness activities.  Fear will be the variable most likely to impact your organization, and awareness and communication will be the key risk mitigation techniques.