NEW YORK–The coronavirus outbreak is exactly why companies and credit unions need pandemic policies, according to one person.
“Deciding whether or not to stay home in the face of a national health emergency shouldn’t be up to someone whose job is at risk,” wrote Kanadi Silcox in a posting on Money.com. “Which is why pandemic policies, or guidelines for how employers will proceed in the face of potentially catastrophic outbreaks of disease, should be a priority for corporate America.”
Silcox noted it’s easy to find templates for such policies with a simple search for “company pandemic response plan.” That will bring up myriad templates, and a few legitimate policies, but how many companies actually make use of them is anybody’s guess, added Silcox.
John Ho, chair of the OSHA practice at the New York law firm Cozen O’Connor, told Silcox that of those policies that do exist most aren’t terribly complicated.
“They’re typically a response plan that lays out the foundation of what a company should consider, depending on the particular situation,” Ho was quoted as saying, adding typically it means having base plan that’s adaptable on the fly, led by a committee of staff members in charge of overseeing responses to outbreaks.
Who to Include
“In a big company, you want to include an HR representative, someone from operations, someone from IT, and representatives from any other essential departments,” Ho explained. “In small businesses it could just be an office manager.”
Ho told Silcox in the case of coronavirus, employers could decide to adopt flexible scheduling policies on the fly — so people can work from home, and not have to choose between exposing themselves to a potentially deadly virus and losing out on rent money.
“Having a plan for protecting company resources and figuring out how to return to business as usual takes careful consideration,” Ho said. “It minimizes detrimental impact.”