This appears on my company’s website. To be honest, and I’ve been here over 3 years, not one word has been spoken or written by anybody in the company about it, and then passed directly on to employees. We have over 35,000 people working for this company. I’ve asked my manager, and she said it was all listed “somewhere on an internal web page.” This is one of the things I found:
Has your organization communicated to its employee base (regionally and/or globally) your preparations for a pandemic outbreak? Yes.
Everything they say on it simply refers a reader to the WHO, CDC and Pandemic.gov websites. I’m in the process now of trying to locate somebody in the company who might be handling preps for corporate continuance so I can have a word with them. However, the search is slow and tedious….
Have any others out there in Wikiland had any similar experiences? I’m not really referring to talking to your doctor or working in a medical environment, but large corporate environments in general…
Mine has - I think it’s pretty thorough and predictably even-keel about it… They’ve formed a cross company natural work group to address issues and are working with our BCP department to make sure there’s some plan in place to keep us working if said event occurs.
Nothing on my company’s website and nobody is really talking about it at all. Only one other person I know here has ever discussed it with me but he’s quite tuned-in to current events and looking beyond what is spoon fed to the general public.
What I do know is that I’ve become HYPER aware of people around me coughing and sneezing. Most of them failing to cover their mouths/noses. Also, I’ve seen a few people walk out of the toilets without ever washing their hands. Many people in my company travel to international destinations and when a bug does go around the office it tends to take out chunks of departments at a time.
I’m not online at home but plan being so ASAP. I don’t need to be in my office everyday as I do most of my work (research) online and everyone here has a Blackberry.
BroncoBill
It looks the same with my company (DC area). The only thing on our website are references to the CDC, WHO, Pandemic.gov and a copy of Pres. Bush speech. We also have a worldwide staff of 35K plus people.
There is nothing specific from the company itself.
It would be nice to know if they are doing any planning at all dealing with how they will handle excessive sick / vacation time, are they going to supply any type of hand wash gel for the office, or any masks, glasses, etc. Will they allow flex time, help with telecommuniting, etc.
There is really nothing from the company to its employees as of yet but I’m hopeful that something will be forthcoming.
My questions about this to the higher-ups in my place continue to be met with blank stares and “Huh?”, “What?”, and ‘Duh…” all around.
If BF goes H2H, I am SO out of here…
We’re only a small company, a little over 200 employees or so.
I brought the bird flu up to both the US CEO and the International CEO (he’s located in the UK) a couple of months ago and gave them a list of issues to think about.
Also I know that one of our external advisors has talked with the US ceo about the flu, but as far as I know nothing else has come of it corporate wise at this point.
Both of the CEOs are my direct bosses, so I’m pretty sure that I’d know if things were percolating yet.
in MN – at 13:00
“What I do know is that I’ve become HYPER aware of people around me coughing and sneezing”
Same here----I now hear EVERY cough and sneeze. I’ve had the “regular flu” twice in the last year, even after getting my little flu shot that the company paid for. Hadn’t had it since 1968, when I was a kid. Over 800 people just in my office alone, most of them young parents bringing their kids’ bugs home from the “flu factory” schools! I now carry a box of antiseptic wipes with me everywhere I go here…I touch a lot of different keyboards, and some of these people are sick 24/7/365!!
Nothing is said to folks here about staying home if they’re sick….the bottom line, don’tcha know?
I do know that if you feel remotely ill our company is pretty leniant about letting you stay or go home. Most of us have the capability to work from home.
We do have some offices in Asia so I’m curious if (almost sure that) things have been discussed in the management dept. but just not addressed to the rest of us.
I sent an email off to our Human Resources and she forwarded on to our “safety” committee chairperson last week.. Haven’t heard a word back :-) Probably the topic of the coffee breakroom “what a goofball” discussion. I am at a small college, same issues as K-12 schools, just that our students go home to all parts of the country for their breaks… (which we are on right now) and then a lot of off-campus & overseas trips (~25–30% of students) during our May Term.
I tried to look up if my company has posted anything on our asian websites, but nothing came up on the public access sites.
We around 118,000 employees throughout the world. We have offices in China, Vietnam, Indonesian countries, Turkey, etc.
Many of our employees do a lot of world travel. I work in around about 2500 people on a daily basis and many of them travel regularly.
The only snippits I found about Bird Flu was our links to the government’s travel update sites that say that Bird Flu is in an area, and one other 1/2-way-decent link that was created by one of our United Kindom offices that talks about pandemic flu in general. It doesn’t mention any of the company’s specific plans for how it will handle sick time, work from home, etc. The paper was printed in November 2005.
I work for the largest company in the world and they haven’t replied to my e-mails and nothing is said. I know they are taking it seriously- they take everything seriously…but they’re not letting us humble folk in on the plan. I just dumped all my stock.
My daughter works for one of the largest health insurers and the company CEO is a doctor. They have been given no plan and no information. She said they will be expected to come to work sick or not. The company if very strict about time off.
Sivad – at 13:58 --- Sounds like your daughter works for the same company I do!!! My company is based in Connecticut…
My management wouldn’t mind us to work from home (I’m in software development). We have a remote access set up, and can start working from home as soon as we feel appropriate. But this might get problematic if the pandemic takes more than a few months, because we can’t generate any revenue if sales personnel can’t go out there and sell
I sent an email earlier today to my division’s safety department and actually got a suprising response. Apparently the Corporate Medical Department is actively working on a company contingency plan right now regarding bird flu. I am going to see if anything is posted on our intranet…
Bronco Bill, She is in Minnesota, but the company is a nationwide organization. It could be they have a plan, but have not informed the staff. Duh, how useful would that be.
My sister works for Baxter- their education for their employees? An email that said to buy masks and the flu has a 50% death rate.
lovelyyyy….
I work for a large university health system on Philadelphia- nada here as well. I send out emails on the subject almost weekly to my peers, haven’t gotten in trouble yet. Also, haven’t gotten any questions/feedback from my peers.
I have $17,000 worth of paid time off. I didn’t realize that until I looked at my last pay-stub. Most of it is in sick-time accumulated during the years. There’s no way I’m going to report when a pandemic is raging.
I can’t work from home, so I guess I’m outta there.
Trying slowly to inform my own workplace, which has sizable links to media etc. the only approach I’ve found effective is to focus on the economic impact the panic would cause due to media spin. Then leave a few related links to relevant articles and let them educate themselves…its slow but its proving effective.
I have a friend who works at USPS headquarters in DC. When he asked someone in emergency management about what’s being done he got a blank stare. Then the reply was, “We have biofilters in the big processing plants that will pick it up.” Yeah right. So that tells you how much they’re preparing, the guy in emergency management doesn’t have a clue what it is.
With regard to time off, I have never found the mega companies that I worked for to have any understanding built into tis treatment for absences. This is due to the fact that uncovered absences post as overhead charges, which subtract directly from the bottom line. Hence, I anticipate that until someone in a very high positionwakes up to the true potential of what a pandemic can do to them, it will be business as usual. I will assume the policy will continue to be:
We’ve upped managements leave allowances, now Up Yours.
Eccles – at 17:12 --- I’m thinking YOU work at the same place I do!!!
What really blows me away about my company’s preparedness is that it one of the largest HEALTH CARE INSURANCE companies in the nation. Don’tcha think they’d be a little more concerned with at least keeping their employees healthy?
When I quizzed my manager on it, all she could say was, “Well, we’ll be supplying all IT personnel with a box of gloves.”
Oh boy!! Just what I’ve always wanted on my desk!!! It’ll prob’ly show up as my Christmas Bonus!!
I work from home but my sig/other works at a big HMO. They haven’t mentioned B/F. I have the distinct feeling that this is going to be off most people’s radar until TSHTF Big Time. I have never seen so much denial about something in my life. People will prepare for natural disasters and terrorist attacks, but this particular issue is drawing a lot of resistance. Of course it might not happen. But even a 10% chance of something this big happening should turn most people’s heads. But nothing.
In a word NO. Company employees about 30,000 folks across US. I’ve spoken informally to some co-workers and immediate management on a personal level and sense they are aware of the problem. One of those persons is prepping. It will be interesting to see at what point it becomes an issue at the corporate level. I suspect fairly late in the game.
I hate to be Anon on this one but my screen name is too closely related to my own.
I work for a very large multinational company that sells industrial and medical gases. You may very well see our logo on the Liquid Oxygen tank that supplies your local hospital.
When I asked about a pandemic plan, I was told that a pandemic “would be something for governments and the WHO to deal with.” There is no plan in place to ensure that we could keep our plants in operation or our drivers on the road during something a major as this flu pandemic could be.
I assume that means that LOx deliveries will be as unavailable as the ventilators that need them.
My company is a S&P 500 company with operations in about 50 countries. I had an opportunity to query the HR manager this morning during a break in a meeting. He indicated that we had contingency plans for our international operations (less than 50% of our business) because a few of our large customers (major oil companies) required it. He had no clue what those plans involved. As he is a big wheel and I’m a little cog, I made my preparedness pitch a ‘soft sale’…like mentioning goverment projections of 30% absenteeism due to illness and another 10% staying home to be care givers. I just hope that I piqued his interest.
…”very large multinational company that sells industrial and medical gases”… missed the repeated memos and speeches that state “Expect No Help, You Are On Your Own: Federal and State Cannot Help, As All Areas Will Be In Crisis Themselves”
I recently tried to contact my very-part-time employer, and have not heard back. Think it is about time to be giving notice.
Have you looked at this yet, O, benighted bosses?
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/biz-plan/index.html
crfullmoon – at 19:46 — This is great! I didn’t know what CIDRAP was ‘til now. Thank you…
Pass it on! ;-)
(Please see this Wiki page, too!)
http://www.fluwikie.com/index.php?n=Consequences.WorkplaceContinuity
Yes. Pretty basic stuff. Don’t come into work. No two employees allowed to meet outside work. Etc. This is why mobility and work from home programs are so important. Any company who has failed to set this up is being foolish.
One of the things I’ve been wondering about here at my work is this: Company policy for people to work at home is that they MUST have been continually employed by the company for a minimum of 3 years, AND have a near perfect attendance record. I’m wondering if the company policy will change in light of the possibility of pandemic….
After a week of no response, I sent off another email to our “safety” supervisor on our campus. Here’s his response.
On April 3, A.Z., our health nurse, will attend a meeting in Somewhere, Iowa to discuss that very subject. Several Iowa private schools are sending their health services directors. A.Z. will bring back information and present to our Vice President, L. X. At this time, the safety committee doesn’t have any action ongoing. Depending on what A.Z. brings back or what the President’s Cabinet directs will determine the committee’s focus.
So any guesses on how long before we actually (if the VP decides that its necessary) have a plan in place??
Email them the pages now about what they need to do and how long and how bad pandemic and supply disruptions may be?
(Everyone keeps acting like this is not something that is likely to occur, and as if pandemic happens it won’t affect them! They 100% personally WILL be affected! They can’t seem to look at a website or two, and start prepping and being proactive and brainstorm with other community “stakeholders”, but await spoonfed orders and tidy plans that won’t work by the first day they are needed.)
This is not “work” related but I must throw it in loop.
I read into the depths of the flupandemic.gov site and found a line that stated that public schools might have to use some “snow days”…. Snow days……..
Has anyone really dipped into this site and read all the details of who would be doing what?
I think a big problem is that executives and upper managers are trained to only believe something that is in their hands and signed by a higher-up. They are not trained on how to cull information from the Internet, and don’t really believe anything that their reports tell them unless it relates directly to work.
That’s not to say they won’t check it out….just that the mindset is not there to really do any searching for information. That’s what they have employees for. Unfortunately, it’s this information that SHOULD be in their hands first, then passed down to committees for followup.
I think that in most cases, an underling could maybe bring up the BF issue quietly with his/her manager first, then if there is no seeming interest, go the the next higher up. Just be sure that the company allows “jumping” if a manager doesn’t respond to questions. Eventually, a person with information to share will either come across someone in the company who cares, or will be pointed to the right people who do.
Bridge Lifter – at 17:00 — “public schools might have to use some “snow days”
I’d like to see them pass that one off in SoCal or Florida!!!!
We only get 3 or 4 built into the calendar a year and have used 2 already.
They just call it that; they mean schools would be closed and kids would have to stay home and not be left home alone; kept quarantined by their parent(s) for weeks, or months, but they don’t seem to tell the public everything all at once…
BB: “think a big problem is that executives and upper managers are trained to only believe something that is in their hands and signed by a higher-up. … and don’t really believe anything that their reports tell them unless it relates directly to work”…
(I am doing such a great job of not pounding my head on the wall. Hasn’t happened yet. Arg!)
crfullmoon---- :-) Don’t pound your head on the wall…you may only succeed in denting the wall, as I’ve done here at my workplace!
crfullmoon – at 13:54 --- “They just call it that”. I know…in CT, the kids had snow days. But in CA and FL, most of the kids have no concept of what a snow day is. Usually, here, they call it Teacher’s Work Day, just so the schools can stay on an even keel with the North and Northeast days off.
My company via the intranet communicated some measures in case of a pandemic. They would invite employees to work from home since we are a very large IT company with 30 000 employes around the world.
I have a secureID card that allow me to have the full environment via WTS to continue my work.
MacWanted – at 14:15 — We use CiscoVPN requiring MS machine certificates, as well as dual firewalls. No need for satellite cards anymore. Full access to the entire network, but only from a company-issued computer.
I work for local government. My particular agency will not even respond to my e-mails. My two mayors have not responded. (I think one said - “Thanks”) The utility company sent a short e-mail saying they already had all kinds of emergency plans.
I have quit. They won’t listen (like my neighbors, family and friends) until it is upon them. My repeated e-mails only annoy them.
Worried---I believe it was Melanie in another thread who stated “The squeaky wheel gets the grease” (an old ‘merican proverb!). Be an annoyance. Keep emailing them. Eventually, they’ll have to respond.
This is the site we refer our clients to:
Blah. I work in a biomed research bldg. I asked someone in the safety office - in a sort of off-hand, gee what’s going on here way, trying not to come off like a lunatic - what our plans were and she was like “I’ve heard nothing about plans. Why do you ask?”
So I emailed her some choice links. CDC, and another federal site. One stating how awful they expect it to be and the other outlining how businesses should prepare. She brought it up in their meeting and the head of the department replied “Well I’m the safety officer, this sort of information should come to me.” And that she’d heard nothing about this “officially” yet.
But she’s a bit obsessive (no offense intended to any of our OCD readers), so I’m hoping that I’ve planted a seed. Grow, little seed! Blossom into plans!
And I stand firm on my plan of bugging out if it hits. You think I’m coming to work during that? Ha. Fire me, sucker.
I work for a university within the Texas State University System that oversees 9 institutions and has an enrollment of 70,000. Not a word has been mentioned about avian influenza from the System Office even though we have campuses that span from one side of Texas to the other.
The Texas A & M System just this week 3/8/06 listed info on it’s website about avian influenza.
I worked for a progressive pharma company. I emailed the CEO (he invites questions) and asked why their pandemic info page on the internal company web site did not recommend stockpiling food, water, and medicine, as recommended by the U.S. government web site. His response was that he answered that question already in an online column. He didn’t. He simply referred an earlier letter writer to the same corporate web page.
I don’t know why corporations, local neighborhood groups, city, state, and federal governments aren’t doing enough to advise people to prepare for a pandemic. If a pandemic strikes, we’re all doomed.
The major problem with corporations and governments at all levels (including all their pandemic plans) is that they are not giving SPECIFIC instructions to individuals and families about what to do NOW. If they have any plans at all, it explains what THEY will do (e.g. “We will have a plan…”), and they describe it in high level terms. It’s meaningless to the average citizen. Much more is needed.
The pandemic may never hit. But it seems that all intelligent people of the world recognize that there certainly is a chance that it will. There will be no vaccine. There is no cure. If is strikes in the next eight or so years, there will not be enough vaccine for everyone. That leaves prepping, and it takes time and money to prepare. But that message is not getting through to enough people.
The experts are telling us a pandemic will last for months and will most likely come in two waves. Yet people are told to prep for three days or six weeks. They should try to prep for six months. Three days is laughable. Six weeks is a start.
Everyone reading this needs to go to their HR department and ask what will be done from the EMPLOYEES standpoint. What will be done for THEM? What do they expect the EMPLOYEES to do? How will they work? If they don’t work, will they be paid?
The first step is education. Most people have seen only news headlines, and that’s not enough. FluWiki is a great resource, of course. This site is good, too, if I do say so myself: http://www.birdfluprep.com - includes slide presentations re overview, prepping tips on a low budget, and a 10-question bird flu quiz about common misconceptions.
Let me add to my comment @ 15:27 that we had 4 campuses impacted (damaged) by hurricane Rita so you’d think that some kind of forward thinking regarding future catastrophic events would have been learned here. I guess we need some kind of bird flu “radar” to get the system’s attention.
BroncoBill wrote:
>Worried---I believe it was Melanie in another thread who stated “The squeaky wheel gets the grease” (an old ‘merican proverb!). Be an annoyance. Keep emailing them. Eventually, they’ll have to respond
The Japanese have a similar saying. Except that theirs is “The nail that sticks up gets hammered”.
There comes a point at which you look at the towering wall of stupidity you have to climb to get people to do intelligent things, and you think to yourself, “It’s not worth it. You’re on your own, suckers.” Sometimes the only way people will learn is if they slam head first into a problem and it inflicts so much pain they have to pay attention.
The focus of your attention, in such cases, should be making sure their pain doesn’t become your pain, too…
FW—so true. I usually give them 3 chances to respond, one way or the other. If people I’m talking to basically tell me “Stop. I don’t want to hear about it.”, then I just drop it. But if I’m not getting any kind of response whatsoever, I just keep at it. If, after 3 tries, there’s still no response, then yeah---“It’s not worth it. You’re on your own, suckers.”
“The nail that sticks up gets hammered”. Oh yeah! That’s been my experience in a LOT of things! LOL
Anonymous,
The national association of university risk managers has put together a white paper about bird flu and it will be a major focus during their annual meeting in May. (I’m not associated with it in any way, except that I work at a university.)
BroncoBill - I gotta tells ya. I was trained to be a “Change Agent” operating at the highest levels within a major Fortune XX corporation, answering directly to the tier immediately below the CEO. This included interactions directly with the CEO. the marchng orders were to help introduce change that would improve operations and functions, EVEN IF IT CAUSED MAJOR CULTURAL DISPLACEMENYS and goring of individual oxes. This was well understood and blessed by the CEO himself.
Well, once we got to rolling with a fairly minor task, the very first thing that happened was the CEO himself intervened, over-ruled our recommendations and then instituted his own “changes” which looked a whole lot like more of the same.
Good luck getting anyone at the corporate level to take note of, and do something about any stimulus before people are lying on the floors of the Corporate Office Building. (Outlying plants won’t count. They’ll just appoint a committee to investigate whether it would be prudent to hire a consultant to examine the propriety of sending the plant nurse to investigate).
Eccles - fess up, you really are the guy that writes the “Dilbert” cartoon, right?
Nope, Not even close. Although I always thought he had me and my work place bugged.
Eccles. Wow. I was trained to be a “Change Agent,” too! (I don’t run into too many!)
I believe “Pandemic Change Agents” are sorely needed in corporations and the government, at all levels. I’ve tried to do what I could do on my own by developing http://www.birdfluprep.com.
I wish there was more I could do. This week (3/2006), I’m sending a press release with a dozen story ideas that I think journalists should be doing as they cover the pandemic issue. I can only cross my fingers and hope for the best.
I am technically self-employed, but I work through a small agency that contracts with attorneys and we work in the legal system. I asked the head of the agency the other day if she had heard anything from the court administrator’s office as to plans in the event of pandemic, and the answer was no. A large part of what we do could be done by conference call; one stumbling block will be that in this state notaries must have a witness physically present in front of the notary in order to place them under oath. In order to change that, the state would have to allow otherwise.
Birdfluprep - What I found in my attempts to actually agent a change is that corporations do not like change. After doing what they ask of you to effect change, they just get mad and don’t change anyhow.
It’s kind of like the lightbulb being replaced by the team of psychologists, first they have to make sure it really wants to change.
birdfluprep – at 12:57
Great site—useful and informative. Keep up the good work!
The only mention on my company’s intranet site is that they’re monitoring the situation. There’s a blurb about washing your hands and thoroughly cooking eggs and chicken, and it says to stay home if you’re sick. In other words, they’re probably not doing much at all, but at least they’re telling people to stay home. And I work for a pretty big company (sorry, but I don’t want to say which one it is here in case someone from work finds my post).
National banks are taking it very seriously - issuing warnings, etc.
I know of a MAJOR pharmaceutical company (not Roche) that has ordered hundreds of thousands of doses of Tamiflu and the same in masks for their employees. NONE of the employees know about it. Interesting that they are keeping it top secret from their employees. Only a handful know about the “stash”.
After several inquiries I got a “cookie cutter” response, and a subtle hint that this was not something for me to be concerned about.
Hillbilly Bill – at 14:55 --- That’s pretty much what I got. “We have plans. We have contingencies. Don’t worry about anything.”
Basically, my own company is telling me that I’m on my own. “Well, boss, sorry, but there’s a pandemic. I’ll be back in when it’s over…”
BB - Don’t ya just love that response? I plan on getting “sick” once I hear of H2H. By the time I would have to either present a doctors release, or come back to work, they will be shutting the doors here.
There is practical information on pandemic prep for organizations at www.missiontech.org. They are focusing on a process model rather than a check list. Scroll down the home page and check out the presentation on bus. prep on the resource page.
Imagine for an instant.. there is some sort of chip in allmost everything we own today, cars, houses, cell phones, gps, military machines and any and every aspect our life has to offer. Intel has stated the need to prepare but has done nothing to raise awareness in their own employees. This is a copy of the email I recieved. Yet knowone seems to be responding. My own company is just hoping for the best. I have talked with contacts in China ect.. there is no preperations going on anywhere. If this does happen our way of life will be greatly disrupted. More than people know. Things break, it is just what happens. However without parts they stay that way!!! I am very disapointed!! I hope we wake up in time.
Intel’s Avian Flu /Pandemic Preparedness Plan - Supplier Communications
The world is facing a growing threat of a pandemic from H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu). Along with governments and health organizations, companies need to prepare to respond to a potential pandemic. Intel urges our suppliers to develop a plan of action to respond to the threat of a global pandemic. A sound business continuity plan and preparedness plan is prudent management, and helps to minimize disruption to our supply chain. It also helps protect the health of our employees, their families and the communities in which we live and work.
The purpose of this letter is to communicate basic information on Intel’s pandemic preparedness, and to begin discussions between Intel and its suppliers regarding their business continuity plans pertaining to the threat of pandemic\Avian Flu.
What is Avian Flu?
Avian Flu is a virus similar to SARS, with the potential to spread more quickly and is much more lethal. Both (SARS & Avian) are viruses that start in animals and genetically mutate and become contagious to humans. Avian flu is now contagious among animals & “animal-to-human.” Avian flu has not mutated (yet) to become easily contagious “human –to-human.” Avian flu will be as contagious as any other flu if it mutates to become infectious human-to-human.
Intel has developed a set of guiding principles for response to Pandemics (i.e. Avian Flu)
Intel will incorporate specific response actions based upon the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “6 phases of a pandemic.” As of January 2006, we’re in Phase 3. Insert link here.
What does Intel expect Suppliers to do to Mitigate Risk?
Intel expects our critical suppliers to have robust Business Continuity plans in place. Develop and embed your pandemic response plan for the potential threat into your business continuity planning early in 2006. Review your planned response, assumptions and key concerns of a pandemic event with your Commodity Managers while we’re still in the early phases. Do not wait. As of January 2006, we’re in Phase 3.
Educate your employees on personal hygiene practices e.g. hand washing, covering your cough, stay home when sick, etc Encourage your employees to stay away from live markets and consumption of undercooked eggs and meat Ensure that your key employees meet containment requirements and follow hygiene protocols when visiting Intel sites Ensure that your planned response addresses key communication and plan activation points required to manage the phases of a pandemic
Resources* on Avian Flu Preparedness:
World Health Organization
Avian Flu and Pandemic Preparedness
Please join us in our efforts to prepare for this potential threat. Thank you for your support.
i work in a financial instituition and nothing is being done by the company i work for. i have brought in info to get them started. but asside of looking like im panicing. just a few have listen to me and are stocking up or prepping as you so call it. I think the news needs to reach out more the public. cause i hate to see whats its going to be like on the last minute prepping.
When I first heard about the Avian Flu I decided to do a little research. I started with my own family. I still had a few relatives that had survived the 1918 flu pandemic.
Have you ever wondered about why there was so little about the flu in the history books, when there were just as many flu deaths in 1918/1919 as there were war casualties?
In talking to relatives and other older people they introduced me to I discovered there was a psycologigal block to the Pandemic Flu.
Are you aware that thousands of children who became orphaned by the flu were literally just given away at train stations to farmers that needed laborers?
Are you aware that the reason farmers needed laborers was the large companies lost sop many workers to the flu that they actively recruited from the farm communities?
Are you aware that just as many people may have died of starvation as from the flu.
People were so afraid to visit their neighbors that many small helpless children died because there was no one there to provide food and water.
Remember the county mental hospitals from when we were children. Most are gone now, but why did they exist? These homes/hospitals were needed to treat all those traumatized from having most of their family die from the flu, of having layed next to a dead relative because no one came to remove the body.
Yes my friends, to prepare for the future you should first look at the past.
Lastly,
We are less prepared to survive a new pandemic than we were the first. In 1918/1919 most people lwere separated by miles. This separation helped slow the spread in the rural areas. People also had several days of food stockpiled.
Except for junk food, how much food do you have stored?
My friends in the city have only one or two days food in their appartment. They go out to eat. What if going out to eat is not an option.
In the early 1900′s stores received weekly shipments and supplied food to a small number of local customers. Now stores receive daily shipments and a day or two delay can mean shortages of some crucial items.
If the trucking industry grinds to a stop because of the flu, where is your next meal coming from.
If you do stockpile food, can you defend it?
Look at the looting in New Orleans. Could the same thing happen where you live. But instead of people stealing Nike shoes and big screen TVs they may be after your food.
None of my city friends could defend themselves against an infestation of ants let alone an agry group of half starved rioters.
What a dumb question was asked at the beginning of this page. What is your company doing to prepare for the flu? The first question you should ask is what have I done to protect myself and my family?
Booner – at 17:33 --- What a dumb question was asked at the beginning of this page.
Thank you for that insight into my opening question. I invite you to look around the FluWiki Forums and comment more on what you find here.
Booner, as you noted in your little dissertation above, large companies lost sop many workers to the flu that they actively recruited from the farm communities?, corporations actively recruited outside workers.
My question is and was directed to those of us that may HAVE to continue working in an office somewhere. What has YOUR company done to prepare? is simply meant to get people to ask at work if anything has been done to protect workers. It would appear that you may be one of the fortunate few who either does not need his/her job, is retired with a nice nest egg, or has a company that has made preparations for you to stay at home and telecommute. I do not have that luxury at this time. I work for a living.
Now, as for your question, what have I done to protect myself and my family?, my answer is everything I can think of, and lots more. Most of my information I culled from right here on FluWiki, with the help of about a hundred or so of my Wiki friends.
So you state that I asked a dumb question? Sir, I ask you: what have you done to help your community, or are you only prepping for your family, and everyone else be damned? You’ve stated a lot of facts in your dissertation, most of which all of us already knew about.
If you do stockpile food, can you defend it? Yes. Unequivocally, yes.
I work for a large county in AZ. My dept. is clerical. There is no plan. Period. I have had a talk with the boss. nothing. The health dept. here has one little blip telling you to go to the CDC website. If TSHTF I will stay home. I was looking for a job when I got this one.
The company my husband works for has made no mention of flu plans, and there is nothing on their web site. Weird, considering they gave him an RX for Tamiflu for a trip to Canada mid May.
My company doesn’t like to talk about bird flu. I mentioned it to some of the employees. Only two are interested in being updated and have prepped. I went directly to my boss and she said everyone got the flu shot so we will be fine. I politely explained to her that bird flu is a different flu. Only thing i have seen been purchased and has not yet been installed is Hand Sanitizer stations . They want us to squirt our hands when we touch the door knobs etc. Well they better wake up and plan on getting masks and stuff. Cause you know what I won’t go to work. I don’t care I rather be poor than dead.
Just a note: I was not working there at the time but I hear they did prep for y2k.
I work for a large county hospital. I have not heard about any preparations. We service over 100,000 people. As Microbiologists we attended a teleconference on Pandemic preparedness in Novenber 2005. That got me thinking about the possiblility and I starting reading up on it and eventually found fluwiki. Even my fellow Microbiologists aren’t worried about it. My husband works at a Pharmacy and he tried to order extra supplies of the sort being recommended for stockpiling and he is being rideculed and told not to mention any Pandemic!
I work for a healthcare company that has 9 l0ong term care facilities and a home care division. Nothing absolutly nothing. Asked the head of the home care division about the companys plans - silence
I’m wondering and like to hope this is what my company is doing. I can not imagine them not being prepared. Maybe all those boxs being delivered to our company that no one knows whats in them are preps. And they don’t want to advertise them so we wont have people taking them home. Maybe when the shtf they will say well we are prepared. A lot of our stuff does get locked up in a supply room .
My daughter is a nurse in an emergency room in our area. Not a word said. My husband’s company is world wide. They have plans.
I work for a large doctor’s group. I have emailed our CEO twice, offering to help with planning and educating. I encouraged him to send a rep to our county’s table top dicussion…I have heard nothing back. I have sent him literature…I have heard nothing back. I talked to my manager…she has heard of no planning.
My husband’s company is a large national insurance company…..NOTHING on their website & hubby says they haven’t said a thing!
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 21:22 --- I also work for the same type of company. Nothin’ said except “refer to the CDC website”.
crikey!
G’morning! BroncoBill: Nothin’ said except “refer to the CDC website”
At least you have THAT much to go on….I searched for “CDC” and for “flu” thinking they might at least have something referring to sick days in general or company policy, or reference a past illness that might have affected employees — like they have about bad weather days, but NOTHING.
My husband works for the biggest US company in the world. He is running one of their businesses (400 empl.) in Europe. All the info he got he got through me and I got my info from this site! The company seems to have ‘a plan’, why does he not know about, we wonder? He has been asking for info more than once. Next week the ‘Mothership’ is sending a safety manager who will probably also deal with Pandemic planning. Keep you posted.
My hubby works for state through county Mental health office and there has been no mention whatsoever.Hubby is an IT manager and says he can do 90 % of his work from home and if there is a hands on fix to do he says he will go in the middle of the night with full ppe.I have alot more concern when I think about the fact that this agency is paid by the state to serve mentally ill and mentally handicapped people.They house some of them.Many of them have meds they need to survive.Many count on the counseling they recieve to make it through the week/day.I cant understand why they aren’t planning for them.Maybe they secretly are,I hope.
Our VP for supplier contacts got a request by a large Mfg. co wanting to know what our plan was for bird flu. I asked him what it was and he said it was all media hype and he would make up something to respond with. I was tempted to get into a discussion with him but he was adamant that is was not true, at the same time saying pigeons could give you bird flu. I did give him the latest thinking on pigeons not transmitting the flu, at neast not yet.
He said we couild operate at 40% absence, but not 60%. No research on his part, just off the cuff comments.
He is clueless.
They have much to learn.
For this post I am anonymous. I work for the Red Cross. The Red Cross has planning going on to prep for bird flu as well as lots of other major disasters, and recently announced a “work-from-home” policy that can be implemented by choice or “in the event of a disruption in the DC area.” There is some awareness of the potential of the bird flu both at the worker bee level and in senior management, but overall, they get about a “C”. Could be worse, could be a lot better.
For this post I am anonymous. I work for the Red Cross. The Red Cross has planning going on to prep for bird flu as well as lots of other major disasters, and recently announced a “work-from-home” policy that can be implemented by choice or “in the event of a disruption in the DC area.” There is some awareness of the potential of the bird flu both at the worker bee level and in senior management, but overall, they get about a “C”. Could be worse, could be a lot better.
I work for a branch of the BIGGEST entity in America (not Walmart <smile>) and we have the same thing going on: our web page refers us to the CDC or WHO. The exception to some of what others are posting is a small write up that goes into great detail about how this is a bird problem right now. There is still no mention of ‘what we would do if’.
My husband works for a smallish, not Fortune 500 healthcare related company, and they are prepared. Orders for N95 masks for employees and extras for families. Drugs on hand. Work from home plans for everyone who possible could. I will say this; Mgt. have not told the employees any specifics of what plans they have made, except that the work from home capability falls under business continuity in general.
I can’t use my regular posting name because as many others it is too close to real name. I am in the extremely woeful position of being the last contractor in my department of one of the largest IT firms on the planet, and a charter member of the “Lou Dobbs Outsourcing America” list. The group I work with handles Health Care and Benefits for some of the largest companies in the US, many with extremely important ties to government and civil infrastructure. In the past year we have “outsourced” hundreds of positions to countries such as India, Tiawan, and Indonesia, resulting in downsizing permanent employees right out of the building. The company website had a posting after Bush’s last BF speech about reviewing Business Continuity Plans, but it was quickly replaced with more news about reorganization and more outsouce opportunities to make us/them more profitable. Last year, contractors were not even offered the flu shots regular employees got. I worked through miserable colds, maybe the flu, and only missed 3 days when I was hospitalized after what seemed to have been a mild heart-attack - because our department has been cut back to a level that if just one of us is out the whole operation doesn’t have enough reserve to keep up the workload without burning out the rest of the staff. Only 4 of us even know how to perform the operations we do, which are intergal to getting any work done for our clients and getting paid for it. Well, sorry guys, but if any of the “clusters” indicated a full fledged outbreak, I have not been offered the chance to work from home, which I could do. If we had 50% motality, we would likely loose 2 of 4, and that would NOT be me if I can help it. I already live in a death-trap 50 year-old high-rise apartment near a city that held parades in the 1918 pandemic - with 2 small children that people think are my grand kids. I’ll be grabbing what I can and bugging out down south where I have family, a network of life-long friends, and confidence in the people not to go into a higher level of urban warfare than already exists here(yes, I’m talking about Philly and Camden - almost as many AK-47′s in use as in Iraq). I’m not waiting for any official word, I’m not telling anyone, I’m just running before the quarentines go up and the rest of this place goes insane because with 500 people in each building, it’s going to stink bad even if we survive. I hope I can be of some use back home in the south, where my skills may be useful in emergancy management and coordination. But here, being a contractor makes me something under the stuff the bottom-feeders leave behind when it comes to expecting an employer to take action to protect us. Once the pandemic is done, a lot of those overseas resources will be gone, and they are going to need a lot of people that may not be around any more, because there are going to be so many health claims and death claims the systems are going to fold like beer cans at the bottom of the ocean. The survivors may have one plus … no more crdit scores because no on will be able to pay their bills from not getting paid for months, and bankrupt companies will be unable to pay their obligations. Starting with a clean slate may not be such a bad idea, there should be plenty of housing opening up, and needs for almost any profession to fill the vacant spots left from the deceased. Just sucks that it will take so many young, bright, strong treasures because the upper management tried to “manage” this crisis under an air of “business as usual” instead of being open from the start. I wonder how many big multi-nationals will hope to hide out their executive levels in “bunkers”, only to find that they have no empires to rule once the pandemic has done its job. And I have reached the hardest decision of all - if my family is struck down I want to have the “final option” available like the novel and movie “On the Beach” to prevent suffering the death this new “Captin Tripps” (the super flu from Stephen King’s “The Stand”) would put us through. After all, contractors are just viewed as disposable assets, so who will notice anyway. This whole thing is bringing me down pretty badly.
Anon To Stay Employed, I think we all feel a little depressed and overwhelmed at times thinking about this. I know that I have on many occasions.
It’s not a very good feeling to have your safety callously disregarded. So many people and companies (and goverments) just are not doing enough to prepare. I wish it were otherwise.
The truth is we just don’t know how bad it will be when a pandemic does arrive. It could change the world a great deal or it could be relatively mild. It’s good that you have a plan of action and that you are able to be with your family when the time comes to isolate, being here on the wiki together gives me hope that we will somehow know in time to be a little ahead of the game.
In the meantime we’ve got to try to be as positive as we can about the things that we CAN do something about. Spend time with your friends and family if you can, stock up what your budget allows and enjoy the good things in life. There are alot of them, and even if the worst happens someday there still will be.
Anon To Stay Employed, I have considered the “final option” as well. When I asked my oldest child in law school out of state, to consider returning home if the H2H announcement is made. She responded with, “If its going to be as bad as some say, why WOULD I want to live. I’ll just stay here and take my own life if necessary.” I hadn’t considered that option before. Now however, I think if my younger kids are dying I might.
On the subject of employment. I harped at my husband for forever to start talking about BF. A few weeks ago he did and they had already assigned someone to develope work-from-home stragedys. He still is a naysayer however, so getting him to stay home will be another battle.
Anon to stay employed:
I read this entire thread but yours got to me. Forget running, just quit that place. As soon as you do the idea of a final sol will vanish. That place must be depressing.
Leo7: he has young kids. Hard to just quit when folk depend on you
i spoke to my mgr about it and didnt even get a reply on the email? hmmmmmm obviously not thinking about it too much ,,,,
I’m curious…for people who plan on going out ‘sick’ from their places of work, when H2H happens, have any of you thought of saying as you leave “Gee I think I might have flu”? <grin>
When I was last working (temping in the paper-pushing side of a pharmaceutical plant, job ended about 2 months after Katrina hit), no mention was made of company emergency planning other than terrorism / fire at the plant and for that you had to read some dorky manual chapter on your own, whenever you got around to it. Sigh.
I put a bug in the ear of the plant’s nurse / health & safety officer about BF and inclement weather planning though…I hope he did something about both.
BTW the plant manager took Internet access away from the rank & file factory workers because a client complained on a site visit — apparently the client company’s representatives were MAD AS HELL that workers had a LOCAL WEATHER MONITORING website up while the line was running.
Not a porn site, not racist sputtering, not even a terrorism how-to site, but weather?!?! I didn’t realize how offensive climate fluctuations could be to those who write corporate checks to other corporations.
Oh did I mention, the employees were worried about local weather turning ugly (severe thunderstorms with possible tornados were looming)? So they had the site up so that when their shift ended, they would know when to venture out safely for home.
I am soooo glad I am not working there anymore — even with masks, gloves, backup generators etc on hand there (they have masks & gloves because another division of the company makes them), with a BF pandemic they would be soooo doomed.
Today may be a good day. I just got an email from our company’s executive secretary that she has been assigned to gather information for putting out to our employees and wants to meet with me (I am simply an employee). I had earlier emailed our CEO twice with a “gentle sell” approach on bird flu. I told her I will do research this weekend and we can meet next week. I don’t know where this will lead to, but it is much better than no response.
Good luck!
Part of my job is to prepare my little part of the company for just such an event. I have started the stockage to get us to 6 months with out resupply and Have as carefully as possible briefed all members of the staff on the subject. They know what we are doing locally, and what they should be doing personally. However nationally the company is not really putting out a lot of usable information, and as far as I have been able to determine we are all required to be at work every day, sick or not. If I push this any further I run the risk of being fired, so I will keep up the gently press on the local people and at least we will be able to stay up and running as long as possible.
Let me give you another perspective. I AM the CEO of one of those medium sized companies a lot of the complaints in this thread have been directed at. I have already directed that each of our business locations establish a committee specifically to address the consequences and implications of a possible pandemic, in line with local, state, and federal guidelines. Namely, I have agreed to finance and implement, within reason, any suggestions submitted by those committees concerning the welfare of our employees and the continuity of our business.
And the results so far? None of our locations has been able to generate enough employee interest to create even a semblance of a working committee, much less move forward with discussion and proposals. That horse is dead.
In the meantime I have a business to run and a board to answer to, and I have already begun taking steps to protect the first, and satisfy the second—unfortunately without any employee input. Though disappointing, this doesn’t really surprise me greatly—but it does underline for me the importance of personal preparation, and it should remind all of us how minimal our concerns here on FluWiki are to the general populace.
I have adult children that work for the largest grocery chain in the U.S. May 9th, the day the bird flu movie was to show in the pm. the Company website had info on pandemic flu. It seems they were most worried about employees handling the raw eggs, and the meat dept. handling the already wrapped chicken packages. (you know how those chicken packages sometimes drip the juices thru the wrapper onto your hands when you grab them.)
My son is too busy to read the website so does not know much more.
my husband works for tyco intl and they mentioned it in the company magazine.
Old thread - Closed to increase Forum speed.