Benefits June 10, 2009

Employers Still Unprepared for Swine Flu

June 10, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Approximately two in five employers (41%) do not have a human resources policy in place for health-related emergencies, although many acknowledge they have employees in areas where cases of the H1N1 virus (swine flu) have been confirmed, according to a new Mercer snapshot survey.
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More than half (53%) of the employers surveyed were considering whether to create back-up and contingency plans in response to the outbreak, Mercer said in a news release. Others said they planned to restrict or cancel business travel(43%) or allow employees to work at home (41%).

Other stepsemployers are taking, according to the press release:

  • include voluntary quarantine for employees exposed to risk (27%),
  • enforced quarantine on employees judged at risk (24%),
  • canceling meetings/conferences (21%),
  • screening staff/visitors returning from travel (20%),
  • requiring medical check-ups (12%),
  • and reviewing health or insurance plans (10%).

One-fourth (24%) indicated theyare taking no special actions.

Mercer’s survey includesresponses frommore than 400 mid-size and large organizations in the U.S., Australia/New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, the U.K., Hong Kong, Brazil, Vietnam, Switzerland,China, Argentina, South Korea, Singapore, the Russian Federation, the Philippines and Belgium.

More information is at www.mercer.com/H1N1 .

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