Government officials and healthcare leaders may be planning for a global pandemic, but most Canadian businesses are unprepared for even a bad flu season.

Human toll aside, the cost of a pandemic could be staggering-the World Bank has warned that the impact on economies could top $950 billion. But if our 2003 SARS taught us anything, it's that fear, lack of information and poor planning can be as debilitating for business as the sickness itself. Fortunately, these threats are more easily battled.

If you think planning for pandemic is only for the hospitals and the disaster response agencies, think again. Your business, like every business, will be affected by rampant absenteeism, a disruption in the supply chain and a sudden decrease (or increase, depending on your product) in demand.

One senior manager was recently overheard to say: "We have a plan. We'll just keep coming in and churning it out until we're all dead." Bad plan, if long-term survival is the goal.

Where to start? 

It's critical to start now to build a comprehensive plan for business continuity, and communicate that plan well. But where do Canadian companies begin to prepare for a calamity doctors warn is inevitable?

First, outline what business functions are absolutely essential, and what you can put on ice until after the crisis. Be realistic in setting priorities. Then determine the minimum amount of resources needed to perform those essential tasks, and how you will communicate what services are disrupted.

One mistake is to presume that a flu which affects half the population will impact your staff evenly. In fact, a much higher percentage could be affected, or an entire department fall ill. Cross train employees as much as possible. Make sure everyone documents the vital information another would need to step into their role-from passwords to contacts to project details. 

Tough decisions

Tough decisions will have to be made: maybe you can afford to simply close up shop and stay home for a month-but will you continue to pay employees, or lay them off for the duration? Both entail paperwork that will have to be done. Now decide how and when will you communicate this decision to staff?

What about your policy on family illness? Will it be flexible in the face of a pandemic? Would you prefer those with sick family members stay home, both to look after loved ones and to avoid bringing the virus to work? Here's a simple strategy that may mitigate absenteeism: if you plan to offer all staff flu shots, extend this to include their families.

In the workplace, develop as many strategies as possible to prevent the spread of illness. Signs reminding people to wash their hands are vital; stocking hand sanitizer and making it accessible to employees and customers is also a good idea. But these simple remedies aren't nearly enough. If possible, at the news of any viral outbreak, segment your workforce to minimize contact between different teams of co-workers, either by having people work at different times or by physical separation. Think of fire doors like computer firewalls: good for keeping viruses out.

If a portion of your workforce can telecommute from home or an off-site location, this can be a solution to preventing the spread of infection among staff, but you'll need to put the technology in place now.

Information Flow

Now think about information flow. Anyone who works in disaster response knows that the most crucial-and most often overlooked-element is internal communication. Secrets, uncertainty and false expectations can be crippling. Employees will need to get clear, complete and rapid information throughout the crisis-but remember, this is no time for large, face-to-face staff meetings. Put other mechanisms in place for disseminating information.

But the most important information happens long before a crisis erupts. Ensure all employees (and other stakeholders) understand their obligations, and know preparedness is a part of their job. Keep in mind that the leadership could be the first to drop, so have a clear succession strategy, and make sure everyone in the operation is familiar with and can access the complete disaster plan.

Keep in mind your communication may have to overcome the culture of your workplace. It does no good to tell employees to keep flu germs at home if everyone believes they are expected to drag themselves to work until they're dead.

Finally, plan to be flexible. In a crisis, there are always variables for which no one  prepared.

Steve Armstrong is the principal of The PARATUS Group. He has played a lead role in the responses to disasters such as SARS and the South Asian tsunami, and has advised governments on planning and exercising for terrorism attacks and pandemic.