10 tips for your pandemic plan

The current situation has shown – increased cases of illness, epidemics or pandemics can also affect our companies. In addition to national pandemic plans, every company should give thought to how to deal with these situations. A company pandemic plan can in any case prevent damage or take preventive measures.

The following areas can be affected by a pandemic, among others:

• Staff: Failure of employees and employees, unclear situation for new admissions, recruiting
• Buildings & Infrastructure: Hygiene and safety measure, production possible?
• Suppliers & Partners: Missing raw or basic materials, missing delivery or removal,
• Finances: Loss of sales, liquidity problems,
• IT & communication technology: Virtual work, missing IT equipment for home office, software packages, …

1. Define responsible persons (crisis team, crisis manager, representatives, …)
2. Create information and communication channels (online, offline)
3. Create a BCM plan (continuity management, restart) for your most important processes
4. Define your key personnel
5. Create emergency jobs / virtual workplaces at least for your key personnel
6. Stock up on protective equipment, cleaning agents and disinfectants
7. Build up a network (experts, authorities, partner companies, …) that you might need in the event of a pandemic
8. Think about a management concept for virtual teams (motivation, communication, …)
9. Expand your crisis communication concept with the “Pandemic” scenario
10. Plan a continuous improvement process (regular updates of documents, simulation games, exercises, internal / external audit, …)