SINGAPORE: Only one in four companies in Singapore is prepared to deal with a H1N1 flu pandemic, according to a survey of more than 350 companies carried out by the Singapore Business Federation.
While schools have made it compulsory for all staff and students to take a 7-day leave of absence if they return from H1N1-infected countries, a check with businesses showed that this added precautionary measure may not be a practical move for most.
Here's the problem: smaller companies simply do not have the resources or manpower to implement a business continuity plan, let alone extra measures like what the Education Ministry has instituted.
Even with the leave of absence, students and those working in schools need not necessarily have to be cooped up at home for seven days. They can still go about with their daily activities. The idea is to mitigate the spread of the virus in an area - in this case the schools - where people congregate for a long period of time.
But while students are asked to stay away from schools for a week, the same cannot be said for their parents. That is because companies follow the Health Ministry's guidelines.
Right now, the advice is for people coming back from infected countries to monitor their health for seven days upon return. They will be quarantined only if they exhibit flu-like symptoms.
The Civil Service, too, takes its lead from the Health Ministry's travel advisory. Channel NewsAsia understands that the public sector will re-calibrate its human resource policy when Singapore fully moves into the mitigation stage of managing H1N1.
Most companies Channel NewsAsia spoke to have not made a leave of absence compulsory for staff coming back from infected countries, even if they feel well.
Chan Chong Beng, chairman of Goodrich Global, said: "I really don't think that the SMEs (small and medium enterprises) can afford to implement this self quarantine; we just don't have the resources to do it.
"It is very different from the schools; the schools can close for seven days, can close for 14 days, there's another indirect cost but there's no impact on the cost as compared to SMEs."
He said a lot of SMEs think "it could never happen to me". Mr Chan is also the vice-president for communications at the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME).
But being unprepared is even costlier. Teng Theng Dar, CEO of Singapore Business Federation, said: "You'll suffer complete disruption of operations when the situation turns bad and your supply chain is affected, your business affected and in the worst case scenario, in the very extreme case, then there'll be total shutdown of operations."
Mr Chan of Goodrich Global knows the impact only too well, having witnessed the Hong Kong experience when the first H1N1 case in the territory was discovered.
Goodrich Global, which employs some 170 people, has in place a comprehensive business continuity plan covering everything - from making available healthcare equipment to visitor management to making provisions for a holding area in case a suspected case surfaces within the company's premises.
For companies which want to take that extra precaution, the Singapore Business Federation has this advice - consider alternative working arrangements from home and perhaps even bearing half of the leave of absence so that employees do not deplete their personal leave.
For example, employees just take 3-and-a-half days off their leave entitlement for a 7-day self-imposed quarantine period.
"The situation whereby an individual cannot work from home, in the case of Singapore, to me, is non-existent because there are many alternative communication devices to keep things going," said Mr Teng.
He added: "I think the challenge will be the manufacturing sector where you need people on the ground to man the machines and you need qualified persons."
In this case, measures such as splitting staff into different teams would be prudent to ensure uninterrupted operations.
Mr Teng said: "There are different sectors, different requirements, it's difficult to give a one-size-fits-all answer. But I think the message is very clear - we have to work as one and have a good understanding and operate on the basis which is supportive and compassionate."
To engage more companies, the Singapore Business Federation is holding another Business Continuity Seminar on Thursday. It has already organised 10 focus group discussions and three mass sessions, reaching out to some 3,500 participants.
