Everyone has seen the warning, either on the news directly or from their employer, to stay home if any flu symptoms arise. As the numbers of confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus increase, it is hard to ignore the possibility that at some point everyone may be affected.

The Swine Flu pandemic is being compared to the Spanish Flu of the early 20th century. The CDC Estimates that over one third of the world became infected with the Spanish Flu between 1918 and 1920. In 2008, World Bank projected that a flu pandemic of that level could take $3.1 trillion out of the economy. Could your company handle over 40% of your employees taking sick leave?

Ask yourself one key question:
Can my employees work remotely from home?
If your company already has secure remote access in place, principal analyst for Gartner Inc., Richard DeLotto, recommends having half of your staff work from home for one day. This will allow you to Become familiar with the provisions of working under emergency conditions. You determine which Business practices are and are not able to continue if you had to temporarily shut down your facilities. Secondly, you can establish what cross-training employees may need in order to facilitate a remote work
environment.

If not, consider your options. Look into setting up employees with a secure remote connection. Not only can remote work save you in times when employee absences are unavoidable, but there are general benefits as well. Employees with remote access available to them tend to spend more time working than those who only have access to their computer system during regular business hours. If an employee is sick, they can remote into their workstation and finish tasks from home. For any parents you have on staff, there will come a time when they need to stay home with their sick child, having access to a secure remote connection will allow them to care for their family needs and still be a productive member of the company. In cases of major illness like the Swine Flu, if many of your employees are unable to come into work, a secure remote connection will help them and you keep your business up and running.

The benefits to secure remote access are limitless and broaden the horizons for you and your employees as far as when you can work, and how much you can get done. Remote access can allow you to do business no matter what adversity your company faces.

All federally regulated businesses have business continuity plans and emergency preparedness education in place. Do not allow your business to be taken off guard by an emergency situation. We must all be prepared, and in being prepared we have the security of knowing our business will survive.

Call Top Speed today if you’d like to look into options for implementing secure work-from-home remote connections for your employees.  775-852-4333

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