ASHA Staffing Continuity Plan

Consideration of Appropriate Response Strategies During a Sustained Period of Absenteeism like a Pandemic

The Facilitating Team will serve as the decision making group if there is an event that has the potential to affect our staffing levels significantly.

According to the CDC, the following are key indicators that should be considered when making decisions about an appropriate response to a pandemic:

Disease severity (i.e., hospitalization and death rates) in the community where ASH A is located; Extent of disease (number of people who are sick) in the community; Amount of worker absenteeism at ASHA; Impact of disease on workforce populations that are vulnerable and at higher risk (e.g., pregnant

women, employees with certain chronic medical conditions that put them at increased risk for complications of influenza); and

Other factors that may affect employees’ ability to get to work, such as school dismissals or closures due to high levels of illness in children.

The following are sources for this information:

National - www.flu.gov

State

Maryland http://www.dhmh.maryland.gov/swineflu/Virginia www.vdh.state.va.us/PandemicFlu/index.htmDC http://doh.dc.gov/doh/cwp/view,a,1370,q,604320.asp

Local - Montgomery County http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgtmpl.asp?url=/content/exec/swine_flu/index.asp

Communication

ASHA has established an emergency communications plan as part of our Disaster Recovery Plan. This plan includes identification of key contacts (with backups), chain of communications (including suppliers and customers), and processes for tracking and communicating business and employee status.

For purposes of maintaining staff continuity, unrelated to a disaster covered under the disaster recovery plan, the Facilitating Team (FT) will act as the disaster response team, using the following guidelines as appropriate, based on the totality of the circumstances :

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1) The Executive Director is responsible for convening all CSOs for the purpose of maintaining staffing continuity. The Executive Director will contact the President and/or the Board of Directors as appropriate.

2) The CSO for Communications, in coordination with the Executive Director and Incident Response Manager (to be determined per incident), will determine if any press releases are appropriate.

3) The CSO for Communications, in coordination with the Executive Director, other CSOs as needed, and the Director of Human Resources, will determine any communications to be made to employees or membership. This will include management of associated organizations that are co-located in ASHA facilities, Nancy Minghetti, the ASHF Executive Director, and NSSLHA – Dawn Dickerson.

4) The CSO for Communications is responsible for ensuring that communications over the various means (voice messages, website, etc) are consistent and appropriate. Sound public relations guidelines and professional judgment will be used to tailor the message to differing constituents, if necessary.

Absenteeism

The Facilities Director will monitor the number of staff that have badged into the building each day at 11:00 a.m. Based on the history of ASHA’s normal seasonal absenteeism rates, abnormal levels of absenteeism will trigger the need to review the situation in greater detail. If the number falls below our established trigger, the Facilities Director will notify the CSO for Operations, the Human Resources Director, and the Executive Director. The Executive Director will decide if the situation warrants review by the whole Facilitating Team.

Cluster Leaders should assess their essential business functions now, and on an ongoing basis, to determine at what threshold of absenteeism those functions would be threatened. Cluster Leaders can then prepare to take more aggressive measures to protect continuity should absenteeism escalate towards those thresholds.

These proposed scenarios are far from perfect, in that they do not distinguish between absences due to influenza versus other reasons, be they health-related or work-related (e.g. out-of-office meetings). They can, however, provide an early warning of a developing situation to be investigated more extensively.

Scenario 1: The data from two consecutive work days indicate a drop of 15-20 staff physically present compared to the rolling average attendance from the previous two weeks. The data should be examined further to see if there is an obvious pattern among the absent staff, e.g., same floor of building, participation in the same after-work fitness class, attendance at the same out-of-office meeting.

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Scenario 2: The data from two consecutive work days indicate a drop of more than 20 staff. Cluster leaders/coaches will be contacted to get a sense of whether absent staff in their groups are related to an influenza-like illness or some other health, annual leave, or job-related reason.

Staff members are expected to notify ASHA of any unanticipated absences as described in the Employee Handbook. Policies for using sick and annual leave and taking family and medical leave are also documented in the employee handbook. During flu season, staff is encouraged to report absenteeism as a result of flu like symptoms. In extraordinary circumstances, the Human Resources Director may waive the requirement for staff to submit the Department of Labor form entitled Certification of Health Care Provider.

Core Services

The Facilitating Team identified and prioritized the core services we provide. This document is posted on the Facilitating Team Public site. If our level of staffing is compromised, we will engage the staff that are present in providing the core services in order of priority.

Cluster Leaders have been asked to review this list of core services. If they are responsible for the provision of a core service, they are expected to have thought through ways in which we can maintain at least a minimum level of service with available staff. Cluster Leaders are encouraged to consider the following:

Are staff within the team adequately trained as backups to one another? Are there staff outside a team that could serve as backups (e.g., staff that used to work in that

unit or staff with similar skills?) Is there documentation to assist replacement workers to learn the key components of that role

quickly? Is there work that can be performed remotely? Is key information stored in easily accessible shared locations that can be accessed onsite and

remotely?

Working Remotely

All staff are expected to familiarize themselves with our flexible work arrangements. In the event that staff are unable to come into the office, our flexplace policy and working remotely tip sheet may be particularly relevant.

Instructions are being developed for using the phone system remotely and they will be posted for staff.

Minimizing the Spread of Illness

Staff will be informed of government recommendations regarding the spread of the flu or other illness and referred to reliable sources for additional information. Staff will also be reminded to stay at home if

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they are ill and to notify their coach immediately if they become ill at work and to go home promptly. Staff will also be reminded not to bring their children to work if they are sick.

The Facilitating Team will consider recommending social distancing strategies to reduce the frequency of contact between people. This could include modifying the frequency and type of face-to-face contact (e.g., hand-shaking and seating in meetings) in the event of an outbreak of a contagious illness.

At the beginning of flu season, staff members with compromised immune systems or who are otherwise at higher risk for complications of influenza are invited to notify their coach and/or a member of the human resources team. We will work with these individuals to help them limit their exposure to an illness.

ASHA will offer seasonal flu vaccines whenever possible. We will also provide information about the availability of pandemic flu vaccines and make them available on site if practical.

The Facilities Director will assure that CDC recommendations are being followed relative to cleaning the National Office. Hand sanitizers will also be made available during flu season and containers of sanitizing wipes will continue to be available throughout the office.

Travel

ASHA will follow the CDC recommendations related to travel and communicate any changes to our normal plans to staff and members. The United States travel advisories are communicated by the Department of State – http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/health/health_1181.html.

The Facilitating Team will be responsible for making any decisions that limit travel. The Convention and Meetings Director will alert the Facilitating Team to travel advisories that might cause ASHA to limit travel. The Convention and Meetings Director will prepare an emergency plan for the Convention each year. The Convention and Meetings Director will also monitor and respond to other travel and weather related issues on an on-going and as needed basis.

Misc

ASHA has confirmed that key benefit providers for health and disability insurance and our employee assistance program have business continuity plans in place that include planning for a pandemic.

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