Employers play Dr. Mom to limit swine flu impact The Associated Press

30.11.09

TRENTON, N.J. — Big businesses are spending serious heretofore and money trying to limit the swine flu pandemic's impact on operations, from bankrolling video on talented hygiene to training employees to cover for co-workers with critical jobs.

Companies from health insurer UnitedHealth Bunch Inc. to beverage can maker Ball Corp. are arranging for employees with flu symptoms or sick family members to profession from home where possible, holding fewer in-person meetings, even discouraging handshakes. And hand sanitizers, germicide wipes and tissues are at the ready everywhere as employers make keeping workers healthy their first line of defense.

Employers are playing Dr. Mom, teaching about hygiene, distributing intelligence about the pandemic, telling folks to stay home if they get sick — generally with pay — and scrapping the required doctor's note. Some companies have even distributed "wellness kits" with thermometers and look masks.

Whether those efforts and other measures will protect businesses will depend largely on whether the swine flu mutates into a more-chancy virus.

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