Conventional wisdom dictates that the Internet and telecommute/telework policies will be the silver bullet that allows corporations and government agencies to continue operations during an avian flu pandemic. However, the proposed telework solution deserves serious scrutiny, as it appears that many corporations and government agencies do not have the plans or the infrastructure to support a remote workforce.
According to a data from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and the Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 66 percent of US companies surveyed believe that they are not prepared for an avian flu pandemic. Moreover, 33 percent of US companies surveyed have not appointed a leader within their organization to plan a response to a pandemic flu. These results suggest that the private sector is not taking the threat of a pandemic seriously. However, the same surveys also reported that over 50 percent of the same companies surveyed believed that a flu epidemic would occur within the next two years. Additionally, those surveyed also believed such an epidemic would have a major negative impact on company operations. This discrepancy can be explained by the private sector’s unwillingness to spend scarce resources on an eventuality that may not occur.
Unfortunately, these dismal realities are not restricted to the private sector. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently reported that only nine of the 23 federal agencies surveyed had plans in place to support a remote staff during a pandemic. Moreover, none of the agencies had the technical capacity to support a remote staff during a pandemic or other emergency.
Creating plans and policies may not solve the problems presented by teleworking during a pandemic. Quite simply, the Internet infrastructure of local ISPs may not be robust enough to support the expected surge of bandwidth consumption resultant from the private and public sector workforce dialing in from home. According to a joint study by Booz Allen Hamilton and the World Economic Forum found that ?telecommunications will likely be overwhelmed early in [a] pandemic. Some experts speculated that the Internet could shut down within two to four days of [an] outbreak.?
Clearly, serious investment needs to be made and work needs to be done before teleworking for a pandemic can be considered a viable option. To remedy the problems found within the federal government, the GAO has recommended that FEMA assume a leadership role in coordinating and evaluating federal response plans. In addition, Representative Danny Davis (R-IL) has proposed legislation that would require the federal government to assess a 10-day telework project. Given the dual realities of the equally poor state of preparedness in the private sector outlined above and private sector?s ownership of approximately 85 percent of the nation?s critical infrastructure, it would seem reasonable to impose the same legislative requirements proposed by Rep. Davis on these portions of the private sector as well.
