Inevitable Is An Adjective Meaning Impossible to Avoid or Prevent.
Discover How To Protect You and Your Business From The Avian Flu and Increase Profits:
Unless you have been living in a cave for the past year, you already have seen the warnings that the bird flu (Avian Flu) pandemic is coming. Of course it is. The world has been conditioned to expect a mutated virus that will spread from person to person and kill a bunch of people. Many people have mentally accepted this story which is the first phase of the event. So what are you doing to plan for it?
You are probably doing nothing to protect your business from the bird flu. Consider the thousands of businesses that where not prepared for a flood in New Orleans even though the city is six feet below sea level. What about the countless number of companies who do not have a clue as to how to access their own computers?
The nature of most business leaders is to expect that everything goes on as normal. Markets and risks are dynamic. Leadership is responsible for giving proper consideration to business risks and then achieving consistent and progressive positive results.
Most people who started reading this information will have already stopped. Those same people will be surprised when another company captures market share while their business flounders because they don’t have enough healthy employees to operate at practical capacity.
This report is about how to grow your business, strengthen your competitive advantage and further develop the respect of your customers while your competitors wonder if they can stay in business with many employees are out sick.
Richard Branson Gets It!
Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Airlines, bought 10,000 doses of the product supposed to prevent death from the bird flu. He did that because he knows that when the virus spreads it will cripple the operations of his airline. I don’t know if Richard is devoting resources to educating his employees on how to protect themselves from getting sick.
I remember a number of years back reading how Southwest airlines had curtailed flights because the flu that year had caused so many pilots and flight attendants to call off work. I contacted Southwest with a program designed to strengthen the immune system of their employees. They politely told me their doctors would handle the situation.
The end result was a poor financial performance for that quarter because Southwest didn’t have enough people to fly the planes. Who suffered? Their sick employees, the customers with cancelled flights and their stockholders. Would my plan have worked? Well, my plan was preventive and their plan was to try and fix it after it was broken. History shows the results of their plan. My plan works as evidence by the fact that even with the widespread cold and flu, many people do not get sick.
Many Industries Will Be Hurt By Large Numbers of People Being Sick
My clients have included retailers, restaurants, manufacturers, trucking companies and, in general, businesses that depend on a staff of employees showing up every day. Think about your business. What if 10% of your staff were out sick? What about 20%? What about more?
Now let’s say that most of your staff is healthy. Great, now what if many of your employees rely on public transportation to get to work? I doubt if municipalities are stockpiling avian flu vaccine for the employees who operate, buses and trains.
Let’s say you are a financially independent person working from your own office and you are saying… well I don’t have to worry about this. I don’t have staff and I am healthy. Great, now let’s look at your Saturday night dinner plans. You pull up for valet parking and there is no one to park your car. Even worse, there is no one to serve you dinner. The person who owns the dining establishment is ready to file bankruptcy not for lack of customers, but for lack of enough people to work.
Here is another scenario: who will want to go where a lot of people gather when there is fear of contracting the bird flu? Here are just a few places where large numbers of people congregate: Las Vegas, Professional Sporting Events, Church, Shopping Malls, Concerts, Broadway Theater and more.
The Government Will Not Solve This Problem
Our elected brain trusts passed legislation to spend $3.9 billion dollars stockpiling vaccine and not one dime on preventive education. They spent this money that is funded by taxes without any proof that the vaccine will work. That is $3.9 with a B. Our president announced the final cost is likely to exceed $7 billion with not one dime spent on prevention.
If the flu starts spreading, watch which offices set the example of what they think should be done. The government will shut every office possible and tell people to stay home, while those in private enterprise struggle to pay for it.
The government is not motivated to work and is motivated to condemn private enterprise whenever possible. That is politics. Recognize it, do what you can to improve it and daily release it. In that release, do not ever count on the government to have a solution. You have all the tools to solve this problem and prosper.
How Your Business Can Prosper When The Country Is Sick
Treat the bird flu like any other business problem. No, strike that. Most companies do not deal rationally with normal business threats. So treat the bird flu threat as if your business depended on your response. If the bird flu or some other disease like it begins to rapidly spread from human to human, there will be widespread sickness. This is likely because most people would rather focus on the problem rather than prevention.
Look what happened with AIDS in the US. The growth rate in this country was skyrocketing. AIDS is not cured, but it is also not an epidemic like many predicted. Why is that? Simple: most people get the point of “safe sex or die”.
Don’t misunderstand the message. I am not saying the bird flu is like AIDS. The point is there are steps you can take to minimize the impact of the Avian Flu and for that matter any threat to good health. Now here is where it gets tough – real tough. The Steps To Preventing Bird Flu Is The Same As Those That Prevent Obesity, Heart Disease, Colds, Flu and All Other Health Issues. That being the case, should you decide to take a stand for health, it is likely your business will have a competitive advantage since most others will not.
The 10 Things Your Company Must Do To Minimize The Risk of Avian Flu. As An Added Bonus, You Will Experience Lower Absenteeism, Higher Productivity and Lower Health Care Costs:
1. Develop the mindset that health is an individual responsibility. Start with employee meetings and issue a weekly health newsletter. The information presented should address the lifestyle and eating habits for a strong immune system.
2. Assign one person the responsibility for sending out better health related emails. If you are a transportation company, develop a health message of the week for dispatch to discuss with your drivers. If you are a manufacturing company or retailer, implement a program for supervisors to discuss health with staff each week. Include health topics on your weekly teleconference agenda with remote managers.
3. Your company policies should reinforce a healthy environment. For example, no tobacco of any kind is permitted on company property.
4. Post sign with positive health information around company facilities and in company vehicles. One sign should be a reminder to wash your hands. This reminder should be large, colorful and placed where you cannot miss it.
5. All management and supervisors should set an example of cleanliness in the workplace with their office.
6. Establish cleaning standards for outside cleaning contractors. Invest in having common areas cleaned frequently. Common area bathrooms should be cleaned thoroughly every day and soap and paper supplies replenished as needed. Trash should be disposed of daily.
7. If your business has a common area kitchen, develop and implement cleanliness rules. Extend the rules to the refrigerator and microwaves if they are used.
8. Have contests with meaningful incentives for health results.
9. Modify your sick leave policy to encourage people who are coughing and sneezing to stay home. Yes some people will abuse this. Accept it.
10. Implement a wellness program where you partially fund nutritional supplements and health progress programs.
Now if you have read this far you may be thinking “ I cannot afford this” or “ This won’t work”. Well you are right. The steps to better health can only work if you believe in them and are committed to consistently working them.
In another forum I deal with health, disease prevention and a lot more. This is one source of information for your wellness emails and newsletters. If you are interested visit www.todayshealthtip.com Your cost? Only your time. For a list of resources that will help you in your drive for healthy employees Email Me with health information request in the subject line. For assistance in implementing this program call me at 727-587-7871.
