A new survey shows that less than 10 percent of organisations have cut down on employee business travel to parts of the world affected by bird flu.

22 December 2005

AMSTERDAM - A new survey shows that less than 10 percent of organisations have cut down on employee business travel to parts of the world affected by bird flu.

Recent research by ORC Worldwide shows that organisations are not panicking over avian influenza or bird flu.  However, more than half of the 195 companies polled have taken steps to brief their employee travellers on the risks of avian influenza, including issuing medical alerts and information fact sheets, conducting employee wellness briefings, and posting on corporate intranet sites. 

Most companies developing plans of action

While a quarter of the companies are tracking travel into affected areas, most have developed or are developing plans to evacuate employees from affected countries should the need arise.

Approximately one quarter of the companies plan to handle the issue on a case-by-case basis, while approximately 19 percent do not have an evacuation programme.

Those companies which have taken steps to curtail travel to affected areas have taken a variety of actions, such as increasing the use of conference calls, vaccinating employees who must travel, issuing travel warnings, and stepping up monitoring activities.

Watch and wait

"Most companies are educating their employees, and watching the situation closely, but are unlikely to take action until a travel advisory is issued by either the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control, SOS, or their government agencies," said Robert Freedman, president and chief executive officer of ORC Worldwide.

Among those companies with evacuation plans for expatriate employees on assignment in affected areas, approximately 35 percent would evacuate employees to their home country, and approximately 28 percent would evacuate to the nearest "safe" country.

When the assignee wants to evacuate

If a company makes the decision not to evacuate but the assignee requests to leave, participants indicated they would allow the assignee to leave, some paying all expenses, with others paying none.

Other companies, however, would take a more hard-line approach and treat this as a request for a transfer, repatriation, or termination of an assignment. Offering expatriates the opportunity for an early home leave trip or grant additional home leave visits was cited as another option.

[Copyright Expatica 2005]