Reminded by consulting firm Aon Risk Solutions that pandemics can reveal a "lack of connectivity" among organizational departments, HR and C-suite professionals may want to form contingency plans now in case the situation worsens.
Employers will want to offer workers who become ill compassion and medical confidentiality, but will also have to act responsibly in reporting cases of Ebola in the face of a public health crisis. Then, of course, there are possible legal/liability and insurance concerns, including whether workmen's compensation may become involved (as it did with two infected nurses in Dallas); whether to quarantine workers who may have been exposed to victims of the illness; and potentially restricting travel to and from West Africa.
While the most severe effects of the SARS and H1N1 virus outbreaks on the workforce in the early 2000's turned out to be employee absenteeism, Ebola has yet to run its course.