There may be an H1N1 pandemic lurking in the corners but businesses are not prepared to deal with the coming crisis and do not have the infrastructure in place to let their employees work from home, according to experts monitoring the situation.

"Organizations probably have not allocated enough resources for virtual private networks nor tested VPNs for the fact that 80 percent of their staff could be working from home," Al Berman, executive director of the Disaster Recovery Institute, a New York-based business training and certification body, tells ComputerWorld.com.

If a company sees high rates of absenteeism, they should be proactive and send a strong message to their workers to stay at home if they are sick, according to flu experts.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the H1N1 flu outbreak a pandemic in June and elevated the health emergency alert to Level 6--its highest level.

With a Level 6, the Centers for Disease Control is asking companies to appoint a workplace pandemic coordinator or team. The coordinator would be responsible for monitoring employees and making sure they follow basic hygiene rules.

In addition, companies should be far along with how to make it possible for employees to telecommute, using networks to communicate with the office and other workers who are working remotely. But it remains unclear whether companies have followed this direction and are making sure they are ready to handle an outbreak of H1N1.

For more on dealing with a pandemic:
- see this ComputerWorld.com article

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