IT staffing issues play a role in pandemic planning

Preparations for an avian flu pandemic are extending beyond IT infrastructure and network issues to staffing considerations, including what to do if critical workers die or if a business temporarily closes and then needs to staff up again when it reopens.

Ellen Barry, CIO at the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority in Chicago, said her organization's conference facilities would probably close during a pandemic, but staffers would need to remain on the payroll and be able to communicate with one another and with customers to plan future shows. A similar situation occurred when business travel slowed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Barry said.

Andy Wihtol, founder of Andrew Associates Executive Search in Lake Oswego, Ore., said IT organizations need to "think about having a bench, like a farm league in baseball." Companies should have not only in-house successors ready to step in for missing workers but also potential outside replacements for critical positions, Wihtol said. "You identify two to three people who [could] come in if a key person left or died, and then stay in touch with them," he said.

Kevin Desouza, an assistant professor at the University of Washington's Information School in Seattle, said some large companies are dealing with the possible loss of critical workers by cross-training IT staffers in different jobs and skills. "That way, if somebody goes, the new worker doesn't have to learn everything from scratch," Desouza said.