Welcome to Mercer’s dedicated website for communicating about avian flu. This site was developed in response to our clients' concerns about how to communicate with their employees during a global pandemic. Please visit regularly for updates.

Mercer’s global Human Capital Perspective newsletter: Prepare your company for a global pandemic   In this issue of Mercer's Human Capital Perspective, Rosaline Chow Koo, leader of Mercer Health & Benefits in Asia Pacific and Mercer HR Services in Asia, discusses the latest on avian influenza, its potential to become a global pandemic and explains how employers can mitigate the risks of avian influenza.     Tips for communicating in a crisis    On average, most organizations face some sort of crisis every four to five years. We give your our top tips to help you communicate with your stakeholders during a crisis like a global pandemic.

Preparing your employees for a global pandemic: A guide to developing a communication response Mercer’s Communication for Impact™ (CFI) approach applies a rigorous, strategic methodology and a robust set of tools to the communication process.

Prepare your leaders in times of crisis   Essential crisis communication skills training for your leaders. Mercer can design and deliver a high-impact, crisis communication skills training program to equip your leaders with essential skills and tools to perform effectively when disaster strikes.

Why is there a risk?

The avian flu outbreak currently sweeping the globe has gripped the public consciousness with concerns that the virus will mutate into a human flu pandemic with potentially devastating consequences for global commerce and the community at large.

The World Bank has estimated a global economic impact at US$800 billion for a human flu pandemic. To put this into perspective, the SARS crisis of 2003 cost the economies of Asia Pacific US$40 billion and reduced air traffic in the region by 45 per cent, yet only about 8,000 were infected.

The World Heath Organization (WHO) is the pre-eminent authority charged with coordinating the global community’s response to a potential pandemic. In this pre-pandemic period their advice to business leaders and the general community is simple and direct – be prepared.

What this means for your organization

It is important for your organization to have a crisis communication strategy in place to help prepare your people to respond in the event of a pandemic. When a crisis does occur, events usually unfold rapidly, leaving little time for planning - advanced preparation is essential.

Organizations that do the best job of communicating in a crisis are those that have already considered contingencies and put implementation strategies into place. The continued satisfaction of employees, customers, shareholders and the community at large is greatly dependent on management’s and the organization's ability to meet any crisis with confidence and authority.

During a global crisis, like an avian flu pandemic, an effective communication strategy and process will keep your organization focused and your people calm and well-informed.

How Mercer can help

Drawing on our global communication expertise, Mercer can assist your organization in implementing a crisis communication strategy and process to better prepare your employees for an avian flu pandemic.

It will be essential that you:

• Have a crisis communication strategy in place to keep your people and other stakeholders informed

• Ensure target audiences have been identified

• Determine the most effective way to communicate with your people and other target audiences

• Ensure you have a plan for developing and distributing information, e.g. "dark website"

• Establish approval paths and guidelines for rapid release of information.

We have developed Preparing your employees for a pandemic: A guide to developing a communication response to help you put into action an avian flu communication strategy, as well as a workbook so you can develop a communication strategy that is tailored to your organization’s needs.

You can purchase a copy of Preparing your employees for a pandemic: A guide to developing a communication response and the related workbook for US$1500. This also includes a one-on-one discussion with a communication consultant for up to an hour. The communication consultant can talk you through the communication guide and answer any questions you may have or just talk about your communication preparation more generally.

If you would like to purchase a copy or to find out more about how Mercer can help you prepare your communication response, please contact Stella Voules on +61 3 9623 5555.