The winter can be a hard time for staffing at small businesses -- it's not just the holidays that thin employee ranks, it's also colds and the flu. Owners can cope by making it easier for staffers to telecommute and by having a pool of workers who can fill in. In short, planning ahead will make it far easier for a small company to get through a spate of employee absences. "You always have to have a contingency plan," said Jeff Evans, general manager of Lake Naomi Club, a country club community in Pocono Pines, Pa. "People are going to come to the facility regardless of the fact that a lot of people have been hit with the flu."
See "Planning ahead eases pain of workers' absences", Joyce M. Rosenberg, Chicago Tribune, December 9, 2007