Reflecting on Ebola: How Software Could Save Your Employees and Your Company

PITTSBURGH - Jan. 21, 2015 - PRLog -- Pittsburgh, PA, January 19, 2014 – HRResourceForce®, a software solutions business, announced they have made Ebola preparedness training, policies, procedures and tools from the CDC and other experts available to customers for free in their technology platform.

“Even with Ebola under control, these resources are important,” Nick Goodell, HRResourceForce Managing Partner, said. “More than anything, the Ebola scare highlighted just how unprepared organizations big and small were for responding to emerging situations. They struggled to distribute training and to educate their employees quickly and efficiently.”

According to Goodell, many companies—first responders among them—do not have tools or processes in place to distribute resources and training in a manner that is practical and accountable. If another health crisis on the level of Ebola strikes, these same companies are likely to encounter the same challenges.

“At this point, these obstacles should be a non-issue,” Goodell says. “Corporations big and small should be using employee workflow technology that can push resources to every relevant individual. That software should then be able to track who has and has not completed the required training. Ebola, swine flu, crisis response, whatever it may be—the software and processes should already be in place to adapt to it.”

Goodell saw the Ebola outbreak as an international learning experience. Many companies discovered that they simply had no way to educate an entire workforce with any sort of speed. For others, the experience affirmed the value of tools they adopted years ago.

For example, Todd Pritchard, Chief of Medical Rescue Team South Authority in Pittsburgh, Pa., took Goodell’s advice in 2013 and adopted an employee workflow management platform.

“We have been using the software to communicate policies, deliver training, capture forms, and streamline administrative tasks directly with each employee,” Pritchard said. “So it was easy to respond quickly as critical information about Ebola became available and standard protocols were developed to keep our personnel safe.”

Ebola might be behind us, but Goodell urges leaders everywhere to evaluate their workflow management software and to adopt learning management systems. The stability of their companies and the safety of their employees depend on it.