Plan for absenteeism rates of more than 25% if a pandemic strikes. With October being the official kickoff of the annual flu season, some organizations are taking steps to prepare for a pandemic of the seasonal or avian flu by beefing up communications capabilities and planning for employees to work remotely. While IT administrators might be inclined to look at preparing for a pandemic much as they would for any other disaster, pandemics are different in several ways, said Steve Bittinger, an analyst at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn. First, pandemics occur over a much longer period of time — weeks and months compared with the hours and days involved in a natural disaster or terrorist attack — but this also provides weeks in which to prepare, Bittinger said. Second, they can have a severe impact on employees’ attendance and customer purchases either because of sickness, fear of sickness or other limitations such as travel restrictions and quarantines, he said.