Companies ready their convention battle plans

With the Democratic National Convention less than two months away, Boston businesses are honing plans to help employees navigate a week of traffic gridlock and lengthy delays in mass-transit service.

But companies with a substantial downtown workforce are caught between the need to maintain critical operations and the desire of police and public officials who want people to stay away from the city for traffic and security reasons during the four-day convention at the FleetCenter starting July 26.

''It's a dilemma a lot of employers are facing," said Russ Campanello, senior vice president of human resources for Keane Inc., a technology consultant employing 350 in Charlestown, a mile from the FleetCenter.

One of Boston's largest employers, Gillette Co., posted information for employees last week on its internal website and passed out fliers inside the South Boston factory detailing adjustments in some work schedules to accommodate the convention. Office employees in the Prudential Tower and South Boston will be allowed to quit work early and leave at 3:30 p.m. Workers are also urged to telecommute, carpool, take vacations, and postpone business travel to Boston. Department managers are being told to be flexible with staff who must commute during the convention's run, July 26-29.

Gillette said its manufacturing plant, where Mach3 and Venus razors and blades are made, will operate on its usual 24-hour schedule. ''The DNC has the potential to have a disruptive impact on our employees' ability to get to and from work," Gillette spokesman Eric Kraus said. ''We have developed internal plans and recommendations to minimize as much of that disruption as possible. Other than the inconvenience to Boston-area employees, the DNC will have no impact on Gillette's business."

Convention week battle plans are also rapidly taking shape at Teradyne Inc., State Street Corp., the Bingham McCutchen law firm, the Prudential Center, and the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Federal Building.

News about terrorist threats during the convention added to employers' concerns and helped kick planning into high gear. Planning was also spurred by public officials who distributed detailed traffic information to the business community.

Interstate 93 and other roads into Boston will begin closing at 4 p.m. each of the four days during the convention and will reopen after midnight. That means potential gridlock as far away as New Hampshire and Rhode Island, where some 200,000 cars travel on an average work day, said Major Michael Mucci, traffic division head for the Massachusetts State Police, in an interview last week.

''You see how many people are affected," he said. ''We don't mean show up to work an hour late. We're talking about stuck in traffic for four hours with a car to the left, a car to the right, a car behind them, and in front of them going nowhere."

Employers are offering flex time, early work shifts, or relocating to suburban satellite offices. Some companies are suggesting employees ride their bikes.

At Keane, convention week is when the company meets payroll, which occurs every other week for a national workforce of 6,000, Campanello said. The company also must keep its sales group working to keep business flowing in. Keane's options include asking employees to come in at 6 a.m. and leave at noon or setting up shuttle-bus service.

''We're trying to balance the absolute necessity of keeping the corporate headquarters open and the reality that we have to do something different to have our employees avoid this impending gridlock," he said.

To further complicate things, the company parking lot is located across the street from the hotel where the Secret Service is staying, and Campanello doesn't know whether that will affect employees' ability to park.

''I'm pretty sure it's not going to be business as usual," he said.

Jannette Glancy, head of the DNC Task Force for Bingham McCutchen, which has 650 attorneys and staff on Federal Street, said managers will meet next week to troubleshoot the firm's convention planning.

''We're keeping in mind the feelings of employees who have to come to work, their personal concerns about their own safety," Glancy said.

At Teradyne Inc., which employs 1,500 at its South End headquarters, managers are asking staff to consider working from its offices in Waltham, North Reading, and New Hampshire. Teradyne spokesman Tom Newman said company officials hope fewer than half of Boston employees come into the office.

''We're encouraging them to think about where they can be most productive and most helpful to our customers," said Newman, ''and that may not be in their offices in Boston."

Kimberly Blanton can be reached at blanton@globe.com.