WASHINGTON — If a superflu sweeps the globe, who will haul away the garbage? Keep the factories running, making cars and computers and tissues? Stock and sell groceries? Keep electricity flowing?

Most U.S. companies haven't planned for how to stay in business during a flu pandemic, when their workers may be too sick or scared to show up and their supply chains disappear, a major new survey of some of the nation's largest firms shows.

Two-thirds of the businesses surveyed said their companies were inadequately prepared to protect themselves during a pandemic and 39 percent believed there wasn't much they could do.

The results also raise public health concerns: When asked if they would waive sick-leave restrictions to encourage potentially contagious employees to stay home, 63 percent of the companies were undecided and 10 percent said they would not.

That directly contradicts federal government recommendations that people who are coughing or have other flu-like symptoms stay home from work or school if a superflu appears, voluntary quarantines considered key to stemming its spread.

"Corporate America is like everybody — they read it and see it on television but they really can't completely digest it," former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said of the threat of a flu pandemic.

His new industry think tank, part of Deloitte & Touche USA, sponsored the survey, to be released today at a private meeting. The gathering of about 25 corporate giants and public health specialists will focus on how to prepare for what scientists insist is the growing risk of a worldwide influenza outbreak, sparked either by the Asian bird flu or some other superstrain.

And next week, federal health officials will release specific guidelines to help companies prepare.

Among those recommendations: "That people have contingency plans that could accommodate between 10 and 20 percent of their work force being out at any given time for as much as two to four weeks," said HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt.

The corporate emphasis isn't just because of economics, but because businesses provide products and services that people literally can't live without, said Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota, a public health adviser to the government.

He is helping officials compile what he calls "critical product continuity," ensuring that the most crucial products will be available during a pandemic.

Some businesses do have major preparations under way.

In two weeks, Microsoft Corp. will roll out the first phase of its pandemic plan: an educational campaign for its 63,000 workers worldwide, along with bottles of hand sanitizers as a reminder that good hygiene helps prevent influenza.