How are you helping your business respond to COVID-19?
As coronavirus continues to sweep the globe, the leadership team will likely have asked you whether the company’s pandemic and business continuity plans are robust and effective.
You may have had critical conversations on whether plans address the following risks:
- Stock market jitters
- Travel restrictions
- Supply chain disruption
- Business interruption
- Higher-than-usual sickness
- Sanitation measures
- Working-from-home procedures
- Uncertainties
And if they don’t, what next?
Over the last month, we spoke with risk managers from various sectors across the globe, and asked:
- How are you dealing with the outbreak?
- What do your pandemic and business continuity plans look like?
- What challenges are you facing?
- How are you adapting your plans as governments issue new policies?
- How are you restructuring to operate in ‘lock-down’ environments?
We found shared and common issues; diverse concerns and approaches.
We will continue to speak with risk managers as the virus progresses and will share insights as we build a global picture of business response plans.
But here’s what we found so far.
1. Companies are reorganising their operations, workforce and office layouts
Four main approaches are being deployed:
- Shift patterns and work schedules are being reviewed or created to ensure mission critical teams are not working at the same time. For one company, this began in IT security and then rolled-out to other departments.
- Split-working – between employees’ offices and home – is widely implemented. Policies generally alternate between the two locations on a weekly cycle – one week in the office, one week at home. This is generally treated as an interim step before total work-from-home policies are implemented.
- Others have enforced full-time working-from-home policies. For many, this involved sourcing correct licenses and equipment to enable efficient remote working.
- Limiting meetings: physical meetings involving ten or more people are being cancelled in favour of video conferencing.
2. Organisations are mandating travel restrictions
By and large, companies have banned international and local travel. This includes cancelling face-to-face external meetings, client events, and international industry conferences.
A small number of organisations are limiting staff leisure travel.
Many more are following government advice and are requiring all members of staff, who have returned from a country with known COVID-19 cases, to self-isolate for 14 days. Some have issued company policies which require staff to obtain doctor’s clearance before returning to work.
A number of businesses have mandated daily staff check-ins. In these instances all staff are required to complete a short survey each day, including weekends, indicating:
- Where they are working from each day;
- If they have travelled in the last 24 hours and where to
- If they are showing any symptoms of COVID-19
- If they plan to travel in the next 24 hours and where to.
Businesses are also looking at the following:
- Internal country risk rating, including: increases in cases per week and over the last 14-days; along with the total number of known cases and fatalities.
- External country risk ratings provided by third parties.
- Reviewing the necessity to travel, with the following considerations: are meetings/events revenue generating? Do they relate to critical projects?
- Government travel advice from the country of departure.
- Re-entry requirements.
3. Risk managers are playing an active role in internal communications
Communication has been tough. Companies are experiencing significant unease among staff, particularly in locations where the virus is prevalent.
The following communication strategies have been applied:
- Risk managers are working with communication teams to place headline figures into context, with an emphasis on the recovery rate.
- Health and safety and response and pandemic plans are being communicated widely and constantly. This has helped boost productivity and morale.
- Internal videos have been created to communicate critical information, such as: how to disinfect desks; handwashing procedures; meeting policies; and travel guidance.
4. Risk managers are scenario planning for shut-down scenarios
Risk managers are simulating ‘shut-down’ scenarios, based on the following considerations:
- Duration: testing business continuity plans based on assumptions that the business could ‘shut down’ for a period of one week, two weeks and more than 14 days.
- Percentages of people unable to work: testing plans based on various assumptions of absentees.
Learning from each other
We’re certainly not purporting to have all the answers. We are, however, connecting risk managers across industries and geographies to share insights, and discuss questions and challenges.
Our Founder Members are currently discussing their responses to COVID-19 in a dedicated private messaging forum we launched this week.
The group enables senior risk managers to find out what others are doing and work through finding solutions together, as the virus continues to progress.
If you’re doing some work in this space and you’d like to share this with the network, we’d love to hear from you. You can drop me an email here.
There has never been a more important time for true collaboration between risk managers, and the Risk Leadership Network is already working with its Members to transform how they exchange knowledge with peers.
Are you an in-house risk manager who could benefit from access to the knowledge and expertise of a global network of senior risk professionals? Talk to us about becoming a Member today.
