What does your Business need NOW?

Here in France we are entering into Phase 3 of Deconfinement from this dreaded Coronavirus which is seeing borders opening and most public places operating in a semi-normal state. We attend the British Government announcing their ‘Safe Corridors’ next week to see if any visitors from overseas will have to undertake the 14-day quarantine policy.

Meanwhile Germany have announced that the R number has jumped up by almost a full whole number in only 24 hours and 3 areas of France are reporting resurgences in numbers. This is, of course, only to be expected. However, this has got me thinking about what we, as HR Professionals, should be advising our companies to do at this time. If we are sensible planners, we should be preparing for Wave Two should we not? If we were all to suffer a second wave equal to or worse in nature than that from which we have just emerged it will be exponentially more damaging than the first, none more so than to the economy.

Let’s try to create the ultimate checklist for businesses to be working on now which might help to prepare for such an event. What are you advising your companies to do currently?

Here are some things I have been noting down in the recent weeks:

1.       Have you updated/ written/ re-written your BCP (Business Continuity Plan)? If you are unsure where to begin with this, please do not hesitate to get in touch for some help and advice.

2.       Have you updated your Long-Term Strategy and short-term tactical plans? Without a doubt those will have taken a hit over the past six months so now is a good time to sit back and re-evaluate where you are and where you think you could be.

3.       Has your HSE Team update your Risk Assessments and Mitigations?

4.       Have you updated your Organization Chart along with JDs, Scope of Work, Salary brackets etc.? With furlough, redundancies, salary cuts and much more at this time this needs to be looked at asap.

5.       Do you have new Flexible Working Policies in Place? If not, now is the time to rewrite your policy, and in the light of other recent events, it would be a good idea to review your Discrimination Policies.

6.       Have you reviewed your Employee Benefits? Right now, money may be tight but there may be other things you can offer your employees, this might include online learning for example, it may include an internal Coaching & Mentoring program – regardless, now is the perfect time to be thinking about how you can ensure your remaining employees stay with you for the duration. Now is not the time to have to be recruiting from scratch and navigating the new normal with a brand-new team.

7.       How much of what you do has been and can be permanently conducted as a Work from Home package? How does this affect the JDs and salary brackets you have? This all needs to be reviewed as a matter of urgency.

8.       If you haven’t already done so, get your management team together and look at ways in which to Diversify your business. What have we learned from this episode? Our businesses need to be more flexible and responsive than ever.

9.       Have you got the IT Support that you need? As we move forwards, we need to be able to offer employees and customers a high level of online services. You really need to think about what could and should be conducted online moving forwards.  

I would love to hear what else you think businesses need to be working on now and if there is anything you think you would like to get involved in. Chat with us online @candehrconsultancy or email us on yourconsultant@candehrconsultancy.com