Risk Management
Staying healthy
How a pandemic can affect your business
By Matt McClellan
Smart Business Cleveland | November 2009
Mary Benko, Vice president, Aon Risk Services Inc.
A pandemic can have fundamental implications on both a company’s ability to maintain revenue-generating operations and its ability to support its clients, along with serious impacts on employee safety.
“The risks to a company’s business operations are real and varied,” says Mary Benko, a vice president with Aon Risk Services Inc.
Benko says company leaders need to ensure their risk portfolios and operations are equipped to identify risks associated with a pandemic. These risks range from business continuity (operations, supply chain, vendor relationships, crisis management, etc.), to exposures due to business interruption, loss of attraction and a damaged reputation.
Smart Business spoke to Benko about how to prepare your company for the risks associated with a pandemic.
What goals should businesses set for handling a pandemic?
From a human capital perspective, goals include ensuring employees’ safety, creating understanding and driving productivity. A company’s human resource leaders need to focus on engagement and productivity during a pandemic. Companies should create or modify existing business continuity plans with a thorough employee-centered focus, identifying areas where a pandemic can cause issues with absenteeism and/or decrease the ability to manage specific functions and support a virtual work force.
Areas of focus include:
- Absenteeism
- Redundancy
- Succession planning
- Work teams, backup or the buddy system
- Shifts (social distancing)
- Communication and protocols for leave programs (e.g., sick leave, STD, LTD, FMLA)
- Guidance and adherence to local/state health regulations
- Virtual workplace policies, required management and supervisory guidelines
- Vaccination policies
- Exposure liability (OSHA)
- Communication cascade plans, channel identification, credible voice, etc.
How can employers develop a plan of action for a pandemic?
While pandemic is primarily a ‘human’ event (not structure or property), companies can leverage processes and procedures inherent in their existing crisis management, communication and business continuity plans.
Using this as a starting point, the plan should identify key criteria like leadership scripting, manager talking points, employee communications, employee safety, operations and business continuity, and vendors/supply chain, as well as virtual work force guidance. All communication outreach needs to be designed to draw out specific inclusions for pandemic issues.
In short, a pandemic plan is a form of an existing crisis plan, but it accounts for risks and human issues specific to pandemics.
What steps should be included in that plan?
Since all business functions cannot be performed at the normal level of efficiency with a decrease in personnel, you need to do the following to effectively maintain operations during a pandemic:
- Analyze your business operations to determine your core business. Evaluate the impact of reduced productivity.
- Determine what functions from vendors and suppliers are critical to support customers. Evaluate the impact of reduced services.
- Identify critical versus noncritical staff. Evaluate who can perform these processes and determine if cross training is necessary.
Once you have analyzed your business, you can develop planning responses for each core business function by identifying any gaps and implementing plans that mitigate your risk.
How can employers plan for staff absences?
Employers should have a plan in place to monitor absenteeism in the workplace and how the organization will continue essential functions that have been previously identified. Cross-train personnel so key functions can be handled by other staff, and be prepared to change business practices to maintain critical operations.
How can businesses determine whether to stay open or close?
The determination to stay open or close will be a business decision varying based on industry. The impacts to manpower will need to be assessed against the financial and operational ramifications of the decision.
Organizations that are part of the critical infrastructure are further challenged as their closure could cause further detriment to the marketplace. Weighing the factors will be up to management so that the interests of all stakeholders are met.
What precautions should employers have in place to prevent staff from getting sick?
First of all, you have to have clear and prescriptive employee communication guidelines. Other precautions to take include:
- Social distancing
- Virtual work programs
- Hand sanitizers, masks, etc.
- Encourage preventive vaccinations
What can be done to manage fear and anxiety among employees?
There are two main tactics that can help. First, make sure you develop a very clear and direct employee communications plan. Consider using all-hands employee calls, webinars or scheduled e-mail announcements from leadership, and leverage your Web site (both Internet and Intranet) to relay important information. Also, consider creating a visible pandemic task force within the organization that employees can turn to for questions or concerns.
Mary Benko is a vice president with Aon Risk Services Inc. Reach her at (216) 623-4118 or mary_benko@ars.aon.com.
