With your best laid plans in place at the point of lockdown, did they really encapsulate the core areas of your business that you needed to keep a grip and control of when business disruption arose?
As we face further lockdowns and restrictions with changes of tiers and reflect on this experience, it is crucial that you preserve organisational memory of what saw you through the difficult times and learn from what you have gone through. This will give you greater assurance to be in a ‘ready state’ to cope with any continuing or future issues that may arise as we attempt to comprehend and adjust to an economical and social landscape that is yet to be fully understood.
Engaging your employees and taking them on your journey of reflection will enable them to be at the core of your thinking, after all they are your most important asset. They will help you identify what has worked and what you can improve on in order for your business to establish a new normal.
So as you begin to reflect, learn and adjust your continuity plans, preserving what you can and want to whilst introducing newness in your business thinking, You HR have outlined some of the key areas as a business leader, you should be focusing on to be responsive to emerging risks or issues whilst enabling organisational resilience… for instance
- Have an Emergency Response Checklist and Risk Register where you can monitor, manage and mitigate risks and prevent further issues arising
- Ensure your business insurances cover any changes you are putting in place (remote working, reopening business with adjustments)
- Channels of regular communication internally (specifically team updates, board) and externally (customers, suppliers, networks)
- Ensure policies, procedures and practices (recruitment, sickness management, flexible / home working), and Terms / Conditions enable you to manage, change and transition to your new normal
- Have a checkpoint plan to manage and monitor these critical business areas as you transition out of a ‘continuity state’ to a new normal way of working
Keep a close eye on what restrictions your tier is facing and consider whether any employees live in a different tier with different restrictions.
Travelling out of a Tier 4 area
You must stay at home and not leave your Tier 4 area, other than for legally permitted reasons such as:
- travel to work where you cannot work from home
- travel to education and for caring responsibilities
- visit (including staying overnight with) those in your support bubble – or your childcare bubble for childcare
- attend hospital, GP and other medical appointments or visits where you have had an accident or are concerned about your health
The full list of exceptions will be published in the Regulations and subject to change.
Travelling to a Tier 4 area from a Tier 1, 2 or 3 area
You should not travel into a Tier 4 area from another part of the UK, other than for reasons such as:
- travel to work where you cannot work from home
For more information about business continuity support available to you, or to obtain our business leaders guide please email alice@youhr.co.uk you can also book a free no-obligation conversation to discuss your business continuity needs.
The latest national restrictions mean that to help contain the virus, everyone who can work effectively from home must do so. If however you are required to enter the workplace then you should follow the COVID-19 secure guidelines.
Where possible social distancing is recommended. Segregating teams and ensuring that close proximity to others is avoided wherever possible is important to minimise the spread of the COVID-19 disease. Email, phone or video calls are better than visiting other members of staff, even if they are just in the office next door!
The Government’s latest guidance has been issued and should be referred to an where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full in relation to a particular activity. Businesses should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate and, if so, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission between their staff.
Mitigating actions include: