The pandemic taught a valuable lesson as many businesses closed following the shelter-at-home directives by the authorities. While the health crisis was unprecedented, companies should have contingencies in place in case something similar happens in the future.
Aside from a health crisis, businesses should also prepare for other types of emergencies. Preparation reduces the effects of these situations on the operations of companies. Here are some emergencies that companies should prepare for.
Financial Crisis
Businesses should also prepare for a localized financial crisis that affects their bottom line. One such situation was when the pandemic spawned a financial crisis that affected nearly all companies around the world. Demand for the products and services of businesses went down to the point that they couldn’t keep up with their expenses. Due to this, many companies laid off workers while others filed for bankruptcy.
In this situation, businesses should review their revenue sources and look for other ways to increase their revenue. Businesses that set aside an emergency fund that lasted for six months were better off compared to small businesses that relied on their daily sales to stay afloat. But some big companies also had to file for bankruptcy since they couldn’t keep up with their expenses.
Natural Disasters
Another emergency that businesses should prepare for is natural disasters. These disasters include earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods. These vents have a considerable impact on companies and can last for days or weeks, depending on how bad these disasters are.
The best way for businesses to prepare for natural disasters is by being proactive. Before setting up an office, they should check the hazard maps of the U.S. Geological Survey. These maps show areas that are prone to earthquakes or flooding.
In these situations, a business should know what to do when a flood or an earthquake happens. Similar to home emergencies, the company should have a plan ready for this natural disaster so it will not get caught flatfooted.
Labor Issues
Businesses should consider their employees as one of their most important resources. But there are instances when these employees become involved in unethical or illegal practices. Companies should take these situations seriously since they can affect their reputation.
When these situations emerge, the business should review their possible effects. The company should check if the action of the employee goes against its values. It should also determine if it needs to implement disciplinary actions on the employee or provide verbal or written notice.
During the investigation, the business should be transparent, especially if the situation draws media attention.
Technology Problems
Technology has become a part of the foundation of many businesses these days. They facilitate daily operations and help companies to reach their market. This is particularly true after consumers flocked online to avoid catching the virus when the pandemic started.
Businesses should prepare for any problems with their hardware and software. These issues can affect their operations and cause them to lose thousands, if not millions of dollars in revenues. It will also affect the reputation of the product or service that the business offers in the market.
When it comes to technical problems, businesses should work with their IT provider to work on the issue as soon as possible. They should focus on ensuring the issue does not affect more of their customers. After dealing with the problem, businesses should investigate what happened to stop it from happening again. The company should also get in touch with customers affected by the issue and provide assistance whenever necessary. At this point, the business should focus on their customer service teams so that they can resolve any problems the customers have to deal with due to the outage.
Workplace Violence
Even as many Americans reported being victims of workplace violence in recent years, many have gone unreported. In 2017, 458 of the 5,147 deaths in the workplace were due to an intentional injury by another person. While many of the perpetrators of these deaths were former employees, there is still a significant number of cases where a current employee was involved.
Due to this, businesses should develop standard operating procedures to deal with these situations. Businesses should review the risk factors that lead to these incidents. They should also implement prevention measures to stop these incidents from happening.
Since the pandemic has affected the mental health of many employees, businesses should create programs to help boost the mental health of their people. It should also create de-escalation procedures in case the workplace has to deal with these situations. While working on de-escalation, businesses should get in touch with local authorities in cases de-escalation is not possible.
Businesses should always make sure they have plans ready to deal with any crisis or emergency that can affect their operations and employees.
