COVID Hindsight

With the benefit of hindsight, we look at the COVID19 situation 7 months into the pandemic. What would you have done differently?

It is so easy to be right with hindsight, as they say. But now, over seven months into COVID, what would you have done differently?

Take a moment to reflect and think about that; imagine you can go back in time and prepare for what is to come. Would your list be similar to ours?

Prepare teams to work from home. 

• Do they have laptops? 
• Can they connect to the office network? 
• Have they got a suitable space in their homes to work? 
• Do they have adequate internet?
• Can your office phones be routed to their work mobiles? 
• Are your staff in agreement with these requirements? 

Thinking of the welfare of your teams is imperative.

• How can you support this new way of working?
• Who can work from home and who cannot?
• How will you protect those who have to come into your premises?
• Are you making allowances for the changes?
• Has homeschooling been considered where needed?
• Will you need to set up contracts to supply PPE or home office equipment?
• Do you need a counselling service to support colleagues?
• Do you need to consider how to keep your workforce connected, online training? For instance a simulated exercise?
• Have you considered an informal online meeting where people are encouraged to chat about what else they are up to?

Keeping connected and meetings

• How will COVID affect meetings?
• Do all meetings need to continue as before?
• Will you need to move your meetings online?
• Do you already have online conference software? 
• Do you use Zoom, which may not have adequate security or investigate other options? 
• Does it allow the numbers you need in online meetings? 
• Does it allow more than one meeting at a time if required?
• Do your teams know how to use it? 
• If not, you will need to provide training?

What about your premises?

• If this closure is for a protracted period, you may need to consider temporarily closing your main premises. 
• Do you need access to part of the office for vital tasks?
• Do you need to reset the heating?
• What scheduled deliveries need to be cancelled or does someone need to be present?
• If it is a protracted crisis with government aid, can a rebate of business rates be negotiated?
• If renting, do you need to negotiate for a smaller area?
• What facilities need to keep running and what checks need to be in place?

As I began, it is easy to see things with hindsight.  

The above is not an exhaustive list, but is a good starting point.

Here at Continuity West, we specialise in supporting you to keep your business going in all circumstances.  

Business continuity planning, when done right, can be the difference between survival and collapse.  We house your business continuity plans in our incident management system MIMS, making it easy to execute with all the required information and contacts to hand.