Addressing human side of disasters

The list of disasters and disruptions with which businesses have to contend is long. Many organisations have already felt the devastating effects of various natural and manmade disasters that have taken their toll on employee, customer and partner relations.

Not surprisingly, many companies are making crisis response a key focus of their business continuity planning. An organisation is most likely continually looking at ways to minimise the impact that disruptions can have on business processes and technology systems.

Yet, even though a company's business continuity plan serves to protect the company's physical assets, such as data, networks, core business applications and facilities, how well does it address the human side of disasters?

While it's important to build resiliency into business operations, it's just as important to build resiliency into human capital. Human capital resiliency can be defined as an organisation's ability to respond and adapt rapidly to threats posed to its workforce.

Organisations that can build resiliency into their human capital are more likely to protect their most valuable resources and maintain continuous operations in the event of a disruption.

Many forward-thinking companies are already considering the impact of short-term interruptions on normal business activities and identifying appropriate actions to sustain vital business processes. They are also looking at long-term trends, such as changes in workforce demographics and customer buying patterns, which could affect human capital resilience and other aspects of human capital management in the future.

However, there are few human resource disaster recovery plans comprehensive enough to meet the needs of employees and the business in a time of crisis. In an emergency, many organisations will be challenged to safeguard and support employees while continuing to deliver the services needed to keep the business operational.

The human capital risks associated with crises can be grouped into three primary areas. The first is the ability of employees to attend work. During a disaster, employee attendance can be affected due to transportation disruptions or health and safety concerns. Employee shock and grief can also lead to increased absenteeism.

During a crisis, the ability to deliver critical internal services can also be affected. Maintaining payroll is essential during and following a crisis and employees may need disaster-relief funding. In addition, communications networks can be destroyed or become dysfunctional in a disaster, making it difficult to share critical information with employees.

It is also important to maintain business operations during a crisis. However, business continuity and recovery efforts can be hampered if an organisation cannot locate key personnel or identify replacement workers as a result of limited access to critical personnel data. In addition, if a company has not engaged in formal succession planning, individuals at all levels may be forced to take on leadership roles or increased responsibilities with little or no preparation.

In response to these risks, a framework has been designed to assist companies to prepare for and respond to the human side of disasters.

While it's important to build resiliency into business operations, it's just as important to build resiliency into human capital.

Chamu M'Kombe is country manager for IBM's business continuity and recovery services in SA.

Policies and communications: Consider how policies overseeing sick leave and travel, for example, can be adapted to apply to times of disaster. Also, define the company's immediate response capabilities, roles and responsibilities, and outline a crisis communication strategy. Once a disaster hits, leverage as many different avenues of communication as possible.

Employee education and support: Teach employees how to prepare for and respond to different types of disruptions. Also, develop a support network for employees and decide what support services the company will offer.

Virtual infrastructure: In the event that employees cannot get to their primary work location, make it possible for them to work remotely. Adopting a virtual working environment requires that a company address specific technology and communication requirements, including providing remote access and support, online tools and collaborative workspaces.

Job training: Identify critical business processes and train appropriate personnel (including partners) ahead of time to execute disaster response plans.

Talent management: First identify business-critical roles, such as those in which people hold important institutional knowledge, provide leadership or cultivate customer relationships. Then, identify sources of back-up people or consider the engagement of external business partners.

HR systems and reporting: Be prepared to deliver core services during a crisis, as well as to monitor and report on the locations of displaced workers. Make sure the business continuity plan covers payroll and benefits administration systems.

Organisational culture: Preparing for effective disaster response is the responsibility of each employee. Work to instil an organisational culture with the values and behaviours that would be beneficial in disasters.

Remember, it's rarely business as usual after a disruption. The effort an organisation makes now to protect its human capital resiliency in the event of a crisis will go a long way in helping it - and its people - recover after the worst is over.