When a crisis hits, organisations instinctively prioritise their physical assets such as data and premises as they rally to continue ‘business as usual’. But when it comes to planning for the worst, making sure staff are looked after should be just as important, argues Graham Whitehouse, of HR and payroll provider Selima.
With volcanic ash, snow storms, swine flu and postal strikes, it’s a wonder anyone has managed to get any work done at all in 2010. But it isn’t just pandemics and acts of God that organisations have to worry about. Staff absence and IT breakdowns can severely disturb business operations, damaging hard-won reputation and relationships. So how well-prepared is the nation’s business community and what does it take to protect business-critical employees who dictate whether organisations sink or swim?
State of the nation
When it comes to crisis planning, the UK scores pretty well for preparation but much more poorly when it comes to communication. Research shows that an increasing number of organisations have a business continuity plan (BCP), and that 79% of those who have implemented it in the last year, confirmed it had effectively reduced the impact of disruption.
Less than half of managers in the UK know whether they have a BCP in place or not, which suggests organisations are failing to communicate crisis strategy to their teams, and crucially, to rehearse the plan in advance. With many public sector bodies legally obliged to plan for a crisis, it comes as no surprise that the majority of Selima’s government-funded clients, and 68% of public sector bodies overall, are crisis-ready. And although small businesses are more vulnerable to the effects of a crisis, only 29% are prepared for the worst, compared with 65% of large organisations.
Talking technical
Creating a BCP can be a challenging task for any organisation, whether large or small. Technology is a key area that needs consideration, however the complexity varies based on how much of the IT infrastructure is outsourced. For example, Selima clients that opt into a managed service are reassured by a robust disaster-recovery process. This protects HR and payroll data and access to it, in the case of a power cut or server failure.
It is also vital to ensure any IT infrastructure could cope with business-critical users working remotely, if they were unable to get into the office. Crisis or not, it is absolutely essential staff get paid on time, so HR and payroll data needs to be safeguarded as a priority. Whether outsourcing HR and payroll or keeping the functions in-house, ensuring that systems and data are sufficiently robust will help avoid possible loss or corruption of priceless employee information, while also making it more readily available.
Putting people first
Readying an organisation’s technical infrastructure for a crisis could be seen as the easy part of planning for the unexpected. However, it’s a company’s most valuable resources, its people, who can find themselves under-prepared when disaster strikes.
In a crisis, it is likely that people will not be able to get into the office. After recent cost-cutting exercises, many payroll departments are run with fewer members of staff, leaving less scope for substitution in the case of absence. Having a BCP that either provides additional resource, or makes systems available to other sites, is a basic necessity. As with any good crisis-management procedure, practice makes perfect – refreshing these skills on a regular basis ensures crisis plans come into effect when needed most.
Breaking the paper habit
Even if employees are willing and able to work through a crisis, of all business functions, HR and payroll may be the least compatible with remote working. In general, these departments have been behind the trend towards paper-free working, meaning lots of important information is still locked in filing cabinets. Many organisations are only just embarking on the transition from physical payslips, timesheets and tax certificates and still have a large amount of paper in the process.
While data may be input electronically and payrollers able to access it from home or back-up locations, much of the paperwork in the main offices will go unprocessed if the building is out of bounds. This creates delays and upsets staff, who in times of difficulty, may be in even greater need of funds. Employees are much more likely to go beyond the call of duty to help an organisation recover from disaster, if they are rewarded by being paid accurately and on time.
In the move to reduce the impact crises have on staff morale and performance, organisations are well advised to wean payroll and HR off the reliance on paper. Many of the effective but archaic systems that have served well over the years are at risk of leaving firms exposed to a gaping hole in their continuity plans, unless they are automated with some urgency. Processing as much of the payroll process as possible using electronic methods, and embracing the self-service HR options offered by providers such as Selima, is vital to keeping this core process functioning in the case of emergency.
It’s important to remember that a business is a combination of infrastructure, data and most importantly, people. Payroll and HR are absolute must-haves, even when a crisis kicks in, and any plan needs to accommodate all areas when contemplating a disaster.
Graham Whitehouse is managing director at Selima
