Preparing for the worst will benefit every aspect of your business
Yes, we know. Planning for something that hasn’t even happened yet may seem like a complicated and costly affair and it’s always more convenient to roll with the good tides and crossing fingers it never happens to you. But fact is – something that any business owner can agree to – one day a crisis will strike. The severity will vary but the sad truth is that no business can evade it completely and a determining factor of the level of consequences is down to how well prepared your organisation is. As we have talked about in previous posts, communication is key and the agent that activates every other emergency system you may have in place: disaster recovery systems, cloud backups and the line of notifications to relevant stakeholders involved in the business.
So, it may seem like a hassle but what are the real benefits of sustaining an emergency protocol in place?
The people
The people run the business and the people are essentially your biggest asset. Ensure that the good ones stay and avoid a major drop out by providing your employees a feeling of being taken care of and with the knowledge that a steady hand is guiding them – not only during prosperous times but also in times of crisis. As we mentioned in previous blog posts, stressful situations can cause symptoms that eventually could evolve into ASD and in case the symptoms persist, PTSD which undoubtedly will have long term effect on your workforce, efficiency and not to mention the general ambience and well-being throughout the team. Make sure that your work force is happy and reduce stress by giving them structured plans and a feeling of security – that will inevitably be rewarded with financial gains and a stronger team.
Financial benefits
There is a clear RoR (Rate of Return) and the money and time initially invested in putting a protocol in place, will be returned multifold when tougher times arrive. As the example with the British Airways power supply issue that left 75.000 people stranded, which due to poor communication and slow responses eventually ended up costing more than $68 million dollars – only for the compensation of cancelled flights. In comparison with the potential costs of a business disruption, the cost of creating an emergency communications plan will seem minimal and it’s simply a win-win solution – for minimizing business disruption and maintaining the efficiency as well as brand reputation.
PR and brand building
Just to give you an example: imagine you’re running a large food production company. One line of production is discovered as unsafe to eat, and the information needs to be quickly distributed to the public to sustain corporate reputation, public safety as well as continued profitability. With a plan in place and an incident management tool you are able to get hold of all relevant stakeholders in order to distribute the information in a collected and rapid manner. Employees know who to contact with correct information, and a public scandal is avoided by swift action. It builds brand credibility, with a PR positive image and establishes the company as a mature and proactive operator that projects a reassuring image both internally and externally. Brand image is crucial, and if a crisis happens without the tools and knowledge on how to handle it the consequences are dire and could potentially harm the public reputation for a long time. To be seen as a responsible player in the media sphere is valuable and essential when building a long-lasting brand.
Consequences and the effects on a company and its employees can be minimised with clear and coherent incident strategies – learn more about it with Bosbec: www.bosbec.com and with their insightful resource papers
