In critical situations, aligning HR and employees with customer needs is key to the survival of organizations. Besides the need to keep running business operations, there is a need to protect the safety of employees themselves and their environment when their jobs require working in risky circumstances
At Meta4, A Cegid Company, based on our experience as a leading provider of Cloud technology solutions for Payroll and HR management, we have compiled a series of measures that can help companies and HR professionals to ensure business continuity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Firstly, for any situation marked by uncertainty, it is advisable to create a Crisis Committee or a BCP (Business Continuity Plan) led by the CEO, or the company’s topmost director, along with stakeholders in charge of key areas in the company. The purpose of which is to proactively track the situation daily to be kept informed at all times, and to be able to make decisions as fast as possible in a highly changing environment like today’s. This way, the organization's decisions and action plans can be quickly adapted to the recommendations issued by the official authorities and specifically for the situation in the company’s business sector.
Obviously, all actions that minimize risks and secure the level of operations needed for continuing business must ideally be done in advance. So, in the current circumstances ripe for teleworking, the companies able to do this, due to the nature of their business, are advised to take a preventive measure by testing operations in each department before crisis situations occur. Employees must be given the resources and tools needed to keep on doing their functions and if teleworking is not possible, professionals must be protected properly so they can work in safe conditions with maximum protection.
Moreover, in these critical times, it is crucial for organizations, now more than ever, to establish continuously flowing communications with their employees. Plus, it is recommended that HR, medical services, systems and security departments issue regular communications, with the aim of providing the professionals all the latest relevant information to bear in mind during this unusual period: medical advice, temporarily suspended trips and displacements, government regulations, recommendations for maintaining the safety of computer systems and tools, and more. Likewise, in this context, managers play an essential role when following up with their teams to keep them informed, connected, and coordinated in business activities.
Additionally, the rest of the organization's stakeholders, such as suppliers and partners, should be equally considered and included in the same measures as employees: the continuity plans of infrastructure providers and critical partners must be activated and supervised daily as part of the company's BCP.
Another essential measure when guaranteeing business continuity is the identification of professionals and key areas of the company to ensure services are provided by setting up support functions that allow these areas to perform their operations remotely and by establishing a steady stream of information with clients informing them constantly of the activities and services offered.
Under these unusual circumstances, where organizations are expected to run smoothly, cloud technology assures them that their systems and procedures keep running as usual remotely according to the set service levels and allows them to continue their activities while keeping their professionals safe and isolated.
Evidently within the framework of business continuity, the HR function and cloud solutions are highly relevant for espousing the company’s continuity plans, understood as the processes and procedures that an organization puts in place to safeguard continuity of essential functions before, during, and after a serious incident, to avoid interrupting mission-critical services, and to restore the company to full operation quickly.