The current pandemic crisis has left many countries in a perilous position. Both governments and businesses alike have been severely unprepared for the pandemic, causing issues across the world. This is because many institutions simply do not have the right level of preparations in place needed to deal with an outbreak at the magnitude of COVID-19 (commonly referred to as coronavirus).
Of course, now it is too late to put these in place and affect the current situation. But once we come out of the other side of this pandemic, many will have to take a serious look at their risk plans for these scenarios. Mitigating these risks as much as possible should be a key factor in these plans.
So, with that in mind, here are a few ways that you can work to successfully ensure you have a plan in place in the case of a pandemic, such as COVID-19.
Establish a Pandemic Plan
Being over prepared is often better than being underprepared, which is clearly the case for a pandemic.
During a pandemic, it is also important that you prioritise all spending to match the current situation. Supporting business activities and function, for example, should be prioritised over things such as training budgets and ‘fun’ spends.
Where possible, your business should work towards being fully remote when needed. So that may mean re-planning your company's IT infrastructure and practices to match this. This could involve significant investment, but will eventually help your business to remain profitable and to weather the storm of any future pandemic.
Monitor the Ongoing Situation
During the onset of a pandemic, it is vitally important that you monitor the situation carefully. If the situation does develop quickly, then you need to be on top of the issue.
Many companies should check the news, official government advice and the World Health Organisation’s website to keep abreast of any and all updates. Sometimes these situations can develop quite quickly, so it is always best to be ahead of things as a result.
Review Financial Implications
When it comes to pandemics, nothing is certain and as such it is best to project outcomes for every scenario. Reviewing your financial projections and knowing what might happen in both worst/best case scenarios is therefore a necessity.
It’s always important to understand your obligations in this situation, particularly in relation to any physical locations you may rent. It’s important to know where you stand with your commercial property management team and how that might evolve during times of crisis. The worst case scenario is obviously a large financial loss or even the complete dissolution of your business. And, unfortunately, this is entirely possible depending on what happens during the outbreak.
Create Further Personal Hygiene Restrictions
All staff contracts likely have a personal hygiene clause, it’s incredibly common. But few actually consider this a ‘necessity’ of the job so to speak. Ensure this is made incredibly clear during a pandemic as it could mean the difference between spreading it and not! Outside of personal hygiene, it is also important to increase the amount of cleaning done around your work premises and keep the work environment as generally clean as possible.
Review Work from Home Procedures
In a pandemic, the best way to help fight the spread of any virus is to isolate as much as humanly possible.
Occasionally, it may be worthwhile to conduct work from home stress tests. This can be a way of testing your infrastructure, ensuring that people are able to access the necessary resources in order to work comfortably from their home environment. Even if only done once a year, it can be a good way to test and ensure that your business is ready in the case that an extended work from home policy is required during a pandemic.
IT Infrastructure
In order for your business to survive during a pandemic, it is important to ensure that your IT infrastructure is able to support it. Investing in a new IT infrastructure may be a costly endeavour, but it can be worthwhile in the long run. Especially as you should be able to help mitigate the risk of spreading the disease throughout your company through this simple practice.
Final Thoughts
No one plans for a pandemic, COVID-19 is a clear sign of that. But now is the time to start doing so. Learn from the current situation and make it a point not to repeat it in the future. As this is the only way we can truly ‘future proof’ our business models in these trying times.
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