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People and Risk - Bird Flu


A risky business …

Without people you have less business risks; but you also have no business. My proposition is that risk is unavoidable but not insurmountable. I also believe that proactively identifying your organisations' people risks give you the opportunity to make improvements that prevent problems arising and that this planning should filter through to all aspects of your employment proposition. There is an additional benefit in that it also signals to employees that you mean it when you say that ‘your people are your greatest asset’ and this in itself addresses many of the potential areas of risk.

What are the top business threats?

When the Corporate Executive Programme asked its members to identify the risks that pose the biggest threat to business the top two were:

  1. Bird Flu Pandemic
  2. Global Terrorism

These are both well publicised current concerns that warrant a further look. They also draw attention to key areas of ‘normal’ business where, managing people related risks, offers business opportunities.

Given it is topical I thought the risk of a Bird Flu Pandemic was a sensible place to start this series of musings on people and risk.

From an organisation point of view the most obvious people risk for Bird Flu is around absenteeism – either due to a pandemic itself, or the fear of exposure to a potential pandemic. When preparing your organisation’s contingency plans you should consider the following questions:

  • What contingency plans do you have for dealing with sudden and very high levels of absenteeism?
  • What about your plans for a state imposed quarantine?
  • Do you have policies in place for dealing with people who refuse to come to work in case they get infected?

Of potentially more value to the organisation are the benefits that can be derived from applying the learning and thinking about a ‘crisis’ to current management practices. So sticking with bird flu and the main risk of absenteeism an organisation can benefit from answering the following questions:

  • How effective are your managers at managing absenteeism?
  • Do you measure the cost of absence today and its impact on profits, business reputation, customer satisfaction, etc?
  • Have you identified your main causes of absenteeism and put in place strategies for addressing them?

These and many other questions need to be addressed. Whilst the effectiveness with which you address them will impact both on the costs and also the benefits, managing this area of people related risks, undoubtedly gives you the opportunity for competitive advantage.



Published by: Lisette on 25/05/2009 - Add a comment

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