On February 1, 2011, Kansas City and the Midwest got hit with a huge snowstorm. As one forecaster said, he had not seen a storm this big in the 22 years of forecasting. The good news was that due to the weather technology available today, everyone in Kansas City knew what to expect. We were not disappointed. With snow fall ranging from 8” to 22” across the region, employees of all types of businesses wondered “do I go to work, or stay home?”
As an employer, we deal with competing needs and desires. If your business is very local and your clients or customers come to you, then shutting down operations is generally less of an impact. If your employees can't get to work, then your customers are most likely not going to come to your door either. However, if you have customers across the nation, use phone, internet or other means of communicating with you, not having employees in your place of business could be costly.
Then of course, if one of your employees gets hurt while driving into work in a blizzard, you might lose an employee, face work comp expenses, and lose respect and loyalty of other employees. If you are lucky, the worst that happens is your employee gets stuck in the snow and has to dig out.
The employers, who fared the best on February 1, had thought about the issue well before the forecast models were broadcast all over the news. The employers who thought about how they would handle the situation were able to calmly make a decision and implement a policy that made the most sense, (business and safety), and protected not only client loyalty, but preserved and enhanced employee loyalty. These forward thinking employers took the time to think about their business and it needs and then crafted a policy that met those needs and allowed the employees to be grateful for the care shown them.
For example, one forward thinking company determined which positions and employees would be essential to continued operations in the event of a severe snowstorm. They continued to review the list until they were sure that only the ESSENTIAL positions were identified. The employees in the so identified positions were notified that in the event of a severe snowstorm (or other catastrophe) they were required to go to work. Depending on the timing, they would be provided a room in a nearby hotel (within walking distance) and provided with laptops and cell phones by which they could communication with management.
All other employees who were deemed non-essential were provided with a number to call for advisories on coming into work. The final call on whether to close the office was made by the president with advice of operations and the HR person. These three individuals simply executed a policy that was well thought out and created well in advance so that the potential issues that other employers faced on February 1, were minimized.
The intangible benefit of this for the employer was the message sent to employees and customers was that the company handle this situation well, so they would handle other issues equally well, based on well thought out plans and procedures.
What about you? What message do you send your employees? Too often, we react to fires and make things worse rather than follow a trusted plan that achieves our objectives with a minimum of fuss, confusion and worry.
Are your plans, policies and procedures up to date?
Have you tested your policies recently to make sure that they still work?
Have you evaluated changes in operations, employees, facilities which could change the outcome of an old, outdated plan?
It may be time for a tune up of your policies and procedures before the next big snow (or other) storm.
Glenn Brown is the Co-Founder and Principal of the Kansas City based HR consultant firm, G & J Consultants, LLC. In addition to having directed the HR Department of a health care services company, Glenn is an attorney with 15 years experience assisting businesses of all sizes and industries in complying with employment and labor legal issues. G & J Consultants specializes in providing small and medium sized businesses with traditional HR services as well as compliance with employment laws and regulations.
No comments:
Post a Comment