Question

Develop a 1,500 to 2,000-word, high-level Human Resources Emergency Preparedness Plan. The plan should contain an introduction, body, and conclusion that propose an HR Emergency Preparedness Plan (HR EPP) for a small organization (Less than 500 employees) related to Natural Disaster, Health Crisis, or another Hazard which impact business operations (Sales/Service, Marketing, IT etc.)

The HR EPP (Human Resources Preparedness Plan) should outline following:

1. Introduction of the organization including, sales/services provided, customers, stakeholders, location and history of the company.
2. Identify the emergency- (Natural Disaster, Health Crisis, or another Hazard) Discuss the impact of the emergency on the company operations and employees.
3. Develop an HR EPP (HR Emergency Preparedness Plan) that includes an alternative work plan for operations continuity. Make sure the plan considers Legal, Regulatory, and Ethical issues that impact the business.
4. Discuss Human Resources’ role in the implementation of the HR EPP. (Employee Training, Safety, Performance Management, Leave of Absence, Corrective Action are all areas to consider possible impact to HR’s role)
5. Describe how the HR EPP is communicated to employees.
6. Conclusion- How will the organization measure the effectiveness of the HR EPP.

Answer 1

HUMAN RESOURCES EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PLAN:

Introduction:

M/S X Advisory a financial services, boutique Advisory and investment research firm is a two decade old(est. 2000) headquartered in Mumbai, India. We provide Equity Research and participate in proprietary trading alongside acting as agents for financial products(including insurance and bank products).We are currently being held as an independent organization with no stakeholders apart from our two directors Mr.A and Mr.B. We have a prominent customer base of HNI(High Networth Individuals) and Ultra High Networth Individuals(Ultra HNI).Due to adherence with the local tax laws we are only catering to clients from India.

Nature of Emergency and Remedial Measures:

As we are living in a robust and ever changing financial environment we must be prepared for any future events. The document strives to provide a course of action for the issues we may face in the near future

A. NATURAL DISASTER:

We live in uncertain times and as we can learn from history we can face natural disatster (e.g.tornado/cyclone/hurricane/drought) any time and we have devised a five step plan to ensure that our clients do not suffer in any manner.

1.We are uploading all frequently used documents,training material/questionaires/forms to ensure that there is no requirement to email or contact department individuals for operations.In case you are not well equipped with the documents please contact your reporting head to ensure there is no information leak and everyone is on the same page.All local state registers and reporting deadlines have also been shared with the HR team.The department heads needs to ensure that the timelines are not delayed in any manner unless there is an extension from the local body/Govt.The local forms would be enlisted to the HR Team.The client feedback and reports to the operations/backoffice.The sales figure and portfolio reports of individual RM's to be given to Sales and Requisitions to the entry level/interns.

2)We are initiating a custom made software for all video calls with the clients to update them on their portfolios. The back office would be provided a personal computer/laptop and a data card to ensure that reports are updated in the central server.Computer Hardware / Software / Other Tools are provided to the employees to perform their duties. Equipments should not be used for personal useNo data must be shared externally apart from the company server messenger.To ensure that the bandwidth is maintained we would do a dummy test and any queries must be addressed immediately.For e.g in case of cylcone wherein the bandwidth would be impossible to gauge we have to revert to offline model wherein personal phone calls(recorded for verification) must be implemented so that there is no confusion.

3.In the event of any natural disaster we would be initiating WFH (Work Fom Home). Work hours and details will be shared by your immediate supervisor.An addition workforce of 15% is to be maintained on the payrolls for operational hiccups and a premium for such can be charged from the clients who need quick turnaround times.

4.Company would provides an Internal Messenger for all employees for productive usage only. Any usage of the Internal Messenger for non productive purposes & casual conversations is a direct violation of this Emergency Preparedness Plan.Additionally, some IM clients may also be provided on a case to case basis to address specific official business requirements to particular employees. Any non-official usage of IM clients including adding people not related to official business is a direct violation of this policy. Sharing & Transmission of unrelated files is also a direct violation of this policy.We will update any news which affect inter departmental service on the company Internal Messenger post verification. Any hearsay or unnecessary information from employees without fact check will not be entertained and invite corrective measures.We are also having a local Telegram/Whatsapp group wherein our presence must be duly notified to the clients.In this trying times when media would be hogging challenging financial conditions we must assure our clients the peace of mind that we would be there for them.

5.Our website/business page and Application on Playstore should be equipped to take a surge of activity for redemption requests and portfolio status .The IT team can also have an offline workflow model and have a contingency plan for such emergencies.

B. HEALTH CRISIS:

We understand that health crisis of individuals from the entry level to the top will affect our continuity and service oriented model. Any operation can only be run successfully if all the hands are in tandem.Hence in addition to the medical insurance as per the standard HR Procedures and in order to ensure operations work flow smooth we have initiated an extended two week work from home with reduced and pre discussed work load (in addition to the HR operations) if you have a personal ealth crisis to attend to. We would also entertain if there is a health crisis of an immediate family member. Although these cases would be entertained on a case to case basis it needs to be informed that the reporting manager must be informed in advance alongside the delegation to the immediate reports to ensure that continuity is not affected.Documents supporting the same must also be provided for records and verification in future.We would discourage any leave of absence for miniscule activities since it affects clients confidence in us.Any serious ailment which can affect the course of your future with us needs to be informed to the team.We would be taking part in the diversity program and specially abled however it would be likely that they are allotted departments which would best suit their talent in terms of these uncertain health crisis which is emerging with the urban population on a never ending cycle

C.OTHERS:

In addition to the above two as we have seen in the recent past that man made disasters/pandemic (Chernobyl,9/11,Tsunami and more recently the rodent viruses such as coronavirus and the Hanta virus) has also to be taken into account. In such cases we would follow all the steps in specimen A unless notified.

ROLE Of HUMAN RESOURCES:

The HR team would play a pivotal role in initiating the HR ERP plan of the team and its successful implementation. The first part would be conducting a session well in advance rather than when they can foresee any event like a health crisis or a sudden disaster. Since there are many factors to be considered as we have known from previous instances that a good plan is only considered good when it is properly executed. To prevent any level to exploit loopholes the test run or a dummy event test/drill must be done to smooth out any inconsistencies. In short that performance management and leave of absences are not exploited and to smooth out any steps which challenges employee security and safety can only be worked out through a hand holding by the HR team. Hence the ERP plan can only be executed with the people who brought the people in the team(HR with their reporting bosses).The Performance Management becomes a very challenging part of the process as the individuals working for the organization are all human beings who will face their share of trials and tribulations and thats the reason we have made a extra 15% workforce for such situations.

COMMUNICATION:

Apart from uploading the documents on the company server an emergency meet must be done to ensure that any queries can be addressed in a single forum. Alongside a FAQ(FREQUENTLY asked Questions) must be added to the Standard Operating Procedures of the company. Alongside this the department heads must have a one to one session with the HR and other department heads to ensure smooth flow.If there is a communication gap the results can be disappointing and the entire plan can fall like a pack of cards.Every unit,every employee would be a part of the process and hence regular participation through communication channels and training is not ideal but essential.
CONCLUSION:
The effectiveness of the Emergency Prepared Plan can as discussed above can be ascertained through a fortnight or a monthly drill to ensure that any loose ends are taken care of and doesn't become an extremity.Apart from this an open forum wherein the individual team sits and questions other departments on "What If" scenarios has proved to be very helpful in smoothing out loose ends. As with any emergency all answers would not be present with any team.They have to take all the information into account and then take an action on the same ensuring that the margin of error is negligible.One way which has also come up recently in management circles is to have a drill wherein there is an emergency check by real clients and not custom made(since no clients generally participate in drills).This gives the management a truer account of what it would need to enlist the entire support of the HR Team alongside sales and backoffice.It would be akin to a stress test to ensure that the organization is prepared to face internal and external challenges in the current business environment.