Coronavirus: what contingency plans are you putting in place?

Hello everyone

We had a business continuity plan already in place but everything in it was written with the tacit assumption that there would be an event, we'd sort ourselves out after the event and then we'd be back to normal. So we have been scenario planning for every function, assuming that we might need to survive for a number of weeks with parts of the country under lock-down, the public scared to come out to buy non-essentials and suppliers unable to maintain their normal service.

We set two objectives for our pandemic plan: to keep as close as we can to business as usual; and for our staff to feel safe at work, confident we are following government advice, well-informed and supported.

For HR, I have looked at our suppliers. We have an outsourced payroll. Fortunately, they are equipped for their whole staff to work from home and they have already tested this in a simulated disaster exercise. That was a relief.

We have spoken to our OH company about risk assessing people living with health conditions that put them at higher risk. I had been thinking about the obligation on employers to provide a safe place of work and systems of work, and that what might be safe usually may now present a risk to some people. For example, we have not instituted a general travel ban yet but it might be reasonable to bring one in earlier for people at higher risk such as asthmatics or anyone immuno-suppressed. They suggested that we wait for our first case before we do this. I think that might be too late, but now feels to early. I shall ponder over the weekend.

I have a proposal in front of the board to up-rate some staff benefits temporarily. The biggest worry I hear from staff is not catching the virus but schools closing, so we are looking at increasing our support for working parents and grandparents. We are also looking at topping up our occupational sick pay to prevent anyone coming into work because they can't afford to self-isolate.

We are sharing infection control information via posters and briefings; we are issuing tissues and hand sanitiser etc. We already have the technology and systems in place for working from home for those jobs that can be done from home.

We have checked that we have up-to-date contact and emergency contact details for everyone.

This morning, I saw an interview with Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's Chief Scientific Advisor, on BBC1. He said that he expects that cases will rise for 12 weeks and then fall for 12 weeks, with 95% of cases of falling in the middle 9 weeks, so that gives us a timescale for planning.