In a world full of keyboard Coronavirus experts and dooms-dayers I thought it was prudent to stay away from discussing that and focus more on the immediate effect to your workforce: Having staff working from home, or at least, away from your office.
I will not join their ranks and start pretending I’m some kind of amateur epidemiologist or economist that can somehow predict the future. I am a glass half full kind of guy who prefers to focus on opportunity rather than fear.
Focusing on opportunities instead of fear doesn’t mean we dismiss the reality of the present situation. Covid-19 does pose a real threat and it is important we are taking steps to reduce our risk and protect our people. At the same time, it is also important we don't allow fear to consume us and prevent us making decisions based on rational thought.
Strong leadership is the ability to remain calm, level-headed and rational during periods of uncertainty. As a leader within your organisation no doubt you are contemplating an appropriate response to the unfolding events.
A common strategy is to declare a pandemic emergency and have all staff work from home. Whilst we appreciate this reaction and understand the pressure you are facing it is important you understand the risks involved.
Contrary to popular belief there is no one solution fits all to this pandemic. What works for ABSH for example may not work for you due to the nature of your business and/or the maturity of your technology.
Covid-19 and Business Risk
The Covid-19 incubation period is 14 days; if one of our team does test positive for the virus, they are required to self-isolate for two weeks, and anyone they’ve been working with must do the same.
If our entire team is attending our office each day a single positive test will require our team to self-isolate for two weeks. As a business that focuses on recognising and mitigating business risk this is just another risk we need to evaluate and mitigate.
Covid-19 presents two main risks for the ABSH Team.
- An obvious health risk for the team member that contracts Covid-19
- A service delivery risk if our entire team needs to self-isolate completely for two weeks – including those that they live with
How is ABSH mitigating that risk?
As of Monday, 16th March, we will be running skeleton staff within our office with the remainder of staff working from home. All client meetings will be delivered using video conferencing and onsite visits limited to situations of a High Impact and Urgency nature such as a system outage impacting all staff.
The nature of our business allows us to respond in this way as
- 95% of our services can be delivered remotely thus these changes will not negatively impact our service delivery
- Working remotely is core to the way we already operate and thus our teams have the necessary collaboration tools, hardware and productivity training to effectively work from home
- We have the necessary security controls in place to ensure the same level of information security independent of where our team operate from
The collection of tools that allow us to achieve this outcome is called the Modern Workplace and, as you would expect from an organisation tasked with the responsibility for helping other organisations achieve it, our adoption is quite mature. This has made the decision to ask our staff to work from home quite simple as doing so is very low risk.
Conversely, if your organisation hasn’t yet adopted Modern Workplace tools, the potential security risks and impact to your business may be high and thus need careful consideration.
To help you objectively assess the risk and establish what is best for your organisation we suggest you consider the following.
What device will they use at home?
Company owned devices are preferred as they should be complaint with your corporate security policy. That includes controls such as,
- Data on the device is encrypted
- Anti-Virus software is installed, up to date and monitored
- A compliant and supported Operating System is installed (Windows 8/10)
- The latest security updates are installed
- Monitored so the organisation can respond to identified threats
If your organisation has an existing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy these controls may be possible on a home (or personally owned) computer. Few organisations we see do have a BYOD policy and as significant effort and planning is required to formulate an appropriate policy, we don’t recommend compiling one at short notice. As such, if you don’t already have a BYOD policy, our strong recommendation is to supply staff with company owned devices to use outside of the office.
Does your office phone system allow you to work remotely or is it tied to your office?
People often overlook the humble office phone but for many it is the predominant communication channel used by clients. Many modern phone systems support a soft client which is software you install on your computer and/or mobile phone that ring when your desk phone does. Several members of the ABSH team do not have a ‘desk phone’, preferring to use only the phone system app on their mobile and laptop as their office phone. If your phone system does not have this feature you may need to consider a modern cloud-based phone system before you send everyone home.
How will your team keep in touch?
We often underestimate the seamless knowledge transfer that occurs between team members when we are all in the same office. The ‘chats by the water cooler’ are an important part of company culture which can also be sorely missed when all communication is carried out only via email.
We have found that instant messaging can mimic the "Hey have you got a minute" style conversations, daily team huddles (meetings) via webcam can help keep the company social culture alive, and video conferencing can ensure you can still do the ‘face to face’ with clients. However, these require a collection of tools to achieve the desired outcomes. A collaboration platform like Microsoft Teams includes the tools required in a single package and is easy to install but users can quickly become unproductive and overwhelmed if the implementation isn’t supported with change management and education.
Is your organisation reliant on visiting clients? Can these visits be done virtually using audio or video conferencing?
If you are already using Office 365 you likely have both audio and video conferencing capability. With most modern laptops including a webcam it is quite easy to continue your client meetings virtually. If you’re not running Office 365 alternative options are available from companies such as Zoom, GoToMeeting, or WebEx.
Are you prepared for everyone in your office to be home quarantined should a client, colleague or supplier become diagnosed?
Consider running a skeleton crew in the office, running split shifts were different teams come in on different days, or requiring those that travel on public transport to work from home. If all staff work from home, and the ‘physical’ office is closed, what challenges will that create? For example, what will happen to deliveries by couriers?
How long will this persist?
We have no confirmed timeframe this method of working will continue. However, some people are already considering that this will be a significant shift in how we work and are suggesting that if we can empower staff to work away from a physical office it could bring significant change to our society. Reduced commuting, smaller offices, and more flexibility for work hours and locations.
If we focus on opportunities rather than fear we can recognise that whilst the immediate requirement will be to continue business operations, there is also the opportunity for positive outcomes that remote working could present for you, your staff, and your organisation.
The ABSH Team has been moving clients to the Modern Workplace for some time. If it’s now time for your business to make that move, then get in touch with us so that we can put a plan together to keep your staff working whilst they are away from your office.