Whether you are an entrepreneur of a small business or a member of a large corporation, you strive to remain competitive. Whether you are the CEO of the company or a fresher who has recently joined a firm, you care about the business continuity of your organization. Amid the current global health crisis, planning for business continuity and managing the employee experience has become extremely critical, particularly for talent leaders. 

At Perspectives 2020, a 24-hour global digital learning experience happening on 13 May 2020, learn from dynamic conversations among practitioners and experts in business continuity planning (BCP) and acquire best practices to ensure business continuity while keeping people and their experience at the center.  

There are still a few weeks until Perspectives 2020, so we’re sharing a few teaser-tips to help you strike a balance between planning for business continuity and enhancing the employee experience in your organization. Skim through these and get ready to gain even more insights and best practices from leaders like Aparna Sundararajan, Senior Research Strategist, ADAPT, Jason Ho, Head, Group Human Resources, OCBC Bank, Nora Manaf, Group Chief Human Capital Officer, Maybank; Su Yen Wong, Founder & CEO, Bronze Phoenix, Author for Unleash Your Voice. 

Focusing on employee experience to ensure business continuity

First and foremost, leaders have to acknowledge and understand the business value behind an excellent employee experience. Crises will come and go and businesses will always face disruption, but the people who make up the organization are the most important factor for long-term success. It is in times of crisis that employers have to support staff, retain top talent and ensure job security. Having teams in place is crucial to ensuring business continuity and identifying opportunities in times of crisis. Organizations looking to ensure business continuity, while identifying new opportunities and deploying viable business models, will need a solid team in place.

And so, employee experience has become more important than ever. Leaders have to become more empathetic and mindful of the employees’ needs to create an experience that is in tune with the employee’s expectations of both the workforce and workplace. Right now, the top priority is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone in the organization, while also monitoring anxiety and providing transparent information about compensation, productivity, and job security. 

Communication is key

There are new updates around the global health crisis almost every hour. Leaders have to be on their toes to ensure their business keeps up with the pace of change. Just as importantly, leaders must regularly communicate updates with their teams and share their plans to address them. 

Ambiguity and uncertainty can make employees anxious, negatively affecting their experience. Consistent communication with clear facts is the way to calm those nerves and guide teams through a crisis situation. At the end of the day, remind the entire organization that you are all in it together. With everything on the table, all employees can synergize and work together to find innovative solutions and ensure business continuity. 

Keep up with the pace of change

A big-picture synthesis of the situation and a plan to deal with it, once captured on paper, can itself become a source of inertia. Crisis management calls for agility in decision making. Be flexible and open to change, replace or sometimes even completely scrap your own ideas. 

As a famous Chinese proverb says, “Great generals should issue commands in the morning and change them in the evening.”

For the current global health crisis what businesses need is a working digital document.

Adopt alternative work models

The pandemic has made people realize that many business activities can be easily carried out from home. That meetings can easily happen virtually anywhere. This realization can save a lot of cost in the future. 

The global health crisis will also influence consumer’s spending habits and preferences, and business leaders have to closely monitor these changing needs and prepare for them in advance. Although it seems to be unclear when the situation will get better, leaders need to have a plan in place. They have to identify the new business opportunities and ascertain the required skills for materializing them and prepare their workforce for the same.  

To learn more about business continuity planning join Perspectives 2020 on 13 May and hear directly from key industry leaders. 

Here are the two sessions on business continuity for APAC & India to look forward to:

Business Continuity Planning (APAC)

Join the dynamic conversation among practitioners and experts in BCP like Aparna Sundararajan, Senior Research Strategist, ADAPT; Jason Ho, Head, Group Human Resources, OCBC Bank; Nora Manaf, Group Chief Human Capital Officer, Maybank; Su Yen Wong, Founder & CEO, Bronze Phoenix, Author for Unleash Your Voice (Moderator). 

Business Continuity Planning (India)

Learn what are some of the best practices from leaders like Mukesh Rathi, Senior Vice President, CIO & CDO, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories; Nikhil Arora, Vice President & MD, GoDaddy India; TK Srirang, Head HR, ICICI Bank; and Vikrant Varshney, Chief Risk Officer & Managing Partner, Risk Resources (Moderator). 

Click here to register for Perspectives 2020, brought to you by Skillsoft and SumTotal.