Managing Disasters, Both Natural and Manmade
Most of us are comfortable in the confines of our workspace, and fortunately so – workers in the U.S. typically spend a third of their lives at work. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many people to work from home, but essential businesses, including credit unions, remained staffed and operating as the world adjusted to a new way of life.
Whether you are reading this article from your home workspace or your credit union office, like the rest of us, your work-life has changed dramatically. Our day-to-day work lives have changed more rapidly in the past two years than in other periods of such seismic change, including the advent of personal computing, women joining the workforce, or the post-Industrial Revolution. Masks, hand sanitizer, social distancing, and vaccination mandate debates were not top of your priority list in 2019. Now they are commonplace.
Think back a few years about how you and your team members worked. The credit union was operating on regular work hours, nothing out of the ordinary. You would see members coming and going into the credit union taking care of their financial business, stopping to chat, smiles and laughter. In comes COVID-19, and all of that changes.
Now that we are all mostly adjusted to handling our lives while managing the pandemic, we can start planning for the next crisis or disaster. Let us look at disasters that we can’t control and find ways to handle the unexpected. This article will focus on both natural and man-made disasters and how one can prepare for them.
First, natural disasters. They come in various shapes and sizes and range from minor to major damage and disruption to lives and businesses. For clients in areas that often experience severe weather, we encourage them to review remote operation options yearly and set up systems to manage communication efforts remotely.
Access to social media accounts and websites are critical in times of crisis. Make sure the team members or your outside partner assigned to those areas have all the logins and passwords needed to quickly update your digital presence about closures as well as operations. Second only to ensuring the wellbeing of employees, this step cannot be overstated. Members will look to your digital outlets for news about their money, so be sure to update them as promptly as possible.
While we collaborate with clients all over the world, our offices are in areas impacted by severe weather. As such, we have considerable experience communicating with our clients during major natural disasters, including hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ida. Here is a quick checklist of learnings we have experienced with clients that you should consider when dealing with a natural disaster. If you would like more in-depth insights on how we could help you plan for these types of emergencies, contact me at john@deveney.com.
- Is your server housed on-site? Having it safely housed outside of the area or duplicated there may preserve access to files and avoid headaches for your team and your IT providers.
- Having a way to communicate with your team and members is vital, especially when electricity is off because of a disaster. Do you have portable power available to operate essential functions if needed? Those of us in hurricane country know that storm-related power outages can equate to inoperable ATM’s and getting cash prior to landfall is necessary. Other severe weather occurrences do not come with as much advance warning as hurricanes.
- Most backup generators require gasoline or natural gas, so having access to a generator must also include fuel availability.
- Do you have a way to allow your members access to their funds in the event of a significant and prolonged power outage? Is there a partnership or agreement you can solidify now that would help your members in an emergency?
- Do you have an emergency communication plan, and can team members access it readily without electricity? Having a printed copy of the plan in addition to the online version is critical. Team members responsible for managing social media, website, and HR (and their backup team members if possible) need to have this plan available 24/7 along with the login and passwords for vital online functions. Creating an “emergency binder” for those team members to have both at work and home is essential – we all know disasters happen at any time, not....-->
Most of us are comfortable in the confines of our workspace, and fortunately so – workers in the U.S. typically spend a third of their lives at work. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many people to work from home, but essential businesses, including credit unions, remained staffed and operating as the world adjusted to a new way of life...