HR Managers are implementing disaster planning to assist employees in the retail businesses who have been hardest hit by the wave of riots and looting that has recently spread across our cities.
Where staff cannot return to their workplace the larger retailers have plans in place for this sort of emergency and they can assign staff to their other outlets, however smaller retailers will not have plans and will need advice. They may also not appreciate that staff may be afraid to return to work in case there are more disturbances.
Anne Payne, co-founder of employee assistance consultancy The Validium Group:
“If you don’t have the choice of another business unit elsewhere where people can be gainfully employed, the most appropriate thing is to gather people together somewhere else, a local hall or hotel perhaps, so that managers – and they are key in all this – can communicate the plan, demonstrate that they care and assess how people are feeling as a group. How managers respond in the immediate aftermath will have a real impact on the short and long term health of the employee,” she said.
HR Directors and Managers should prepare a business disaster recovery plan and staff policy and training on what to do in the event of riots and public disorder. A process to follow on what to do and who to call, planned now in the calm after the storm, will reap rewards if the clouds of disorder and lawlessness should ever appear again.
If you are looking for assistance to check your policies or to prepare policies for managers in the case of public disorder call Juliet Price on 0800 542 7550 or email Juliet at juliet.price@park-city.local.
