An unexpected risk?
Has anyone’s consultant issued guidance following the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak?
My consultant is owned by a Singaporean holding company. Their business stragtegy is to create a consultancy powerhouse in Asia so the outbreak is ‘bad for business’. Already, they are reporting that the virus will have a significant impact on this years profit figures. (The financial year runs Jan-Dec over here).
What I have been most surprised and impressed by is the direction all employees of the holding company have been directed to take. It was almost like military orders! A range of measures have been implemented to protect employee welfare/health and safety and to mitigate further business impacts including:
- Cancellation of all non-essential travel to China, Hong Kong, Singapore etc.
- Authority to travel to these countries is required by company CEOs.
- 14-days self-imposed quarantine (working from home) for all employees who travel through or have close contact with people travelling through the countries above.
- Doctors note required before returning back to work.
- Workers in affected countries are all working from home to minimise further spread of the virus.
Interestingly there was due to be a large formal dinner planned next week for all elements of the Singapore business and the senior management of companies outside of Singapore. This was postponed (prior to Singaporean guidance to avoid large gatherings) because the cancellation fee was considered a small price to forefit compared to the risk and cost to the business if the entire senior management became incapacitated. All staff were informed of this decision in a direct email from the CEO explaining why the decision was being made.
I know John Holland have long had a policy of senior management travelling to meetings via different flights so an accident would not wipe out the entire senior management and to maintain avaliability of business leaders at all times. This us a very similar concept to not having the Commander and 2IC permanently co-located on the battlefield.
Our office was also due to benefit from a surge of structural engineers for a couple of weeks from a JV partner. The extra engineers were due to arrive from Hong Kong but with the 14 day quarantine requirements this is now up in the air. Wider project impacts are yet to be determined.
Aware this topic is probably ‘closer-to-home’ for the Australian crew but I’m wondering if any of the UK companies have implemented business continuity plans or if it’s not on the radar. Any thoughts?
Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog 
Current UK advice is simple: If you are in a vulnerable category for Flu and have not had this years vaccination you should do so. Flu is more widespread in the UK, as easily transmitted and more virulent.
Sydney is popular with the Chinese who have invested in vast tracts of the CBD. There are a number of employees at Arup from the Wuhan area itself and many traveled for the New Year celebrations to see family despite advice to the contrary. Based off of dates reported in the media, they planned and successfully avoided the mass quarantines imposed by China and Australia. Not sure I consider that being a responsible human…
Similar ‘direction’ has been issued here – restricted travel for work to these areas, self-imposed quarantine for 14 days if you travel to those locations etc etc. Despite it being ‘summer’ here, everyone seems ill. I don’t know whether that’s just confirmation bias on my part, but similar to the Army – some people are so ‘dedicated’ they don’t believe in sick days and would rather come in and spread the love.
So far though the impact to business has been low, however this may change if the situation in Singapore deteriorates. Arup has a lot of growth planned for this region.
Similar here – pretty quick direction given; everyone was gathered together for a 30+min meeting where the Brisbane Director gave the direction – very military! Not sure that gathering us all in a small room was the wisest given the topic; but I suppose we knew that no one had travelled to the affected areas (for business at least) in the recent past. A number of business trips to Hong-Kong have since been cancelled but I don’t think this is impacting greatly on the business (most work is still getting done by email, skype etc.).
We experienced similar with the fires and the more recent flooding in NSW – travel bans in place and direction for those whose families live in the affected areas, including compassionate leave if required.
…and we came out here for the better weather!
The Oil and Gas industry is keeping a close eye on it, and so am I, as there is a lot of fabrication completed in Lombardy, Northern Italy. In fact I was there to attend a review of Technical Queries regarding a Fuel Gas Compressor Skid that is being fabricated for a BP asset. So far there is no impact due,however, I am aware of other scopes which have been impacted by the virus there.
Business continuity steps continue at SMEC. It is anticipated that the economic impacts will be wide reaching and are likely to cancel or delay existing projects. There are also concerns about potential future cashflow issues if Clients delay or make late payments.
Today the employees received an email from the parent company’s CEO informing employees that due to the Covid-19 outbreak the group will be implementing salary restraint measures. These mostly affect board executives and senior management who are taking pay cuts however the staff pay rises due to take effect in April will be delayed for at least 3 months.
The group recognises their human capital is important so are trying to reduce overheads to protect employment should the impact of the outbreak continue for a protracted period.
An interesting and bold step by the senior management. Tomorrow there is a meeting with employees to discuss further.