Coping with the crisis
How companies are dealing with the flooding and its impact on the staff and operations
Hay Group, a global management consultancy firm, reveals the best practices in a management survey of many organisations dealing with the flood crisis. Sixty top-notch companies were surveyed in various industries such as commodities, real estate, retail and insurance.
The Hay Group study found that 34 per cent of companies were directly affected by the situation, while only some of them had a business continuity plan to operate their companies as usual. For example, some of the companies moved their offices to other provinces and allowed their employees to work from their homes. Some companies also used this opportunity to make organisational changes by transferring employees to departments which were facing a headcount shortage, and provided additional training to their staff.
According to Hay Group’s research, most companies provided aid to victims for the short term and long term. For the short term, an employee could take leave with pay if they were unable to commute to office and the company would not count it as vacation period. This would help reduce the company’s “burden to pay overtime”. Moreover, 80 per cent of companies that were directly affected by the flooding granted their employees from Bt5,000 to Bt100,000 and also handed out consumer goods or sandbags to them. Some companies set internal evacuation centres to communicate company direction, facilitate their staffs and evacuate flood victims and their families in risk areas. In addition, 60 per cent of those companies also gave money to their staff for accommodation in the range of Bt800 to Bt2500 per night and Bt5,000 to Bt6,000 for one to three months.
For the long-term, each company approved a relief and recovery plan and package, including post-crisis loans for repairing and cleaning flooded houses to their employees’ spouses and families. However, this long-term personal loan is offered without interest, with amounts in the range of Bt100,000 to Bt500,000, with payback period of 2-5 years. In addition, some companies also paid bonuses and salaries in advance.
Some companies closed down their businesses temporarily due to the impact on their clients and partners, leading to possible unemployment. Those companies, especially in the insurance, real estate and banking industries, helped their existing clients’ business by their practices. For example, the real-estate industry provided sandbags, feed pumps and aid packages to their key clients. The banking industry reviewed late-payment penalties, prolonged the date of commencement of credit period and considered additional credit limits for operating business. Insurance companies extended the grace period for payment; waived charges for reinstatement and policy fee for clients.
Thanwa Chulajata, country manager for productised services unit, Hay Group Thailand, suggested some business practices for leaders dealing with crisis situations:
Don’t panic: Both employees and employers need to stay calm to tackle the problems and need to focus on key variables before making a quick decision.
Keep on communicating: Each organisation should communicate and update direction with their employees; for example, several companies send messages through SMS or e-mail. They can also use social network and create applications to keep in touch with their staff in crisis situations.
Give people a vision for the future: Leaders should convey a clear direction to their employees during a crisis. The leaders should not only have a direction-oriented style but they should be concerned about their employees’ needs and tend to have empathetic personalities. This would enhance employee engagement to the organisation and increase employee effectiveness in the long term. Moreover, this type of leadership should involve low to mid-management level.
Turn a crisis to your advantage: Many organisations have turned this crisis into opportunities by offering several service lines, especially by donating their company’s products to flood victims. This would help strengthen brand awareness in terms of corporate social responsibility and ensure sustainable growth of their business.
