Times of crisis put leadership to the test. The window for initial action is small – be planful rather than giving in to knee-jerk reactions.
COVID-19 with Ease
“Employees are an organization’s greatest asset. When faced with cost-cutting pressures, look for redeployment opportunities that use talent as a resource to get through hard times before resorting to difficult layoff decisions. ”
Your Organization Situation
COVID-19 is showing the true impacts that our volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world can have. The world has been forced to respond, with a pandemic triggering record-breaking market volatility, causing organizations to face very hard decisions. Not knowing what a new day will bring means talent decisions are more difficult than ever.
Your Organization Complications
Reduced infection rates in compromised areas is providing hope that these difficult times will pass. However, organizations are facing harsh realities in real time. With significant reductions in revenue, employers are facing pressure to quickly implement cost-cutting strategies, resulting in mass layoffs of valuable employees.
CXO Solution
Make the most of your workforce in this unprecedented situation by following CXO UG’s process to initiate redeployment efforts and reduce costs. If all else fails, follow our guidance on planning for layoffs and considerations when doing so.
CXO UG Recommendations
“CIOs should prepare IT systems now to safely and reliably handle a vast increase in remote workers and digital fulfillment of market demand."
"Pandemic Preparedness Requires Strong Business Continuity Management"
Pandemic Preparedness Strategy Point 1 - Meet with Leadership
Set strategy with senior leadership
Review pandemic impact on organization Determine the balance between risk and organizational viability Review cost-cutting measures including redeployment and layoffs
Brainstorm underused and understaffed employee segments and departments
Create a list of employee segments that are underused and have a labor
surplus Create a list of employee segments that need additional talent resources
Determine approach to redeployments and layoffs
Create a redeployment process for departmental/functional leaders to follow
Create a timeline for redeployment and layoff actions to be taken
Communicate to departmental/functional leaders
Pandemic Preparedness Strategy Point 2 - Plan Individual and Department Redeployment
Collect key information
Identify employees that need to be redeployed
Assess transferrable skills
Prepare and redeploy
Create a high-level action plan
Prepare communication on the initiative
Provide training to redeployed employees
Support employees through the transition
Roll up information across the organization
Communicate all redeployment decisions and actions to executive leadership
Pandemic Preparedness Strategy Point 3 - Plan Individual and Department Layoffs
Plan for Layoff
Review layoff decision and the roles selected
Evaluate layoff costs
Plan layoff logistics
Execute on the Layoff Plan
Review all administrative requirements
Review all obligations under employment regulations
Determine all support available to employees
Communication Plan
Plan for all levels of communication with affected employees
Pandemic Preparedness Strategy Point 4 - Monitor and Manage Departmental Effectiveness
Monitor departmental performance
Review key metrics by department
Determine impacts of redeployments and layoffs
Review organizational performance
Review key organizational metrics
Revisit placement on Risk & Viability Matrix
Revisit threshold for layoffs
Identify areas for potential redeployments
Determine next steps
Decide how to respond to the evolving situation
The novel coronavirus pandemic, or COVID-19 , is predicted to have an impact on the global economy. Where the global real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.9 percent in 2019, it is forecasted that COVID-19 will cause the global real GDP growth to decrease by 0.5 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year, to 2.4 percent growth.
In the best case scenario in 2020, which is defined as a two month duration of travel bans and a sharp decline in domestic demand, the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to decrease by 0.09 percent due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. In a worse case scenario, defined as a six month duration of travel bans, the global GDP is predicted to decrease by 0.4 percent.
Final Thoughts
COVID-19 is a catastrophe that keeps on disturbing a huge number of lives. Great leadership is essential and there is maybe one silver coating, which is that this emergency speaks to an open door for pioneers to make more team cohesion and advancement despite difficulty