A mystery virus that has tested HR and business resilience

About twenty years ago, I turned up with a team of trainers to run a live crisis simulation to test how well a new HR management team in a large London HQ would respond to a significant percentage of their staff being struck down with a mystery virus. As we approached the building, a firemen suggested we turn back as there was a flood in progress. ‘Oh yes,’ I agreed, attempting to push past into the foyer. ‘We organised it. I thought it was SARS today, but someone must have changed the brief.’ I remain grateful to the London Fire Brigade for their patience and humour – when we later ran a simulation that closed streets around a university graduation day, entered into their improvised roles with Oscar-worthy gusto.

BFI disrupted workplaces and put teams through their paces 

Back then, a lifetime ago, SARS was a mystery virus that seemed to have more effect on Toronto than London and was one of a range of crisis tools we used to stress test organisation’s disaster recovery and business resilience plans. From a foreshadowing of #metoo, where we ran an exercise on tackling a toxic sexist City workplace to a straightforward loss of electricity, BFI disrupted workplaces, put teams through their paces and had a lot of fun at the same time.

When the SARS, and later Avian and Swine Flu, outbreaks spread, the world was a very different place. We worked with companies who were planning for a 50% attrition rate; Tamiflu was like currency, there were rumours of a huge morgue planned for Richmond Park and when I suggested to the HR Director of a global bank that we run a scenario in which a dozen senior staff would be working from home, he raised an eyebrow and said ‘that’s a little bit far-fetched.’

Was HR becoming risk-averse? 

Over the next two decades, HR become a function that was increasingly risk-averse, to the point where most senior practitioners preferred to assume that disasters and crises would be dealt with by other teams, and the role evolved accordingly. Our training and conferences centred on changes and updates to law, and building inclusive workplaces.

The week before Boris told us all to work from home, we ran a live pandemic update event, the first since 2008, at which the possibility of remote working was vaguely mentioned; the figures and charts gave no indication of the utter chaos that would follow.

Our FREE 'What to do this Week' webinars were an HR life-line 

A tearful head of HR gave us the idea for the free webinars we produced throughout the first nine months of the pandemic when she told me ‘I don’t know where to start, what do I do this week?’ The sight of a government advisor standing in semi-darkness on his staircase shouting ‘what the bloody hell is going on?’ during one of the first broadcasts pretty much summed up those first few months – what was furlough? How did we calculate it? Who was and who wasn’t supposed to be at large? How did HR deal remotely with the mental health of employees and their families? It was a strange time, and I am inordinately proud of all the experts and practitioners who shared their experience and stories to help our delegates make sense of the chaos.

BFI - your trusted partner in pandemic recovery

A couple of years on and we’ve grown used to virtual training and conferences – in fact, there are many benefits – and the number of companies talking to us about their recovery plans is growing weekly. I am seeing more delegates attending events from their offices, and we have even been asked to quote for some live in-house training in the spring. While it will take a long time to quantify the costs, it is heartening to see the resilience shown by HR and hear the resolution to learn from and build on some of the key lessons this pandemic has brought. And while the chances of a fireman in full uniform appearing in my kitchen are mercifully slim, I am looking forward to partnering again with HR departments to get companies back on their feet and thriving once more.

Blog article written by Elizabeth Smith, Director of Research.