Category Archives: Business

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Automating Risk Functions for Greater Value Creation

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Despite recent volatility, more than 60% of risk executives surveyed in a recent PwC US Pulse Survey were optimistic about the global economy, as well as the state of the pandemic recovery. This optimism could stem from a greater alignment between risk functions and the business. Fifty percent of risk management executives reported interacting more with the C-suite, and 42% said they interact more with the board level. Nearly half of respondents said that risk functions and capabilities are now embedded in the business operations that are driving transformations.

Risk functions were once considered tactical and reactive, and often seen as a roadblock to business decisions. Infusing risk management into corporate planning allows an organization to think about compliance responsibilities in a proactive and strategic manner—moving risk and regulatory functions from a back-office cost to a competitive advantage. Staying ahead of uncertainties while also bolstering planning with data helps make companies stronger and more resilient.

Many companies spent the last decade overspending on risk management as they attempted to keep up with compliance and regulatory shifts, frequently lagging behind changes in policy. They often invested heavily in new technologies and data collection, but failed to create efficiencies by integrating those systems across largely siloed business functions. The swift onset of the pandemic made many organizations come to terms with the reality that an entire organization didn’t need to be reimagined in order to implement technological transformations, and that there was still a disconnect between many of the piecemeal systems that had been previously put in place.

Now, executives are increasingly seeing the value of risk management as a strategic advantage. It allows companies to grow in areas with less mature risk management functions, like taking on higher risk clients or entering new geographies. More intelligent monitoring also allows for increased efficiencies and reduced compliance costs.

Integrating AI and automation into the investments that have already been made can help streamline the risk management and compliance processes. Many companies still have room for improvement; only 25% of risk professionals said they were implementing new risk management technologies in 2021 and only 19% said it was a priority to integrate risk management tools onto a single platform.

By automating and enhancing risk management functions, organizations can:

  • Strategize for entering new markets. Make more informed decisions about entering a new market by taking into consideration a shifting regulatory environment and increasingly complex supply chains. Taking on high risk customers relies on analytics and transaction monitoring systems in order to identify potential suspicious activity.
  • Increase speed to respond. Automation and technology-led monitoring of policy and negative news helps position companies to respond more quickly to regulatory bodies and head off negative events before they go viral.
  • Allocate costs efficiently. No longer duplicate costs by operating the departments of your business in a siloed fashion. Leverage case management and workflow systems to aggregate control failures or suspicious activity by customer or focal entity, allowing you to evaluate the root cause and apply analysis across multiple control failures.
  • Enter new business partnerships more confidently. Know the risks of a potential business partnership and get deeper insights into the impact a business partner or vendor’s supply chain could have on your business. Vendor risk management and contract analytics technologies can monitor whether business partners are adhering to their terms and conditions.
  • Reduce the impact of new requirements.  Identify the blind spots and shed light on the potential risks within your enterprise system so you can quickly take action early in the process, allowing your organization to avoid fines when implementing new regulatory requirements.

Regulators and other stakeholders are increasingly calling for the organization of risk management functions under one cohesive point of view. By fixing the disconnects and setting a collaborative tone, you give senior executives more cohesive insights and allow them to adopt more extensive views on the organization’s risk profile.

Employee Engagement is Key in COVID-19 Recovery

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Businesses and their employees have had to rapidly adjust to the shutdowns and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and their ability to adapt and pivot will continue to be critical as organizations start to recover from the impacts of the crisis.

To further compound these circumstances, the ability to maintain engaged, empowered, and satisfied team members has proven challenging for many. While some organizations have thrived under their modified operating conditions, others have struggled to respond to change and keep team members engaged and productive. While rates of vaccinations are bringing some hope about the pandemic’s eventual end, the tidal wave of change we have experienced is unlikely to ebb any time soon.

When creating your COVID-19 recovery plans, the value of engaged and satisfied team members in this fast-moving environment must not be understated.

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Engaged employees will support your organization to achieve its mission, execute its strategy and generate results, particularly as times remain uncertain.

As leaders, we must ask: how can we leverage the rapid change we have experienced over the past year, continue to drive growth and sustain employee satisfaction and engagement? Here’s how:

1. Accept remote or hybrid work environments as the “new normal”

The days of office cubicles and open floor plans for all employees are gone. We now operate in a world where some of our team members will continue to work where it is the safest, most suitable, and most empowering for them.

Many organizations across industries have already embraced the fact that working remotely, in some form or fashion, is here to stay. This shift has had many benefits—such as being able to recruit talent outside of your typical geographic area and eliminating lengthy commutes from home to office. However, the shift has not been without challenges and very real risks.

As we move into a recovery phase, leaders must remain alert to the challenges brought by an environment with minimal face-to-face interaction, the potential for feelings of social isolation, the need for different ways to access information or support, and the natural distractions of being at home.

For leaders, scheduling regular check-ins and establishing rules of engagement has not changed, regardless of whether you work in an office or at home. However, with a majority of our workforce currently at home, we need to get creative in the way we support and engage our teams.

2. Manage the new risks

This shift from in-office environments to hybrid or remote work environments has brought to light many physical, psychological and technological risks. Leaders must build out their risk management framework to incorporate a broader lens.

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It is now paramount to ensure team members have access to resources to work from home safely and comfortably, with the right technology support and a focus on open lines of communication.

The pandemic has also brought on feelings of isolation and fear for many. If you have yet to adjust your workplace mental and physical support offerings, do not neglect these critical needs any longer. Ensure such offerings are also set up for those workers continuing in a hybrid or fully remote setting.

3. Prioritize communication

How we communicate and engage with our teams is as important as ever. Whether it’s Zoom, Slack, Webex, Microsoft Teams or any of the other platforms we have increasingly relied on over the past year, we need to provide opportunities for both formal and informal communication to flow.

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Through informal social connections, leaders can demonstrate emotional support and consideration for their team, which ultimately leads to higher engagement.

When leaders are engaged, supportive, and available to their employees, it helps reduce feelings of isolation and reinforces your strong company culture. At the end of the day, when team members feel they work for an organization that supports their ambitions and wellbeing, it increases productivity, retention, and cost savings. This translates to bottom-line success.

Building Effective IT Disaster Recovery Plans

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No matter how well-managed IT infrastructure is, there is always the risk that a tiny hiccup could ultimately turn into a real emergency. Given the increasing reliance on technology tools and access to business-critical data to continue operations, every business should have an effective IT disaster recovery plan in place to minimize disruption when disaster strikes. Risk professionals must consider and plan for this situation with regular testing and run-throughs to ensure that all team members understand the recovery plan and know their responsibilities.

As natural disaster season begins, risk professionals should assess the risks and mitigation strategies in place to minimize disruption and losses. The following tips can help ensure that IT disaster recovery plans are as effective as possible:

Plan in the Risk Management Context

Instead of thinking too much about what a disaster would mean for your company, frame your recovery plan in the context of risks. Start by examining which risks your company faces, and what steps you can take to minimize each one. This will ensure that all teams are fully aware of what the risks are, and how they can make a difference in eliminating potential problems.

Prioritize Communication

Nothing exacerbates a disaster like a communications breakdown, so all good recovery plans should focus on communication. The onset of an IT disaster could impact communication systems, so plan an alternative way of communicating with teams in the event of an emergency. Ensure that all team members know the backup communication method, and that everyone understands who they need to contact to inform them of the situation. 

Protect Data Continuity and Backups

Data continuity planning is critical to minimize losses during a crisis. At its essence, data continuity ensures companies have alternative processes and infrastructure in place to allow key IT operations to remain intact, taking into account both hardware and software. A first step is often to invest in failover systems across multiple locations as well as backup generators and power supplies, and ensuring you keep them all in working order.

Data continuity also involves backing up all important data and storing it in a location away from potential disruption. Methods range from server replication to continuous protection (continually backing up data on a separate server). For data back-ups, businesses often choose disk-to-tape or disk-to-cloud models. Either way, the most crucial element of backing up data is knowing what to replicate and what to leave. Archiving everything available can mean greater expense, but being selective can increase the risk of losing information. The rule of thumb is that, as a minimum, any backed-up data should be capable of restarting business operations from scratch.

Define Acceptable Downtime 

The amount of downtime that a company can feasibly take varies considerably depending on the company’s size and the products or services it provides. Think about how a disaster could affect your company, then decide on the steps that you’d need to take in different potential scenarios. In most cases, a few minutes of downtime rarely constitutes a total disaster, so focusing on recovery plans that can get systems back up and running as quickly as possible will help keep losses as low as possible. Cloud-based technology can be very helpful in such disaster scenarios since data is off-site and services stay operational even if your physical location is impacted.

COVID-19 Vaccines: Should You Mandate, Motivate or Educate Employees?

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For the past year, employers have grappled with unprecedented workplace safety and human resources challenges, forced to address safety measures that were unfamiliar for many industries. Employees have become accustomed to daily health screening and masks, and human resources has added COVID safety training and enforcement to its job duties. As vaccines are becoming more prevalent, employers have to now decide whether they should vaccinate their workforces. Making this decision can seem daunting and the applicable employment laws can seem overwhelming. However, there are some baseline considerations that may help.

As a threshold matter, employers are obligated under the OSHA General Duty Clause to provide a safe working environment to their employees. At the direction of President Joe Biden, OSHA released new comprehensive guidance regarding COVID workplace safety, including a 16-point list of essential components of a workplace safety program. OSHA recommended that employers make the vaccine available to eligible employees at no cost, and made clear that employers must continue to enforce COVID safety protocols regardless of an employee’s vaccination status “because at this time, there is not evidence that COVID-19 vaccines prevent transmission of the virus from person-to-person.”

Employers now must determine whether they will mandate, motivate, or educate employees to receive the vaccine. They will first have to determine whether the vaccine will provide a safer working environment. While it seems clear that the vaccine will minimize or eliminate the vaccinated individual’s COVID symptoms, it remains unclear whether a vaccinated worker may spread the virus to others. Therefore, a vaccinated workforce may still be a contagious one.   

Businesses that serve in-person customers may benefit from mandating the vaccine. A local restaurant or retailer may be able to advertise that its staff is vaccinated encouraging patrons to return. While a mandatory vaccine program may be complex, the benefit of returning customers may outweigh the pain of a program. Conversely, in an organization where most employees have remained remote and business has continued at normal levels, the complexity of a mandatory program may not be worth it. In the latter scenario, it may be better to implement a voluntary program, which is easier to administer and has less compliance complexity. Employers will have to weigh the return on investment for each approach.

Employers will also have to determine their appetite for risk. Many initially lean toward a mandatory vaccine approach in an effort to protect employees from becoming seriously ill. However, even mandatory programs pose liability risks for employers. Essentially, there are two schools of thought regarding mandatory vaccine programs:

  1. A vaccinated workforce is essential to safety. A vaccinated workforce will reduce community spread and bring the workforce closer to herd immunity. The fewer employees that become symptomatic or sick, the sooner we may reduce COVID-19’s spread. Likewise, it would be negligent, or a violation of the employer’s General Duty obligations, to not mandate eligible employees to receive the vaccine.
  2. The vaccine is too new to mandate. On the other hand, some believe that it would be negligent, or a violation of an employer’s General Duty to require employees to receive the vaccine, noting that the vaccine is merely under emergency authorization. Consequently, mandating that eligible employees receive the vaccine would create employer liability for any possible harm the vaccine could cause to employees.  

It is also important to note that mandatory programs will likely trigger workers compensation coverage for any medical services and/or lost time associated with employee reactions to the vaccine. Workers compensation coverage is not always a bad thing. Employers should remember that the workers compensation exclusive remedy provision protects employers from negligence and tort claims (but not gross negligence). 

Employers should also consider the practical and operational complexities associated with a vaccination program. Employers who implement a mandatory program must be prepared to enforce the rules. They may be faced with difficult decisions regarding candidates and eligible employees who refuse to receive the vaccine (without any legal protections). Can the employer continue to recruit and retain talent under a mandatory program?

Regardless of where an employer lands on the vaccine program spectrum, they must take their employee complaints and concerns seriously. Likewise, employers must not take adverse action against a complaining employee. Employee OSHA whistleblower cases have reached unprecedented numbers. As of February 5, there have been 4,738 COVID OSHA whistleblower complaints filed in the previous 12-months. Before 2020 (and COVID-19), the largest number of complaints received by OSHA in a 12-month period was 3,355 in 2016.

The good news, if there is any, is that employers that provide safe working environments, are open to employee concerns, and communicate with workers are already taking positive and proactive steps to avoiding liability and litigation. The following best practices may be helpful: 

  • Review your COVID safety program to ensure it comports with OSHA’s 16-point COVID prevention program guidance, and continue to review and update as guidance and regulations change.
  • Provide managers and employees regular safety training, and provide managers with training to enforce safety programs, hold employees accountable, and document all safety incidents and violations.
  • Stay up to date with regulations. OSHA has updated emergency temporary standards, and local and state laws continue to change rapidly.
  • Update anti-retaliation policies to include COVID safety protocols. Also consider a whistleblower hotline and ensure that managers are trained and understand how to take seriously and address employee concerns and complaints.
  • Be sure your workforce has the most current information regarding COVID-19, its symptoms and transmission, and the vaccine. Also be sure to provide all communication in multiple languages for a multilingual workforce.

Ultimately, COVID workplace safety is at the core of any employer’s operations. Whether an employer mandates, motivates or educates its employees to receive the vaccine, they must continue to evolve and enforce their COVID safety protocols.