The spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to dominate the news, with major implications for public health and the NHS. It is also causing economic disruption and we want to reassure you we have put in place sensible measures to ensure that Menzies is well prepared and well positioned to continue to support you and handle your work.
We are focused on two key aspects: the health and welfare of both our clients and staff and our ability to continue to support clients. Below are some of the specific actions that we have taken.
A robust approach to risk management and operational effectiveness is integral to our business and so we are prepared for unexpected and unusual events through a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan. Our plan identifies the requirements that would be needed for each area of the business to function under a wide range of scenarios and it is kept under constant review. These scenarios include natural disasters, acts of terrorism, data breaches, power and transport failures and major sickness outbreaks such as pandemics.
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Operational resilience
We have invested in technology and infrastructure to ensure that the business is both robust and adaptable to be able to cope with significant and potentially disruptive events:
- Across our office locations, we already operate an agile working policy which means that our staff have the ability to work from home and can remotely access our systems within a secure IT environment. We are also able to redirect work phone lines to employee mobile phones, so they remain contactable
- We operate from seven office locations across the UK and importantly have a multi-site approach to our main functions and provision of services to clients. This gives us the flexibility to temporarily relocate activities or teams to other sites if necessary.
- In the event that Government recommends office closures, we are ready to respond in a manner which will minimally disrupt our ability to continue to service clients.
- Because of our investment we are well placed to support clients whose on-site operations may be impacted by the current situation.
Employee and client safety
The health, safety and well-being of our staff and clients is of paramount importance to us. We are therefore closely monitoring and implementing official guidelines from the Government and health organisations in respect of coronavirus. Specific actions taken include:
- We have required any staff who have travelled recently to one of the listed high risk countries within the previous 14 days to identify themselves. Where staff or a family member has visited these destinations we have asked them to pay close attention for any symptoms themselves and self-isolate even in the case of mild symptoms as a precautionary measure.
- Staff who have symptoms of a cough or raised temperature will stay at home for 7 days in line with Government guidance.
- We have encouraged everyone to be able to work from home and have the technology in place to facilitate this
- Hand sanitisers, disinfectant wipes and tissues are widely available throughout our offices for both staff and clients and we reinforce our existing clear desk policies to facilitate additional cleaning each evening
- We have asked staff to travel for business only when essential. We recognise that many clients will also want to minimise their travel and face-to-face contact during this period and therefore we can facilitate meetings by telephone, videoconferencing and Skype. In the current circumstances, we believe that facilitating meetings by telephone or video conference is best practice
The coronavirus outbreak is clearly a constantly evolving situation but we want to reassure you that we are taking sensible precautions to minimise the potential impact of coronavirus on our business, our staff and operations. Whilst we acknowledge that there may be some disruption, we are committed to doing our utmost to provide as an efficient service as possible and ensure that we communicate any circumstances which could impact on our support to you in a timely manner via your relationship team.
If you have further questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with your usual Menzies contact.