What are all of the reasons why your workforce would not come to work? Depending on your organization and location, it could be: 

  • Snow storms 
  • High traffic volumes, construction on the roadways or train extensions 
  • A measles or Ebola outbreak 

The list can go on and on. However, it’s important to understand the dynamic company culture plays from an operational risk perspective.

In its simplest form, company culture is the personality of your organization. It exists before your 1st employee is hired, and includes the elements of your vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, beliefs, and habits. Essentially, it is the delta of what you say versus how people actually behave at all levels. 

So, what’s in the middle of crisis and culture? People. 

Your people are the most important asset and will ultimately determine the success or failure of your business. People: 

  • Represent your brand
  • Build the operational processes and systems for the products and services you provide
  • Develop the marketing materials to communicate to your customers
  • Recruit and hire the workforce

Often times, when Asfalis Advisors performs a risk assessment, the top areas of opportunity come down to people, process, and technology risks. Leaders often identify external risks, yet it is a challenge for leaders to see the internal challenges that have a direct impact on the operation. It is often missed that company culture can contribute to financial, operational and reputational risks. The constant challenges we see with organizations are: 

  • Turnover
  • Attrition
  • Stagnant workforce
  • Disgruntled employees
  • Communication 
  • Disengaged employees
  • Lack of competitive pay and benefits
  • Diversity and inclusion showing up as conscious or unconscious bias

The output of the above risks shows up as productivity losses, increased training and turnover costs, customer losses, lack of institutional knowledge, and an inefficient operation. While an Ebola outbreak, snow storm, or transportation issue are the most obvious disruptors to prevent your employees from coming to work, it can be the lesser known ones that can hurt even more. 

The good news is that you and your leadership team are not alone, and you can do something about it. Asfalis helps to put control back in your hands, by helping you see the non-obvious risks and provides you strategies to address the gaps. Asfalis Advisors, developed the Business Resilience IQ assessment to instantly help you identify your strengths and vulnerabilities.  Redeem your complimentary assessment of your organization today and see where you stand.