Don’t get hit by the “bus”!

Unexpected interruptions in your personnel can be devastating to your business. Losing an employee especially a key performer is always a huge blow to a business. It negatively affects the efficiency, overall company culture, efficiency and morale. A lot of times it can happen without a warning, almost as if your employee had been “hit by a bus”.

There are numerous types of “buses” that could hit your business at any moment:

  • Career Bus – Your employee wants to take a different direction in their career.
  • Medical Bus – Unexpected medical diagnosis and just like that they are gone.
  • Relocation Bus – Elderly parent is sick and an employee who has been with you for 8 years relocates to care for him/her.
  • 3-Day Weekend Bus – Even one missed day could cause major interruptions in your business and result in the loss of a customer who needed something that same day and you could not accommodate as you did not have appropriate systems in place.

So how can your business prepare?

As unpredictable as these events are, your business should be ready to keep going no matter the situation. The best way to prepare for these events is to have a system in place that enables your business to fill potential holes as fast as possible. As a business you need to act as soon as possible to retrieve the knowledge that is encrypted in your employee’s mind (before it is “thrown under the bus”) and to create your onboarding and key processes of your organization accordingly. This will not only protect your company from running into costly situations, but it will also create a system that will make it much easier and effective to train your new hires.

This system should have 3 essential parts:

  1. Reinforce a company culture that holds communication and accountability in high regard
  2. Create clear job descriptions and expectations that have every employee feel they know exactly what their responsibilities are
  3. Prepare onboarding processes that enable efficient and frictionless hiring especially when the former employee may not be there to assist the new hire for long enough

Building this foundation for your business will help to prevent potentially costly and stressful situations. Be cautious when setting up these systems as it is easy to feel prepared when your business has not been in such a disruptive situation before and when everything is going smoothly. Your system should enable you to keep the business going, as usual, no matter which employee may be missing from one day to the next.

We can help you!

Are you unsure whether your business is prepared for these situations? Do you have a system in place that may not have been reviewed for potential shortcomings? You are not alone. We can help you to create, review and implement systems tailored to your business.

Let us help you to peace of mind. Contact us today to schedule your free orientation.