The days of employees staying with the same company for their entire career are coming to an end. The increase of younger generations entering the job force is the driving force of this new career outlook. Millennials are more comfortable taking risks and going for a new position at a new company. In an article published last year by CNN, it was determined that millennials will change jobs about 4 times within the first 10 years after graduating from college. That would mean that millennials are much less likely to stay with the same company after 2 or 3 years. Because of this trend, business continuity is crucial for business owners to be focused on. Your business must have the proper policies and procedures in place necessary to have a seamless transition with employee turnover.
Importance for Employees
Business continuity is important to ensure consistent productivity from your entire team. Step one is to have your company’s policies and procedures set in stone. Everyone working for the company needs to be on the same page. If there is a change in policy from one hire to another, it can lead to confusion and a big decrease in productivity. All current and future employees should be given the same training and instruction so that when there is a change in personnel, there will be a seamless transition.
“I think that it all starts with adequate training. While training new team members, you have to set them up for success. Analyze why employees are leaving the company to see if there are any issues that need fixing. Use that analysis to train new employees AND existing employees so that the entire team is on the same page. Also, providing constant training when issues arise or when necessary is important to keep continuity in the workplace.” –Amanda Thomas, Senior Director of Marketing at Liaison Technologies
A great way to have your entire team consistently on the same track is to have one organizational system. A productivity app like Basecamp 3 is a great way to organize and manage projects. It also allows for easy communication between every department within the company. This way your employees can easily work together and have access to every resource needed to complete a project.
Having these policies and organizational systems in place will make it so that new employees can get into their comfort zone early. Starting at a new company can be exciting but it can also be scary. You need to get into the same rhythm as all of your new coworkers. With proper training policies and organizational systems in place, new employees will be able to hit the ground running within the first few days. Also, make sure that new hires are walking into a positive environment. They’ll be more comfortable speaking up, sharing their opinion, and contributing to the team from the get-go.
“When an office is regularly hiring and bringing on new employees, it’s important to make sure that the environment they are entering is one that has a positive and collaborative atmosphere. By establishing a great, secure work environment, employees feel valued and excited to go into work. Bosses love to see that and customers feel good when employees are happy.” –Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation.com
Importance for Customers
When it comes to the customer, consistency is key. People become loyal customers when you offer them the same quality services on a regular basis. If the service to a customer starts to decrease in quality then they can quickly become unsatisfied, which could lead them to take their business elsewhere. Having good business continuity will make sure that your employees see little to no change in their services, despite a disruptive incident such as hiring a new employee or a system breakdown.
Customers are able to sense stress and chaos. Without business continuity, a disruption can affect the way your employees interact with customers. A stressful environment due to a system breakdown or a lack of proper communication can lead to inadequate service to the customer. This is why having business continuity plans is so important. They will make sure that your customers receive the same quality service despite what obstacles you’re currently conquering.
How to Maintain Business Continuity
While business continuity is all about having your entire company been on the same track all of the time, it does not mean that everyone has the same routine every single day. Changing up your routine is a good way to spark creativity and should never be discouraged in business. But having some set routines like weekly check-ins is a good way to keep everyone on track without binding them to a strict daily routine.
Having good self-awareness is important for all employees because it enables them to know their strengths and weaknesses. For a business owner, it is important to know who your employees are and what their specialty is. Establish these specialties right away and make sure that everyone knows their role. You want your employees to know that each one has a role to play and that role is essential to the success of the company. Also, having people with specialties in specific roles will make it easier to replace employees who move on to a different company.
Another way to ensure business continuity is to document as much as possible. Whether an idea is a breakthrough or a failure, it’s important for the growth of your company. Mistakes are chances to improve. Having your mistakes well documented will help keep current and future employees from making the same errors. When solutions to these problems occur, share them with the entire office. Some mistakes are easy to make, which is why you want all of your employees to know how to avoid them.
Once again, make sure that all of your employees are on the same page. Team communication and cohesiveness are important for the growth of the company during times of change.
“Everyone receives change differently. For some, it can be considered a positive influence that’ll be embraced, while others will pursue methods of coping or dealing with the adjustment. As a business owner and proponent for conscious transformation, I feel that staffing changes are a necessary part of a company’s evolution. And I try to help my team navigate the various responses by facing it head on. It has been my experience that being openly communicative strengthens motivation and is critical for a solid foundation.
Additionally, I believe that my presence as a constant in itself creates a sense of continuity. Setting a good example that each employee can depend on me as change inevitably occurs, especially in our fast-paced agency environment. Aside from our internal adaptation to change, we also face the external impact on our clients when a transition occurs. To mitigate a negative response, we strive to provide a seamless passing of the torch, so our valued clients feel little to no fluctuation. Transparency is key to helping others understand and rally behind change!” -Ashley Knepper, Co-Owner and President of Reed & Associates Marketing
Business continuity starts with the leader of the company. Having the proper policies and procedures in place to make change easier is important, but you will be the single constant factor that your employees will look to for control and guidance. Lead them through changes and implement business continuity plans in every aspect of your company. A company that has good business continuity planning will have a much better chance of having continuous growth. You’ll gain the competitive advantage you need by building up a strong brand reputation and an expanding, loyal customer base. The more prepared you are with your business’s continuity plans, the more growth and success your business will see.
