Jamel Assignment 10 Safety, Health and Risk Management
Many risk factors exist in today’s society for operating business owners and employers trying to stay in business and be profitable. Businesses often look to maintain the integrity, and credibility of the organization, while not risking lives as a cost to run the business. Through the years with the enhancement of technological advancements, a larger number of businesses solely depended on technology to function. This coupled with the likely hood of health risk environmentally on a local and global scale. A functioning business in 2020 has a lot more worries and risk factors today than those that existed decades prior. Today I will discuss some of the risk factors associated with today’s economy and how businesses can use risk managers as a protocol to protect not only the business but the communities it serves. I will also discuss whether or not certain risk factors can be avoided and if these risk factors will deter candidates from seeking employment by an organization as a result of modern risk factors.
As a retail specialist who has worked in the front line of protecting and bettering the retail shopping experience for years. I’ve seen the implantations of technology completely enhance and change the full operations of a business and help the company grow to see massive profits that warrant possible decades priors. I’ve also seen technology destroy businesses that once existed in what was a seemingly untouchable space in the marketspace. One of the risks I’ve seen firsthand is the use of technology to take and store consumer’s personal information. For me, this was a huge risk with many major companies experiencing hackers tapping into their data banks and stealing the information at the expense of the consumers who often have no idea of such breaches of companies who swore to protect the clients’ personal information. I was blessed to work for a company that truly valued the safety of customer’s information and took pride in staying ahead of the curve with security technologies. Businesses often offer lines of credit as well as store consumer info for mail list purposes. If this is not handled correctly this can destroy a business. To mitigate the risk of stolen consumer information the company uses old IBM software on a closed network that doesn’t operate online in pos. They also implanted a three-step screening for all credit applications and credit card purchases with evolves a screening by manager on duty and rigorously credit approval process when the customer often needed to be varied by the bank lender prior to using or receiving credit approval. Although the process was tedious and took a lot of time out of your selling day it felt good knowing we did our part and hand the business the correct way. Working for a company that knowingly doesn’t protect its consumers from the flaws of technology is embarrassing and would not only deter candidates from seeking employment by such a company but can also have costly consequences for such a breach if internal negligence is proven to be the reason why it has occurred. I immediately think about Wells Fargo and their massive class-action lawsuit for a similar breach and how those internally who allowed this now have such a nasty public stain on their names as well as how it hurt the reputation of the business.
In light of recent times, one huge risk to a business is the threat of a health scare or air born illnesses. Although this is technically not a new risk. After 2020, business in the U.S probably won’t ever be the same. Most businesses that survive the pandemic will be called to hold higher standards in being sanitary and clean within the organization to protect employees and consumers. Although the risk factor of air born illness always existed. Making sure your business can function without putting consumers at risk if such an event occurs in the future isn’t such a far-fetched idea anymore. Business owners now see the importance of building a business that can pivot and transition into what is needed and recommended to operate in such a climate. One essential risk prevention a company can take in this case is to mobilize your business to have more than one way to operate. If you’re a brick and mortar have an online option. If you never budgeted to purchase sanitizers and cleaning products implement this into your purchase log, lastly be prepared to pivot and function at a lesser compacity that doesn’t put anyone at risk of infection but allows the business to still be profitable. A business should always have a contingency fund set up that should be readily available for an unforeseen event that may occur. We now see that this idea of a deadly disease can absolutely happen and can be detrimental to a business that is not set up to run in another way beyond the everyday structure of the business. I don’t think that any business that doesn’t value the safety of its employees and its consumers deserves to be able to do business in the states and would absolutely prevent me from working for such an organization. Most working-class people are not living for themself. They go home to a family that doesn’t deserve to be placed at risk of catching an illness because of a business’s negligence to properly protect its staff and consumers at all costs.
One Last risk I will mention is the power of social media and negative input about the business and how important it is in these times to train your staff on how properly handle isolated situations that can hurt the business. In today’s society, social media is slowly becoming recognized as a huge risk factor for most businesses. With consumers having the ability to walk around with cameras on them all day every day the growing risk of poor service being documented and published to millions can be crippling to an organization’s reputation and credibility. With the power of social media, a consumer can now record a whole transaction and publish it to millions in a matter of seconds. This can be a good risk and a bad risk. The problem is when it’s used to expose wrongdoing or mishaps it spreads like wildfire and can kill the business’s opportunity to cater to an untapped consumer base that now has a negative view point on the business and is supported with documented proof, reviews, pictures, audio and or video. Decades ago, social platforms like Instagram, Yelp, Facebook, YouTube, blog sites, and google didn’t exist. One way to mitigate the damage of a bad social media presence is to properly train your staff to handle a difficult situation. Implement a chain of command but empower your staff with the necessary tools to resolve the matter. Encourage your employees to ask customers to document positive interactions that help organizations build positive rapport. Business who are careless to the power of social media and don’t offer proper protocol in place to deal with tough situations is extremely irresponsible and bold. I think of one situation that supports this notion of how social media can hurt an organization. First, is a Starbucks situation that happened in recent times where two African American males were recorded being arrested and removed from the store after being racially profiled and having the cops called on them for sitting in the restaurant and refusing to leave while waiting for a friend to arrive. The backlash was all over social media news feeds as consumers of all races and creeds displayed anguish and discomfort in the matter and refused to patronize the store until Starbucks the Corporation fixed the problem and released a public statement granting clarity on why this happened. Ultimately the manager was forced to resign and the incident ended up costing Starbucks 12 million dollars as they were forced to close the store for a day to provide company-wide training to better handle the situation in the future. I can’t say this would prevent me from working for a company, however, I would certainly lean toward seeking employment from a business that has a great social track record for employees and consumers alike.
Social Media Presence, Public Health Risk Acknowledgment, and Data Security Protection are just a few amongst many risks in modern times. Those businesses that do these things well give themselves the best fighting chance to stay in business and be impactful. Organizations that aim to protect and value its Consumers & Employees have the ability to stand the test of time and often gain the support of their communities and tend to stay in business for years to come.
