Jose Santiago AD614-Midterm Paper- Apollo Rejuvenation Simulation

In my time as the Director of Business Continuity at Apollo Rejuvenation, I have learned that one of the biggest flaws in our company lies in our most important asset: our human capital. During this exercise I learned that not all crises are based on hurricanes and tornados. There are several other aspects that can put a stop or slow down business operations. In this case one of our biggest holdups were the employee tension and toxicity that exists at our centers. This is an important factor as toxicity in the workplace leads to a potential lack of productivity and in some situations employees may do sit-ins. Morale must remain high to avoid these productivity stops which trickle immediately down to customers and ultimately, shareholders.

Situation 1 The first task was to evaluate the mounting tensions in the workplace. Taking advisement of four members within the senior-level staff, I choose the options in which I felt were having the biggest impact and relevance among employees. These workers would not have been satisfied if I were to conquer low priority wants and needs. This exercise was to point out the 3 most likely areas that could cause business interruption. Due to a decrease in tourism we have had to adapt the mentality of doing more with less. For this reason, workers were starting to feel the pressure in terms of workload. This is especially true with the housekeeping staff as they comprise the majority of the staff. My main reason for using this was listening to employee cases and instances where they have felt that their workload has become unmanageable to the point where it effects their productivity and personal life. My next area of concerns for business operation was

Jose Santiago AD614-Midterm Paper- Apollo Rejuvenation Simulation salary. My methodology for this was to use employee satisfaction surveys and I also considered that salary is the driver for most people to come to work. In addition, during a senior management survey on disruptions, all of them had salary as one of their top 5 areas of potential problem issues.

Lastly, I felt that employee benefits were a big issue. Several companies have gone into strike situations because they cannot come to an agreement with employee benefits. This is an area that we need to address before it spirals out of control. According to the key demographic figures at Apollo rejuvenation it is safe to assume that many of our employees are at the age where they are likely supporting a family. As a result, benefits can sometimes be the main driver for employment among parents and spouses.

Situation 2 The next situation focused on real decisions that I would address to tackle these issues in the workplace. The first started with the option of a salary increase. As the CEO did not approve of a large salary increase, I recommended a three percent increase among all staff. Next I decided that we would hire temporary staff to fill in the gap for work that cannot be reasonable completed by the current employees. This option is relatively inexpensive and the other options are either too expensive or ineffective. One of the driving reasons for this decision was after talking to the employee spokesperson, Mike Lujano. He expressed to me that employees are not looking for cushy jobs and lifestyles. In fact, they are looking for a way to decrease some of their bigger stresses in their every day life; financials being one of them. These requests seemed reasonable and not just typical of complaining over-expectant employees.

Jose Santiago AD614-Midterm Paper- Apollo Rejuvenation Simulation For the last portion of the exercise I was asked to choose the main aspects of change for the employee benefits. I wanted to find a relativity good balance of managerial and worker agreement; the middle ground essentially. These changes were starting a 401k package, discussion workshops among employees and management, and begin an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). These options were the mostly likely to increase satisfaction and decrease the chances of business interruption at the centers. Also consider that an EAP assistance can also have an added benefit for reduction of incidents. This program can reduce occurrences of workplace violence and worker mental health issues since employees have access to counseling services (Anonymous/ISHN, 2010).

Situation 3 The last task saw heavy floods in Iowa, which affected our center in that state. I had to balance the short term and long term measures. Using the statistics in how most of the workforce was effected I was able to determine that in the short term day care facilities, transportation, and housing related services would help to keep employees at work and safe during the commute. In the long term, I focused on counseling services to help employees maintain a metal capacity during this tribulation. In addition, we trained supervisors on how to manage these troubled workers and allowing them flexible schedules as needed. These institutions all provided options to help employees maintain some normalcy which would stabilize productivity in the aftermath of the floods.

If I were to have done a major aspect differently it would have been the salary increase. While the three percent increase seemed like an act that was satisfactory for

Jose Santiago AD614-Midterm Paper- Apollo Rejuvenation Simulation both management and workers I believe that it has the potential to lead to a slippery slope. If we were to provide an increase in salary during this time of crisis and workplace toxicity, we would be rewarding workers in the wrong way. I would redesign this plan to give immediate and comprehensive raises to individuals based on personal merit. This recognition-based incentive will provide a better example to the workers. For instance, we have already identified workers who go above and beyond to finish their jobs when the workload is high. Those are great examples of workers who should be compensated. To simply provide a general increase across the board is counter-productive.

During the incident involving the Iowa flooding I sense that we could have done more at the center to help with recovery services for employees. As we are a facility that saw no major flooding impact, we should have set up an incident command center right in the facility. This would serve dual function as the meeting place for the crisis management team to meet and discuss action that needs to be taken following this incident. In addition it would be a place of refuge and information for employees and the local community. Not only would this be a great service for our valued employees and the surrounding community, but it would provide valuable visibility among the public on what type of company we are. The first recommendation that I would provide to Apollo would be to institute contingencies. An example of a contingency that I feel would greatly help is to have a plan in place that deals with a situation of employees going on an official strike. The business impacts of this would be detrimental as this is a service-oriented establishment. One way to salvage the business in this situation is to preemptively establish contracts

Jose Santiago AD614-Midterm Paper- Apollo Rejuvenation Simulation with temporary employment agencies that can provide us with temporary contactors to help fulfill customer demand and services. While this would definitely be a short term fix it would help to prevent downtime with business operations during the strikes.

Also, I feel that it would be beneficial if our originations would perform a business impact analysis (BIA). This analysis can help to find an organizations requirements in response to a disaster and make sure that they are properly assessed and prioritized (Hiles). With this research we can help to find the vulnerabilities in our company and the areas that would be most affected during a disaster. Consider that if the Apollo Rejuvenation centers were to be affected by a nationwide drought in green tea leaves. If green tea leaves were an ingredient in all of our spa treatments then we would have to gauge what the losses were to be if we had such an issue. Of course, this analysis does not have to define particular incidents and crisis possibilities but merely the scope. Finally, I suggest that we establish a crisis teams that includes not only senior management but a representative from every function of the company. In this fashion we will be able to create a well rounded incident plan were one to ever arise and have a good scope of what parts of the business will be affected.

From my time here at Apollo I have deduced that if we can buckle down and pinpoint are greatest disabilities and dependencies as an organization we can be better prepared to deal with arising issues more quickly and with the smallest amount of business interruption.

Jose Santiago AD614-Midterm Paper- Apollo Rejuvenation Simulation

Ref: Weidman, D., (Spring 2011) Module 1-3, MET AD 614- Incident Response and Disaster Recovery, Boston University Managing A Crisis Simulation: Boston University (Spring 2011) Anonymous, . Reducing worker stress still elusive for companies. (2010). ISHN, 44(1), 14. Retrieved April 2, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. (Document ID: 1950296621). Hiles, A., (2007) The Definite Handbook of Business Continuity Management, John Wiley and Sons LTD