From Twitter to Jaguar, companies repurpose terrorism, natural disaster contingency plans to cope with coronavirus shutdowns

From Jaguar Land Rover flying parts from China stashed in suitcases, to Twitter telling all of its employees to work from home, the coronavirus epidemic is forcing companies to “dust off” and re-evaluate their business continuity plans as the spread of the virus disrupts daily life and threatens the global supply chain, experts and corporate leaders said.

Contingency planning has traditionally been built around creating a secondary site for work to continue or alternative supplier if a company loses access to offices or plants because of a natural disaster or terrorist attacks, rather than an outbreak that keeps your workforce at home, said Vicki Fan, the Hong Kong chief executive of consulting firm Mercer.

The coronavirus outbreak – much like the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic in 2003 did for Hong Kong business leaders – has brought the discussion of epidemics to the forefront for companies around the globe, with firms now forming internal leadership committees to structure their response.

Months of street protests in Hong Kong, which have disrupted business and travel, had already triggered companies in Hong Kong to act, Fan said.

“Six months ago when the social unrest happened, we were already getting a number of questions [from clients] about flexible working,” Fan said. “In Hong Kong, the thinking started before Covid-19 as companies were looking at flexible working and having the right technology in place.”

The coronavirus outbreak has infected more than 100,000 people worldwide, delayed the resumption of work for weeks because of travel restrictions in mainland China and caused employers in Hong Kong and Singapore to encourage staff to work from home or split teams across multiple offices to avoid cross contamination.