June Pennykid gives a five step healthcheck for your organisation
The Gathering is a key opportunity for us to learn and network. However, it’s all too easy, in this time poor era for us to depart from events such as this, enthused by what we’ve heard and who we’ve met but then on getting back into our organisations, we struggle to find time to put in practice those nuggets of information and ideas we’ve picked up. With that in mind, June Pennykid has put together five key actions for you to consider when you get back to your organisation, some of which you may already have covered.
Risk management
Good risk management is fundamental to an organisation achieving its aims and is at the heart of good governance. The principle purpose of risk management is to identify possible risks to your organisation achieving its aims and to allow you to set up procedures to avoid the risk or better cope with its impact, all with a view to protecting your organisation. Action: If you haven’t done so in the last year, review your organisation’s risk register or if you need some guidance, visit us on stand 91 to pick up a risk management guide to assist you with your organisation’s approach to risk management.
Business continuity
No matter how small your organisation is, it is vital that you have a business continuity plan in place to ensure that your organisation can get back up and running as quickly as possible following an incident. Action: if you haven’t done so in the last year, review your organisation’s business continuity plan and test it, which can be simply by way of a talk through with the key people involved in your plan. You can access a free software program to help you create and manage an effective Business Continuity Plan by visiting www.keegan-pennykid.com/risk-management
Insurance
Does your organisation have appropriate insurance cover for its activities and assets? This might sound obvious, but it is fundamental to your organisation’s survival. As well as insuring its assets and activities, your organisation may have contractual responsibilities with local authorities and health boards for which appropriate insurance may be required. Action: if your organisation’s activities or assets have changed since your last insurance renewal, speak to your insurance broker to update them. They will then provide you with advice on the cover you require and can put this in place for you.
Pension Re-enrolment
Has your organisation met its pension re-enrolment duties? Every three years after your organisation’s automatic enrolment staging date, you must put certain staff back into a pension scheme. This is called re-enrolment. Your duties will vary depending on whether you identify that you have staff to re-enrol. Either way, you will need to complete a re-declaration of compliance. Re-enrolment and re-declaration is your organisation’s legal duty and if you don’t act your organisation could be fined. Action: seek advice from an authorised financial adviser such as Keegan & Pennykid to make sure your organisation is meeting its pension re-enrolment duties.
Employees
Your employees are one of your organisations most important assets. Key employees moving to another employer is a risk to your organisation which should be documented in your risk register together with measures to reduce the risk. Whilst salary is important, by introducing one or more employee benefits (such as group pensions, death in service and income protection), you are recognising the worth of your employees and key employees may be discouraged from moving to another employer offering a better salary package. Action: ensure that your organisation’s risk register includes the loss of key employees and consider providing employee benefits to attract, retain and motivate your employees. Speak to an authorised financial adviser to find out more.
June Pennykid is managing director of Keegan & Pennykid.
