Building resilience: Proactive planning for labour disruption

In a world characterized by geopolitical volatility, technological disruption and social tension, organizations need to be prepared for all eventualities. As recent labour disruptions have shown, it’s crucial for organizations to be ready with a strategic, adaptive and timely response to major threats—and then to act on lessons learned after the crisis has passed.

A labour crisis can trigger an array of challenging business impacts, including operational disruption, reputational damage and destruction of shareholder value. A clear plan provides management with the confidence and guidance they need to navigate a labour disruption and make informed, strategic decisions to address changing circumstances.

Key questions for your executive leadership team

If any of the following questions are relevant to your organization, labour disruption planning must be a key component of your organization’s business continuity planning:

• Has management assessed the likelihood and probability of labour action, and what’s the current level of comfort or confidence in management’s relationships with union representatives?

• Are critical operations or services performed by unionized workers, and if so, are exempt and management resources adequately trained or certified to perform those services? Would there be gaps in management availability, skill sets and/or training to perform critical functions if unionized workers were unavailable?

• Are you heavily reliant on third-party vendors that leverage a unionized workforce, and have you considered what you might do if those vendors were to decrease or stop providing service due to a labour disruption?

Here we’ve identified three critical actions to enhance your organization’s preparedness for labour disruption.

Assess your risks

Conduct a thorough risk assessment to evaluate the likelihood and potential impact of labour disruptions on critical operations. This involves identifying essential services and functions that could be affected and assessing the readiness of management to perform these functions if unionized workers are unavailable.

Train your people for critical functions

Make sure management and non-unionized staff are adequately trained to perform critical functions during a labour disruption. This may involve cross-training, upskilling and certifying employees to handle essential tasks. 

Build a labour disruption plan

Create a detailed plan that outlines strategies for maintaining operations during a labour disruption. This plan should include tactical playbooks tailored to each bargaining agreement, providing step-by-step guidance on how to prepare for, respond to and recover from labour disruptions.

Labour disruption planning helps organizations protect what matters most. Customers rely on their vendors for consistent service, and labour disruption planning makes sure businesses can meet customer expectations and maintain trust, even during challenging times.

Effective labour disruption planning enables businesses to continue to operate smoothly with minimal impacts to the supply chain. Planning for labour disruptions also helps mitigate long-term impacts on your business, ensuring a quicker recovery post-disruption.

Organizations that invest in planning are better equipped to continue operating during a labour disruption—and better positioned to emerge stronger.