Organisations need to react quickly to the current challenges to ensure their longer-term viability. The Government has provided the opportunity to mitigate some of the effects on business that the Covid-19 crisis has generated via the furlough. However, the approach to drawing down and implementing these schemes is complex and needs to be navigated carefully:

• Are you a UK organisation that has a PAYE Payroll Scheme running on or before 28^thFebruary and have a UK Bank account?

The 4OC People practice of senior practitioners have experienced a wide range of challenges. We have developed an approach to managing the impacts of the government schemes.

We understand that this scheme is unprecedented and that most organisations have very limited experience of managing the current situation. When implementing the scheme there are a number of areas that need to be considered and for which we can offer support. These include:

• Business planning and forecasting (including scenario planning), so you can appraise potential scenarios and understand their impact on business delivery, financials and cashflow
• Options development and workforce impact assessment – selection, staff retention, wellbeing, redeployment options considering the impact to groups of staff
• Decision making and governance – choosing the right options – using a structure to ensure that decisions, while made quickly, include the right people and have the necessary level of challenge
• Communication (to both impacted and non-impacted workforce) keeping everyone informed during a challenging time
• Implementation of Furlough/modified workforce ensuring retention of staff for the return to business as usual