In early January, Australia witnessed massive destruction as the most powerful bush - fires in our history consumed 18.6 million hectares of our land, destroyed 5,900 buildings, killed more than 1.25 billion animals. Wiping out total communities, people’s homes, memories and livelihoods. Worst of all, taking the lives of at least 34 brave people. 

No sooner had the last fire been extinguished than Covid – 19 swept into our country, unannounced, un - expected and potentially devastating. To date, we have endured almost two - months of home lock - downs and business closures, resulting in the unemployment rate increasing by more than 590,000 people in April, a figure likely to be repeated again in May. 

The good news however is that there is now light at the end of the tunnel, as the collective efforts of our federal and state governments and our people have produced one of the lowest Corona infection and death rates in the world.

And so it is that we now find ourselves in new surrounds yet again, as we prepare for a progressive winding - back in Covid - 19 legislation,  and thereby a return to full business trading, albeit with a range of new protocols in place that will remain for the foreseeable future. 

From a Human Resources perspective, this provides a significant opportunity to  support future business recovery and ongoing viability if HR teams are well planned and well prepared. To assist, I have recently released the HR Natural Disaster Policies and Procedures Toolkit which contains more than 50 pages of practical content and ideas to support HR Departments in creating and executing an integrated Workforce Recovery Plan within thier organisations. To find out more, please click on the adjoining image. 

Stephen Moore - Founder & Director, Moore HR