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7 Risks Your Company Faces At This Very Moment

According to the PwC 2017 CEO survey, 100% of Canadian CEOs are confident about the growth prospects of their organizations in the next three years, but the majority say geopolitical uncertainty is the biggest risk to growth.

This is the time to consider your risks and strengthen your buffers. After all, you can better manage anything if you can predict it.

Most external uncertainty is beyond your control, but not beyond your ability to manage, such as global market volatility, compliance and regulation changes, or supply chain issues. Other risks come from within – expanding too fast too soon, increasing in scale, stumbling into a technology disruption and human error can all affect the bottom line.

CPHRs shine a spotlight on potential trouble areas:

1. Critical skills shortage:
   In order to compete, grow and stay innovative in the future, your business needs to have the right people in the right place at the right time. Now.
2. Supply chain risk:
   From breaking child labour laws to discovering horsemeat substituted for beef, major companies have made colossal errors in allowing their supply chain to get too big to manage safely. A critical supply chain management strategy must be scrutinized and strictly monitored.
3. Insurance and data:
   Many employers are uninsured and under-insured, putting them at risk for liability or having to make massive payouts if their insurance claims are rejected. Don’t assume your company has the correct amount of coverage. Check.
4. Ethics and behaviour:
   When trust is part of your brand, a breach of ethics is extremely difficult to recover from and can cause long-lasting damage to a company’s reputation. Establishing a code of conduct and encouraging a culture of ethical behaviour is a good start.
5. Loss of intellectual property:
   Quite simply, customer data is irreplaceable. Employees must be fully responsible for the protection of secure data, because if sensitive material is carelessly handled, lost or stolen, it can cause irreparable damage.
6. Mergers and acquisitions:
   Due diligence must be done and legalities handled, but after the handshakes are made, mergers greatly focus on managing the human capital – redundancies, recruitment, integrating new employees, training and engaging them.
7. CEO succession planning:
   What happens to your company if something happens to you? Not having a future leadership plan or investing in the leadership pipeline leaves your company vulnerable to an unknown number of risks, from hostile takeover bids to a sudden drop in stock prices.

In today’s uncertain business environment, your team needs an expert who can help you identify your unique risks and build the buffers to mitigate them. Ready to start? Hire a CPHR.