At our company, we’ve had a, even before the Covid-19 pandemic, work from-anywhere policy for a large portion of our workforce. This has meant that some have been able to choose where they work from, all by themselves. This of course comes with a lot of questions such as – are we able to fulfill our Duty of Care and also to ensure the safety of our employees, wherever they choose to work from that given day?
I’m a security manager at a worldwide IT company and let me tell you how we manage the safety of remote employees, and how we helped our colleague Penny when she suddenly found herself in the middle of an escalating demonstration.
Turn back the clock a year, just before the Covid-19 pandemic. A seemly completely normal day in Barcelona, Spain. Our employee Penny was on a business trip to the Catalonian capital. Penny started the day as any other traveling employee would do, in the hotel breakfast going by and preparing for the day to come.
Later in the day between meetings, Penny decided she would pop down to a nearby café to go through some work and answer some emails. After a while, Penny noticed that something was going on outside. Moments later she receives a push notification from the Safeture app that our company provides to all employees, telling her a demonstration is on the rise in the area that she is within.
Reading the relevant information in the Safeture app and seeing the situation escalating, Penny felt unsure of what to do. Moments later a new alert was published telling Penny that the situation is escalating and turning violent with riots and demonstrators clashing with law enforcement. Feeling unsure of leaving the café, but feeling the need to leave and get to a safer place Penny decided to use the SOS button within the Safeture app.
As soon as she pushed the SOS button our assistance provider was connected, they received Penny’s exact location and contacted her with advice on where to go and methods of going there.
With relevant information, exact location, smooth communication, and correct advice, Penny was able to get to safety before the situation got out of hand and needed evacuation. All thanks to Safeture’s state-of-the-art Information, Communication and Location services.
Find more information about working remotely in a blogpost we have written:
