Grocery Store Emergency Preparedness
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that from time to time I like to focus on disaster planning efforts in other industries. To this end, I recently came across an article on grocery store emergency preparedness that I believe has relevancy to the utility industry. The grocery chain, H-E-B, did a fantastic job preparing for COVID-19 both before and during the crisis, and I think the company’s efforts offer some great lessons for utilities.
Grocery Store Emergency Preparedness from the Perspective of H-E-B
The San Antonio-based company seemed to be ahead of the curve when dealing with the coronavirus. In fact, in early March the company put the following practices in motion:
- It limited the amounts of certain items that customers could purchase
- It enhanced its sick-leave policy
- It immediately began instituting social distancing measures
- It reduced store hours to facilitate the efficient restocking of goods
- It launched a coronavirus hotline for employees
- It quickly upped its sanitation practices
- It gave its employees a raise to acknowledge their importance during this difficult time
As the outbreak started to unfold, the company maintained close, daily communication with its global suppliers to get a virtual front row seat on the impact of the virus. The company also remained extremely employee-focused by analyzing the virus’ impact on the health and well-being of its workforce. Finally, the company engaged in thorough, continuous communications to customers to keep them informed.
What makes this company’s emergency plan so effective in dealing with COVID-19 is preparation: H-E-B has been working on its pandemic preparedness plan since 2005, and the company employs a full-time team that is solely focused on optimizing its emergency preparedness processes and protocols.
For an extremely detailed overview of the company’s grocery store emergency preparedness strategies and tactics, check out the article here, and as you do, think about how H-E-B’s actions could be adopted in the utility sector. I highly recommend it!
