Alcohol and Drug problems may not immediately appear to head the list of significant risks to an organisation – however they may be the trigger for a major economic, accident- or safety-related event. It is often the accumulation of small factors and their interaction that results in a calamity.

There are three elements that should be the cornerstones of any corporate alcohol and drug strategy: Risk Management; a Taking Care Alcohol and Drug Policy; and Rehabilitation back into the workplace. There are also many legal traps to be aware of, particularly in relation to testing and disciplinary procedures.

In relation to risk management addiction is too often not considered a disability nor suitable for ill-health retirement, and yet for the medical profession addiction is increasingly considered an illness. The WHO, International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10), and DSM5 use the term dependency since 1975. To align with the Human Rights Act it may be important to consider using the term dependency as well as addiction.

Abuse often infers misconduct, and corporate alcohol and drug policies invariably focus on misconduct, but dependency may not necessarily be abuse if it is considered an illness. If dependency were considered a disability under The Human Rights Act it would provide some protection for an employee coming forward to declare a problem.

I also believe, under an alcohol and drug policy, alcohol needs to be considered separately from drugs; alcohol is a legal substance and drugs are invariably illegal substances and there may be legal and organisational responsibilities if the use of drugs at work is identified.

Furthermore, there needs to be a differentiation between intoxication at work and dependency, as dependency is not categorically linked to intoxication at work. The latter is classed as misconduct, whereas dependency should be considered as a possible performance issue affecting work. All the above have legal implications.

What is the value in developing a ‘caring approach’ to dependency? Employees should feel that management can be trusted to support them in their illness either via Occupational Health or by their own line manager and should feel safe to declare they have a dependency problem.  Confidentiality is paramount and it is important a procedure is in place where managers and Occupational Health can liaise to perform a work-place risk assessment on an individual. Risk assessing the employee’s work would identify tasks that should be restricted if these tasks are considered at risk of causing accidents, damage or economic or reputational impact to the individual and/or the organisation. If this approach is applied employees will feel safer in coming forward and a significant problem may be avoided.

Lastly, if the organisation, via Occupational Health, can provide a suitable rehabilitation programme for dependency that should lead to more employees coming forward and a confidential declaration of the problem would then trigger a formal risk assessment followed by a suitable rehabilitation programme within a caring environment.

Is providing treatment for an alcohol or drug dependent employee good for both the organisation and for the employee? I believe yes to both. Why? Because providing support for an employee with a dependency problem gives someone a chance to rehabilitate and return to being a productive employee. In my experience employees given this opportunity are invariably grateful for the support they have been given by both the organisation and their line manager and usually become loyal employees – if the treatment has been successful.

The process for rehabilitation back into work is important and should involve Occupational Health monitoring the treatment programme. At appropriate stages meetings should be held with the line manager to progress towards a phased return to work. This needs to be based on a risk-assessment protocol which will include regular reviews by Occupational Health and on-going therapeutic meetings such as AA.

Relapses do occur and if properly managed these can be incorporated as part of the therapeutic process. Two important rules that must be adhered to: the employee must not turn up for work intoxicated and must immediately disclose to their line manager and/or Occupational Health that they have relapsed. The employee will not therefore attend work with the potential for incurring the penalties for intoxication at work and any possibility of denial is removed by the declaration they have relapsed. If a relapse is addressed immediately in this way it can provide negative reinforcement to strengthen the rehabilitation process.

What dependency rehabilitation treatment works? Best of all is residential care because it cuts off the individual completely from the social and work environment triggers that were part of the problem. This invariably also involves removing the employee’s mobile phone! And it always provides the most successful outcome. Too often day care treatment does not address the many factors that are contributing to the dependency such as dual pathology, family or work-related issues. Too often detoxification is the first and only treatment – and as a result, relapses are, in my experience, much more likely to happen (and continue happening).

The value to the organisation in retaining a valued experienced employee without the costs of re-hiring and retraining is obvious. Employees will acknowledge and be fully aware of such a caring approach, recognise the implications of intoxication at work that could potentially drive them down the misconduct route. Lastly, and most importantly, colleagues are also more likely to be supportive and encourage an employee to go forward to discuss any problem with their line manager or Occupational Health.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Michael McCann MB BCh MA DIH MD MFOM is a Member of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, and received a Doctorate in Medicine for his work on alcohol problems in the workplace. His latest book, “Alcohol, Drugs and Employment”, is designed to be a reference book for health professionals as well as management and human resources to assist them in dealing with the often-challenging cases of substance abuse which they may be faced with.  Dr McCann will be speaking at iCAAD London 2019; Europe’s leading conference on Behavioural, mental and Emotional Health. https://www.icaad.com/icaad-london-2019

With the technology now available you no longer need to be working in your current office. You have many options including heading off to work in idyllic, sunny places. If you are feeling tempted to go and work from a faraway beach let’s look at what you’ll need to do this successfully.

Get the right Hardware

Switch your heavy laptop for a light version perhaps the Microsoft Surface Pro or Apple Macbook Air.  For something sturdier there’s the Dell Rugged Extreme range.

Remote working is likely to mean you’ll be accessing the Cloud at lot, and you may also have several programs running at the same time – so choosing something with a decent amount of RAM is important. Also, if you think you’re likely to have to work offline a lot, then a good-sized hard drive, or one that connects to an extra external hard drive is important.

Without plug sockets to hand you’ll need a powerbank. To help you choose the right one, here’re a few things to consider:

• How many devices do you want to be able to charge from the powerbank? Charging your phone once or twice will be possible from most, but if you’re looking to keep your laptop charged as well, you’ll need a larger capacity device.
• What devices are you charging? Powerbanks come with a variety of outlet sockets, but they’re not all the same.
• How strong are you? Some of the high capacity powerbanks weigh 1kg or more. That’s more than the weight of the Surface Pro and not far short of the 13inch Powerbook Pro
• Are you flying? Many airlines ban the really high capacity powerbanks, so err on the side of caution if you are a frequent flyer.

Connectivity

If your house is on the edge of the beach and the WiFi reaches the beach, then great. If not, you’ll need a 4G connection and be able to tether via your phone.

If you are sold on the beach being a Caribbean one, you will have to be prepared to work with fairly slow speeds. The Bahamas seems to have the fastest broadband speeds in the area, at about 9.95Mbps. If you’re happy with the Florida coastline instead, you can get much faster speeds, at 46.6Mbps. If you want to use 4G, here’s where you can choose your preferred beach.

If you are travelling for a short period, check the price of buying data locally and compare to UK prices.  If your mobile contract comes with a lot of data, check their roaming policies. Outside of the EU, most UK operators charge £5 per day to use your contract data.  That may be sufficient.

Don’t forget you will be backing up your data online, as well as accessing your apps and email. Ensure you take that into consideration when looking at how much data you need.

A security warning here. If the data on your laptop needs to be secured, be very careful about using local WiFi. It is a common practice for hackers to spoof WiFi connections in order to get access to your data.

VOIP or Mobile?

Running a business means talking to people; a lot of people. Staff, clients, suppliers, investors and prospects are just a few.  Depending on where most of your clients are, you need to think carefully about how you set up your phones. Your mobile is certainly not your best option, even if it is one of the easiest devices to take to the beach. If you decide on the Bahamas because of the broadband speeds, mobile calls back to the UK could cost over £2 a minute.

A VoIP-based solution with a softphone on your laptop and/or your smartphone handset may be the best solution. SIP trunk connections to other countries where you do a lot of business will mean you’re only ever making local calls, rather than calling at international rates. You can even keep a UK landline number – so clients never need to know you’re on the beach rather than at your UK desk. Just remember to check the daily weather forecast back home so you know what to say when someone says, ‘dreadful weather we’re having here – what’s it like in your neck of the woods?’

Teamwork and productivity

There are plenty of ways to communicate with a geographically diverse team and tools to help you continues to be developed.

Instant messaging tools, such as Slack, Hipchat or Google’s Hangout Chat are all free, or have free versions.  Video-conferencing could be useful depending on how good your internet connection turns out to be.  Skype Google’s Hangout, Zoom etc are all there to be used.

Project management will be key. Thankfully there are plenty of tools available. Basecamp is one to consider if your projects aren’t particularly complex. Trello that allows you to manage a number of different projects using a ‘boards’ system.  If you want to combine chat, meetings, collaborative working, file sharing and project management something like Microsoft Teams is worth exploring.

Securing your data

Working in remote locations, particularly if it is only for a short period of time, can increase security concerns. Devices being stolen can mean a major data security nightmare. Data breaches on devices that contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for EU citizens need to be reported to the information Commissioners Office (ICO) within 72 hours. You also have to tell the people affected!

Far better to secure your devices and be able to remotely wipe them, if necessary. Talk to your IT Manager or IT support company about Mobile Device Management (MDM), biometrics or two-factor authentication (2FA) before you go.

Good luck with everything if you decide to take the plunge.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mike Ianiri is Director of independent telecoms brokerage Equinox. Mike works with companies, charities and other organisations to help them choose the right telecoms packages for their needs and thereby reduce their costs. He is particularly knowledgeable on the integration of IT and telecoms in business.  www.equinoxcomms.co.uk

Twitter: @CommsEquinox

Whether we like it or not, we’re in the midst of a paradigm shift away from institutional governance and towards people power. The connected economy of the internet has allowed huge decisions to be dictated by what are effectively digital referendums; some good, some potentially harmful, but all undoubtedly historical in their nature. We are at the tip of the iceberg and there is still significant change ahead.

I am optimistic that much of this change is for the good. However, history has a habit of looking unfavourably towards individuals and corporations who don’t hold up to the scrutiny of modern morality. This is evidenced by the demonisation of all slave traders, colonisers and sexual exploiters of history, who often were simply doing what was ‘perfectly legal’ in their period of history.

It isn’t easy to tell how history will look back at us now, but the signs are there. Our descendants will be astounded by our generation’s wasteful nature. They will be horrified that we’re so destructive to our own planet, that we didn’t act on climate change, that we were so overtly misogynistic and racist. Perhaps they will even judge us for eating animals. And with history moving faster than ever before, I believe we will look back with disbelief in as little as a decade.

So what can we do to make sure we are on the right side of history, especially when ethical moorings will change as soon as 2030? What steps can we take to ensure our legacy as a business leader is viewed favourably? I give my five top tips for future-proofing your reputation.

1) Evaluate your company by more than just its ability to make money

We live in a capitalist society, so we claim forgiveness for focusing on the bottom line with every decision we make. However, I predict that history won’t look too kindly on the companies that passively played the game of making endless profits without actively seeking to improve the lives of their employees and customers.

Some argue that we’re moving into a period of post-capitalism, where markets still drive the economy, but intelligent machines are able to overlay human wellbeing as a significant factor to ensure the destructive nature of unfettered free markets is reigned in. In this scenario, it’s possible to imagine that we programme these machines to be optimised not just for profit but also for the quality of life of all stakeholders within a company – i.e. directors, employees, partners, suppliers, shareholders and customers, all in one go.

The interesting thing about this idea is that you don’t need to invest heavily into artificial intelligence to future-proof your organisation for post-capitalism, you just need to start thinking about how you can improve the lives of every person your company touches. What’s great about this is that most HR departments are already seeing the benefits of an empowered workforce, evidenced by the table footballs and treat markets cropping up in the offices of many of the major tech companies, and the switch many corporations are making towards employee ownership or setting up as social enterprises.

But despite the progress we’ve made as a society, it’s not all optimistic. Some of the biggest companies in the world are currently making vast fortunes through exploiting their workers. I predict that unless they change their ways, history won’t look kindly at Walmart, Sports Direct and Amazon, but conversely it will at Riverford, John Lewis and Google.

2) Envisage your customers viewing your decisions on the front cover of a newspaper

In the modern age, ill intent has few places to hide. In just a few years, we’ve come from miniscule recording equipment being the stuff of governments and spies to almost every human on earth having a tiny personal recording device that can instantly share content across the entire planet. Who knows what technology will be developed in the future? What we do know is that it will likely make it even harder for the morally abject to hide.

While on the face of it this could have been an Orwellian nightmare, one thing Orwell got wrong is that he assumed the institutions would be the ones doing the watching. The opposite has happened – it’s put more power in the hands of the general populous. The digital panopticon is not without its dark side, arguably causing lynchings in India and precipitating the Arab Spring. But it also has its good side, by calling out corrupt politicians or business leaders.

The only solution to survival in this always-recording milieu is to act with empathy for your stakeholders in every decision you make. How would they react if your opinions or actions were plastered across the homepage of the Huffington Post?

3) Do what is right, rather than what is negotiable

The idea that everything is negotiable is a hangover from the ‘80s business ethos of dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest. However, the economy is not a zero-sum game, and getting one over on your partners/clients/customers simply creates a net loss for society. This is also a breeding ground for unsustainable growth, which has led to us pillaging our planet.

I strongly feel that we can resolve many of the problems in the world if we simply reframed how we approached a negotiation, thinking about the human and societal implications of the agreements we reach, rather than just the bottom line.

Large corporations have huge buying power, which has given them even more influence in negotiations. These corporations have identified a shift in public mood, hence why they’re investing so heavily in corporate social responsibility (CSR). But history will look back at the choices the directors of these companies made, and CSR will be cynically viewed in the light of companies investing even more into their procurement departments. If you must, think of your negotiations in terms of a branding exercise with longevity. Because consumers of the future will avoid the brands who operated sweatshops and drove their SME suppliers out of business in their relentless pursuit of profits.

4) In 2030 will your decision still be seen as fair and just?

On the subject of sweatshops, I believe the next #MeToo movement is likely to come from the world of global business, where company directors have allowed so many workers to be exploited in developing nations through low pay and frankly life-threatening working conditions. Additionally they have made decisions that have caused untold damage to the environments of developing nations.

I can envision a time in the near future where whistleblowers call out their bosses when they make morally abject decisions that affect the lives of workers overseas. They will leak emails of the ones who willfully caused rainforests to be cut down or rivers polluted. We’re seeing the shoots of this now, but at the moment it’s the faceless corporations who are being singled out, and they are able to counteract this by increasing their public relations budget. In an age where it’s easy to get hold of emails and call recordings, it’s not hard to imagine the next step being an active campaign by the public to hold the decision makers to account.

Now imagine it’s 2030 and environmentalism, economic justice, and true social/gender/racial equality aren’t just fringe ideas, but are the mainstream. Will your decisions hold up to scrutiny, or will you be held to account by your colleagues, and ultimately the general public? Will you be safe from #DecisionsHaveConsequences?

5) Listen to your moral compass

Whilst we’re on the subject, another thing history won’t look favourably on is the billionaires who hoarded wealth rather than reinvesting it, who facilitated the greatest gap in wealth distribution the planet has ever experienced. I left the world of banking because the system was broken, that it was designed to help drive wealth to the top and keep the rest of us blinded to how inequitable it actually is.  My intuition screamed to me that this was morally bankrupt, even though culture currently still praises those who hoard wealth in a hollow pursuit of temporary praise.

I realised I could apply my knowledge of economics and finance to help regions that have been exploited, rather than continue to be part of that exploitation. I also realised that taking a long term, sustainable approach to the economic development of these resource-rich regions would help facilitate greater wealth generation for all, in a way that works in harmony with nature instead of against it. I co-founded Blueprints because in my gut I knew it was the right thing to do, and that I didn’t need to compromise on being rewarded financially for my efforts – indeed the more successful I am, the more successful others become with me. Equally, I’m very aware that I couldn’t live with myself if I were one of the 8 people who held greater wealth than more than half the planet.

What is your intuition telling you? Are you helping to generate wealth symbiotically for yourself and for those less fortunate, in a way that’s harmonious with nature? Or are you purposely holding back others in a hollow pursuit of wealth or status, with little regard for what state you might leave the planet in for future generations? I predict that history will judge those who are dishonest with themselves by much higher standards than we currently feel are acceptable.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Solomon is co-founder of Blueprints, a fintech platform for economic development that connects brands and businesses with local producers and manufacturers. Blueprints exists to promote a new economic model that leads to a more sustainable and equitable society.

Web: https://blueprints.org

Crowdcube: https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/blueprints/pitches/qY9Goq#

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solomonk77/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/solomon77/

We’ve all heard the marketing buzz – it’s all about engagement, with high profile influencers maximising the use of social media. Today the most successful bands are the ones that know how to engage their fans. Of course, fans bring recognition but importantly, they help create financial success as well.

Digital channels give access to fans and to musicians alike which means the relationship between them is direct and measurable.

Here are some key lessons businesses can learn from the music industry and musicians in particular about how to engage and create a loyal fan-base.

Get the conversation started

Whether you’re a new band, a startup, or a more established business you need to remember that consumer expectations across the board have changed dramatically. So much of our lives are online, using numerous platforms, which means it’s becoming harder to hold people’s attention. Relationships with publishers and media have also evolved with traditional media losing its clout, and you need to think differently about how to get your message out and keep your audience interested.

The power is being handed back to fans and consumers, who are driving the conversations on social media and user generated content platforms such as TripAdvisor. This means more work is required to create and nurture audience relationships, but it also provides new opportunities for conversations with fans, finding out what they want and keeping them updated and informed about what’s in the pipeline.

Steps to take

Authenticity rules

Marketing is becoming increasingly story-led. Artists, brands and businesses need to show a more complete and authentic picture of who they there and what they stand for.

But it’s not just about your story – you need to be able to talk to your audience in a way that shows you want to listen to theirs too. Authentic people are those who ask questions and open up conversations. As in daily life, these conversations will be multi-genre, they may be political, they won’t always relate directly to what you do or make, but they will show your values and identity. Avoid sitting on the fence.

A good example… when your fans are getting fed-up with ticket prices, availability and secondary sales do something about it.  Ed Sheeran did.  He went out of his way to ensure tickets to his shows were only available through reputable ticket exchanges.

Create your niche community

User generated content platforms are driving conversations between fans and artists/businesses. We’ve all seen how powerful fan communities can be on social media platforms such as Twitter, so it is important to focus on creating your own niche community around your identity.

Subba-Cultcha.com is one example of a music community that is following the model of the likes of TripAdvisor. Fans can not only upload their reviews and read others but have a place where they can buy tickets for experiences they love, all reviewed by like-minded peers whose opinions they know they can trust.

Any space that can offer a sense of exclusivity, and give audiences control over what they see and what is sold to them will keep people engaged.

Make use of the data

There are so many ways you can use technology to understand your audience’s online behaviours – and you don’t need to employ any shady or privacy invading tactics to do so. Remember, anything you or they publish digitally is a tool to discover what your target audience responds to, enabling you to anticipate future patterns trends in more granular detail.

Some tools that will help you measure and monitor audience behaviour include Google Analytics, and Amplitude, a platform that allows you to track user response trends in real time.

What is important is to understand what is driving those numbers – it will be worth the investment of time.

Give generously

Incentivise your following and give them rewards for their presence, for example, competitions, exclusive first samples/listens to new products and music, follower discounts on merchandise, etc.

Radiohead let their fans decide what to pay for their album ‘In Rainbows’ with their ‘pay what you want’ scheme – showing fans that they cared about them, and their relationship with them wasn’t just about the money.

Work out what is most appropriate for your business and the stage that you are at – for example if you want to increase your email database, give them an incentive to sign up, if you want to encourage more word of mouth brand ambassadors, use merchandise.

But show restraint

Don’t give everything you’ve got in the hope that people will return the favour! It must be employed with restraint, and there needs to be some benefit to you. Free content and services are powerful means of showcasing what you are about and giving people the feeling of being a valuable part of the club.

For musicians it can be a difficult balancing act – open access can help you get a viral hit and a loyal following, but you have to be paid for what you produce. Whether you’re a musician or a business – remember, it’s also much harder to roll back and begin restricting access to your content when you started by giving things away for free. 

There are a few big success stories of artist’s having been discovered through giving away content; Carly Ray Jepsen, Shawn Mendes and even Mr. Bieber himself, but there are many more not so successful stories whereby providing free music via streaming platforms didn’t provide the big break the artist was hoping for. 

In some cases it can even lead to a backlash. For example, U2 gave away their album ‘Songs of Innocence’ free on the iPhone 6 – and it caused a massive backlash and didn’t generate the additional sales they had hoped for.

It’s the same with business, giving your product away for free doesn’t mean it will reach the masses, it just devalues the product.  Ever heard the brand slogan “reassuringly expensive”?

Take time to respond

It may not be possible to respond to every comment on your page, but you should be paying attention to them all. Take the time to respond to as many as you can; the positive, the negative, the suggestions and constructive criticism. If you are updating your site or products on offer, share an update and explain how audience feedback and comments helped to drive your decision. And if your community is not yet forthcoming with opinions and ideas, show you want to hear from them by conducting polls and asking questions – this can be easily done on social media channels, blog posts and via email campaigns. 

Trailers and sneak previews are a great way of giving your nearest and dearest fans a taste of what’s to come, whetting their appetite so-to-speak.  Childish Gambino is a great example of an artist who relishes fan engagement by providing sneak-peaks to new, sometimes even unfinished videos.  He continually reacts to the zeitgeist and comes up with ways to whet his fans appetite and keep them engaged.

And remember, if you leave them wanting more, make sure you’re responsive enough to follow up! 

Speak directly

Reaching people in private inboxes helps to add to the sense of community and involvement with something bigger. In an instant message age, communications direct to a personal inbox have more resonance. People don’t want intrusion or anything with a whiff of ‘salesy-speak’, so don’t bombard them every other day with your latest offers. Do keep in regular touch with well thought-out messages telling them something you know they will be interested in.

Where applicable this can also be employed with direct mail – used thoughtfully and with a specific purpose, it can be an effective tool for grabbing attention away from the digital noise. Communication shouldn’t come through just one channel; the conversation needs to continue offline, online, in store, at live events, and through product and service development.

Nowadays you want to attract actively engaged customers. Keep working on engaging and keeping them engaged and their enthusiasm will be a positive force for your business.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Jennings has worked in digital publishing and advertising his whole career. He previously worked in the US and UK for the Financial Times, he most recently launched the digital portfolio for Last Word Media. Mark Jennings set up Subba Media with the aim of disrupting the publishing market. Subba-cultcha.com is a fan generated music and festival reviews platform. Built from a strong loyal community, the content is produced by music fans and  festival goers, enabling artists and brand sponsors to reach a new, more engaged audience.

Web: http://www.subba-cultcha.com/

Twitter: @subbacultchacom

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/byfansforfans/