There are many things a business owner needs to worry about, and keeping the company safe is a top priority. Not only do you have to worry about the health and safety of your employees, but also threats from the digital realm and keeping your sensitive data safe. If you have recently started a business, or are simply growing concerned about the security of your company, here are a few tips to help you keep your business safe and improve those practices.
Jump Ahead To:
Look at Switching from DevOps to DevSecOps
DevOps made it much easier for development and production teams within businesses to work together and get new products to market quicker. By automating their work-flows, it made managing tasks and communications between the two teams much easier. While DevOps is still a good way to operate, as things have evolved over time, there is increasing demand to get products to market even quicker than before. This can make a traditional DevOps strategy harder to manage. What’s more, it becomes even more complicated when you factor in the security protocols that need to be followed in this process. Looking at switching to a more modern DevSecOps strategy, will implement security practices more efficiently from the start to help keep operations moving.
Office Security
It’s important to look after your company’s computer networks, but making sure your offices are physically secure is also essential. You might be renting an office space in a building that already has great security measures, but if not, think about how you can improve this yourself. Installing key-card readers for door access and excellent alarm systems is a good place to start. If there is no CCTV, have this put in place as well for additional security. You should also limit the number of people who know the alarm codes, such as you and your business partner or a manager.
Human Resources
If you run a small business, you might have to take care of the HR tasks yourself, but as your company expands, you should think about developing this team. A strong HR department will help to keep your company safe and make sure that other employees are being treated fairly by you. The HR team can help to reduce tensions and resolve conflict before it escalates to legal action against the company. They will also make sure your employees have received the right training for their roles, which will also help to keep your company safe.
Employee Handbook
An employee handbook is a document that should be handed out to every new starter at your company. It should be developed by you and the HR team, and this guide should outline your expectations of your employees, your company’s code of ethics, their holiday and sick leave entitlement, training information, contact information for each department, grievance processes, etc. By having this handbook in place, your staff knows what they are expected to uphold and understand their rights at work. This information should help to make employees more comfortable and reduce the likelihood of tensions in the workplace that could lead to disgruntled staff.
A Good Legal Team
If your company does face legal issues like a lawsuit, you will need a strong legal team to help you get the best outcome for your business. Take the time to look around for an attorney that comes highly recommended, that you can trust and that you can afford. A good legal team could also help you draw up contracts and give you further legal advice on other areas of your business operations to make sure everything is done properly and in compliance with the law.
A great legal team can prove to be an invaluable asset for a business organization. they can help in pushing growth areas, exploring new opportunities as well as work towards minimizing risk and exposure. If you want to, they can help manage everything from employee contracts to vendor agreements, filing taxes as well as securing regulations, permits and licenses. If you wish to understand how you can select the best legal team, read more.
Test Alarms
If you want to keep your company and employees safe in the office, make sure that you have fire alarms installed and test them regularly. If you do rent an office in an office building, the building management company should already be doing this; if they aren’t, you need to speak to them about that or report them to the appropriate authorities. If you don’t have your office in a building like that, you might have to carry out these checks yourself. You should also have any appliances in your office checked regularly by an electrician to make sure there are no issues; this includes your computers.
Work on Your PR
Finally, how the public sees your company is important, and many things can tarnish a business reputation. It’s important to understand the basics of PR, and in your employee handbook, you should have outlined your expectations of how employees conduct themselves when representing your business. You might want to consider hiring a professional PR firm if you do find your company in a compromising position to help reduce the bad press and improve the business’s public image.
There are many ways you can protect your business, but the points above are all good places to start.
