Crisis plan | Realistically, how will the threat of blackouts affect you this winter?

Some days, the dystopian headlines we read each morning are more alarming than others.

This week, many rose to the news that the Government was, as it put it, “war gaming” emergency plans – codenamed ‘Programme Yarrow’ - to instil robust emergency protocols in the case of nation-wide rolling blackouts.

According to documents allegedly seen by the Guardian, marked ‘official sensitive’, the Government has been warned that a ‘reasonable worst-case scenario’ would deeply affect all sectors. It noted that energy could be ‘severely disrupted’ for up to a week at a time.

Unlikely, but not impossible

Before we dive into the implications for HR, it’s important to note that the likelihood of rolling blackouts across the nation are, by all accounts, low. However, much like the Government, organisations do need to have a plan in place in case the worst was to happen.

“I never thought this is where the UK would end up in my time in the industry, with regular warnings of depleted margins between supply and demand of energy or possibly a 3-hour blackout which was said to be unlikely,” Mark H, the Head of Grid at green energy company Innova recently told HR Grapevine. “However, unlikely, isn’t impossible,” he added.

So, the question is, how could this crisis affect the world of work, and what HR should potentially do if it’s physically impossible to operate?