Response to COVID-19 at Harneys

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread across the globe, we are taking the necessary steps to prepare and safeguard our staff, maintain our seamless service to clients, and minimise disruption to our business. We are following best practices established by relevant governmental bodies and the World Health Organisation.

Harneys has a comprehensive and robust Business Continuity Incident Management Process to ensure that in the event of an incident, any impact is minimised and managed in a controlled way.

In order to maintain a safe workplace and to adapt swiftly to the rapidly developing situation, we have implemented the following preventative measures:

• Our Incident Response Team, made up of key contacts from each region, has been activated with full global representation to act in the best interest of the firm and its staff. The team is tasked with the allocation of appropriate resources to prepare employees and mitigate the impact of the virus in all offices.
• The team is dedicated to keeping employees informed and updated on our policies and procedures as it relates to good hygiene, safety and precaution, working remotely and business travel.
• We have increased cleaning of our offices; frequently touched surfaces, such as door handles, elevator buttons, phones, keyboards, workstations and countertops are routinely disinfected.
• Self-isolation and remote working policies are in place for employees who may have been at risk of exposure to the virus or if they are exhibiting symptoms.
• We have suspended all non-business critical travel and have put into place measures to reduce the need for face to face interaction with third parties.
• Employees are able to work remotely, using the firm’s existing audio and video conferencing facilities to safeguard continued and seamless communication both internally and externally.
• Information Security is extremely important to us, whether in the office or working remotely. All employees working remotely and accessing the Harneys network externally do so through a dual authentication process, supported by the use of RSA sign-on tokens as well as using their Harneys network credentials. This process of two factor authentication is then supported by the standard Harneys security infrastructure which holds Global ISO 27001 certification.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your usual Harneys contact or you can email our established response team at COVID19@harneys.com.