Businesses are all replete with risk. Each individual company has its unique predilection towards risk. But there are so many different threats that you may not have considered whether you are running a home business or a large company. Business threats come in many different forms. Let’s show you what some of these subtle yet scary threats can do to your business.

Tech Debt

Tech debt is something that many companies may not have considered. It is a concept that reflects the cost of rework of a certain project, which is caused by using a more straightforward solution. In essence, it’s choosing a cheaper solution thinking it would be better, when in fact, you should have gone for the more expensive yet helpful solution in the first place. You can learn more about managing tech debt through a handful of simple processes. And while technical debt is very much related to software, it’s a lesson that we can learn in any other aspect of our company. If you choose a cheaper process thinking it will save you money, you may spend more money getting the problem fixed.

Employee Sickness

Everybody is aware of the impacts of employee sickness. They are a challenging thing to manage. The most significant result of employee sickness is in the short term. When an employee calls in sick, this has an immediate impact on that day’s workload. However, in light of the Coronavirus, many companies are now making significant changes to encourage employees to work from home full-time, increasing productivity. Employee sickness is not just something that can impact your business in the short term, but in the long-term, it can translate to poor productivity and prevents risk escalation, which will offset higher costs further down the line. To make sure that your workforce is fit and healthy, you need to incorporate various practices. You may want to promote exercise and well-being and provide better health coverage. But it will be interesting to see how remote working impacts employee sick days in the next 12-months.

Fraud

We place a lot of trust in our employees, and the potential for fraud increases the most successful a business gets. Employee fraud comes in many different shapes and sizes, from procurement fraud to asset misappropriation and intellectual property theft. There is also payroll fraud and faking injuries to get compensation. Detecting employee fraud is about making sure that you have ample evidence before pressing charges. It is crucial to avoid risking a lawsuit, especially if you start accusing the employee of something with no evidence. If you succeed in catching an employee committing fraud and letting them go, the important thing of this stage is to send a lesson to the employees going forward. It’s about making sure that the punishment fits the crime. 

There are underlying threats that can derail our business at every turn. These three are worth addressing from an internal perspective. The underlying threats bubble away in the background, and can be more detrimental if you are not careful!