A key person risk policy is a plan that outlines how an organization will mitigate the risk of losing critical
employees and their knowledge, skills, and experience. Here are some best practices to consider when
creating a key person risk policy:
1. Identify Key Employees: Identify the employees whose knowledge, skills, and experience are
critical to the success of the organization. This includes employees in leadership positions, those
with specialized knowledge, and those who manage critical projects.
2. Assess the Risks: Conduct a risk assessment to determine the likelihood and impact of losing key
employees. Consider factors such as the availability of replacement talent, the time it would
take to train new employees, and the impact on business operations.
3. Develop Mitigation Strategies: Develop strategies to mitigate the risk of losing key employees.
This may include cross-training employees, providing incentives for key employees to stay with
the organization, and implementing succession plans to ensure that there is a plan in place for
replacing key employees.
4. Document the Plan: Document the key person risk policy and communicate it to all employees.
Make sure that everyone understands the importance of the policy and the role they play in
mitigating key person risk.
5. Regularly Review and Update the Plan: Regularly review and update the key person risk policy to
ensure that it remains effective. This includes updating the plan as new key employees are
identified, as the organization's needs change, and as new risks emerge.
6. Test the Plan: Regularly test the key person risk policy to ensure that it is effective. This may
include conducting tabletop exercises or simulations to test the effectiveness of the plan in
various scenarios.
Sample Key Person Risk Policy:
Purpose: The purpose of this policy is to mitigate the risk of losing key employees and their knowledge,
skills, and experience, in order to ensure the continuity of the organization's operations. At [Company
Name], we recognize that key person dependencies pose a significant risk to our business operations. To
mitigate this risk, we have developed the following policy and strategies:
Scope: This policy applies to all employees of the organization.
Policy:
1. Identify Key Employees: The organization will identify key employees whose knowledge, skills,
and experience are critical to the success of the organization.
2. Assess the Risks: The organization will conduct a risk assessment to determine the likelihood
and impact of losing key employees.
3. Identify and Document Critical Processes: We will identify and document service processes
within our company, creating simple PDFs with screenshots outlining fundamental processes to
facilitate onboarding of new team members.
4. Develop Mitigation Strategies: The organization will develop strategies to mitigate the risk of
losing key employees, including cross-training employees, providing incentives for key
employees to stay with the organization, and implementing succession plans.
5. Consolidate Service Communications: We will create dedicated channels for support requests,
including a support phone number and email address, to ensure that the methods used remain
constant, no matter who comes and goes from our business.
6. Use a Ticketing System: We will use a ticketing tool such as Assembla or Zendesk to track service
incidents in a collaborative manner, providing visibility and governance into ongoing service
incidents throughout the company and maintaining a historical record.
7. Leverage Real-Time Communication Tools: We will use real-time messaging tools such as Slack
to enable faster, more company-wide collaboration on the resolution of service incidents and
maintain transparency and searchability of communication in the event that a key-person leaves
the company.
8. Document the Plan: The organization will document the key person risk policy and communicate
it to all employees.
9. Test the Plan: The organization will regularly test the key person risk policy to ensure that it is
effective.
Implementation: The key person risk policy will be implemented by all employees of the organization.
The policy will be reviewed annually and updated as needed.