草莓污视频导航

2013 Calgary flood
Riverfront Avenue in downtown Calgary during the Alberta floods of 2013. Wikimedia Commons photo by Ryan L. C. Quan, published under Creative Commons licence

June 15, 2023

On Calgary鈥檚 10-year flood anniversary, businesses are more ready

草莓污视频导航 researchers suggest businesses might be more resilient in the post-COVID world if Calgary flooded again

It鈥檚 hard to fathom it today, but 10 years ago (June 20, 2013) downtown Calgary was inundated by raging flood waters, just one of 32 flooded areas within the city as torrential rain caused the Bow and Elbow rivers to rise, spilling devastation across the landscape and delivering a blow to Calgary鈥檚 booming business community.

In the downtown core alone, 3,000 buildings were flooded and 4,000 businesses were severely impacted. Along with those in the downtown area, businesses in the neighbourhoods of Victoria Park, Inglewood, Mission and Kensington were forced to close, some for a few days, others for several months. And then there were those that were washed away permanently. According to a survey by the , four in 10 of its members were affected, reporting lost sales and, in many cases, the closing of offices. The economic impact in Calgary was estimated at more than $200 million.

Business continuity crucial

鈥淚n moments of such crisis, a company鈥檚 disaster response 鈥 its business continuity plan 鈥 is of crucial importance,鈥 says Dr. , PhD, a professor of risk management and insurance in the . 鈥淰ery often, and certainly during the flood, a business鈥檚 ability to shift to a remote working model becomes crucial. How well were companies set up to work from home, or remotely, during the flood? In many cases, not very well at all. It was a wake-up call for many businesses.

鈥淎nd this came up again during COVID.鈥

Flood anniversary

草莓污视频导航 students, faculty and staff volunteered to support the flood-relief effort.

草莓污视频导航 archive

Harsh lessons of COVID

All too many Calgary businesses had forgotten the lessons of the flood when the COVID-19 pandemic forced several seasons of social isolation on us all, says Dr. , BA'05, PhD, an industrial organizational psychologist in the . It soon became clear that implementing a flexible business model, wherein employees were equipped to work from their homes, wasn鈥檛 a luxury. It was a necessity. 

鈥淪ome businesses had a harsh reminder when COVID rolled around,鈥 says O鈥橬eill. 鈥淭hey had to relearn the work-from-home model fast. More than ever before, the pandemic revealed the importance of that business continuity plan.鈥

While it鈥檚 hard to find a silver lining in COVID, there鈥檚 a strong case to be made that Calgary鈥檚 business community would be better prepared if the city were to flood again today. That鈥檚 because the pandemic forced businesses to fully entrench remote-working capabilities into their business continuity plans.

鈥淒uring both the flood and COVID, some firms were far better positioned than others because they had established a hybrid work program.鈥 

Those that did not faced challenges that, for some, bordered on ruinous. 鈥淚magine all these oil and gas companies headquartered downtown,鈥 says O鈥橬eill. 鈥淚f you couldn鈥檛 get to your office and you couldn鈥檛 access your computer files, work stopped. Meanwhile, they鈥檝e got drilling going on and organizational safety issues. It must have been horrible. Talk about getting caught with your pants down.鈥

Pressures to work from home

But are the lessons of crisis now permanently embedded? O鈥橬eill notes that an increasing number of executives and CEOs are pushing back against the hybrid work models established during COVID, and instead want their employees back in the office full-time. Now accustomed to the work-life balance of the hybrid work schedule, many employees are resisting the move.

Perhaps these businesses are again forgetting the business continuity case for maintaining the hybrid work model, suggests O'Neill. 鈥淭here will be another pandemic and there will be another flood,鈥 O鈥橬eill says. 鈥淭his is contingency planning. It鈥檚 crisis-management. And employees want it anyway, so it should be a win-win.鈥

Ready for the worst

Dr. , PhD, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Haskayne School, agrees. 鈥淭he flood was a reminder that businesses have to consider extreme possibilities,鈥 she says. 鈥淎nd we no longer believe in the 鈥榟undred-year flood.鈥 With climate change, we don鈥檛 know how often these floods are going to happen.鈥 

While the ability to work remotely is indeed essential for businesses, de Koning also warns against the pitfalls of a workforce that becomes too isolated.

鈥淎nother aspect of risk-management is in the strength of a community.鈥

鈥淭hink of all these business associations that exist. It sometimes seems like all they do is go for coffee, but those relationships really kicked in during the flood. Businesses that weren鈥檛 devastated stepped up for the larger business community. 鈥楬ow can we help? Can we offer desks to companies that were flooded? Can we bring the employees coffee and food?鈥

鈥淭he ability to make that shift and work from home is important, but we must not forget the community piece. These networks and relationships are also critical to a business鈥檚 resiliency.鈥

 草莓污视频导航 students study the geological effect of flooding on the Bow River at the 2013 Geo-Science Field School.

草莓污视频导航 students study the geological effect of flooding on the Bow River at the 2013 Geo-Science Field School.

草莓污视频导航 archive


Sign up for UToday

Sign up for UToday

Delivered to your inbox 鈥 a daily roundup of news and events from across the 草莓污视频导航's 14 faculties and dozens of units

Thank you for your submission.