When Disaster Recovery supports Human Loss Recovery
Over the past 25 years, Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) have worked hand in hand to tackle a wide range of scenarios, risks, and probabilities, reaching their peak during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In this unprecedented context, DR processes had to overcome major challenges to maintain business continuity, focusing on robust remote working infrastructures and alternative work arrangements to ensure operations could continue seamlessly.
As a reminder, Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is the process of designing prevention and recovery systems to handle potential threats and incidents that could impact an organization.
Companies and institutions that did not foresee or plan for such possibilities were forced to improvise, often resulting in unexpected costs and chaotic disruptions. The most common answer at the time? “It will never happen.”
Today, with climate change, political instability, and the rise of cyber conflicts, organizations must now consider a new type of threat — one that is increasingly real: human loss. In Luxembourg, this challenge is more tangible than ever, and the outlook is concerning.
Less People, More Problems
Over the last decade, the number of cross-border workers has continued to grow, yet at a slower pace (–0.6% on the German border and –0.3% on the Belgian border).
Meanwhile, the traditional advantages of working in Luxembourg are becoming less appealing.
The reasons are numerous:
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Longer commuting times,
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Increasing competition between companies,
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Changing working conditions and fewer benefits,
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Shifts in lifestyle and priorities (more free time, flexible hours),
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The arrival of Generation Z,
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Growing workforce volatility and knowledge retention issues.
Many companies are struggling to recruit and retain employees.
For example, Leclerc had to organize its own job fair to attract talent.
On a larger scale, in 2017, a global law firm lost all employees in one practice area in a single day — a politically driven event that nearly pushed the company to bankruptcy.
What Solutions Should Companies Consider?
To address this growing challenge, companies should incorporate the human factor into their HR and continuity strategies, ensuring they can retain key employees while preparing for potential losses.
A recovery plan should be built upon the two pillars of a Business Continuity Management System (BCMS).
Business Continuity Perspective
It is crucial to identify backup roles, alternatives, and workarounds in case a key employee, profile, or team becomes unavailable.
During the Business Impact Analysis (BIA), these dependencies must be mapped out to expose any vulnerabilities that could disrupt operations.
Disaster Recovery Perspective
Organizations should capture and maintain this information to trigger automated recovery processes.
Solutions like SAP SuccessFactors, ServiceNow, Active Directory, or Everbridge Core Pro can synchronize HR and IT data to enable faster response and coordination during a crisis.
Modern continuity platforms are capable of integrating the human factor directly into the Disaster Recovery process:
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mapping roles and skills,
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defining a primary contact and backup resource,
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specifying an alternative work location,
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and automating recovery workflows (for example, with Business Continuity in Cloud – BCIC).
Organizations facing high employee turnover have also implemented systems to track workforce capabilities, automate succession plans, and integrate human risks into their incident management process.
Additionally, RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) systems can help reassign workloads — including tools and permissions — to other teams or locations.
While offshoring remains an option to reduce exposure, relocating centers of excellence to other countries with different regulations and cultures only mitigates the risk — it does not remove it.
Similarly, digital transformation through AI or RPA offers workflow automation but demands highly resilient, always-on infrastructures, which require significant investment and niche expertise.
Finally, organizations must align their human loss risk assessment with the growing regulatory landscape, including DORA, NIS2, and the upcoming AI Act (expected in 2026).
The Human Factor at the Core of Resilience
The human workforce remains an irreplaceable pillar of business — yet societal and organizational changes have turned it into a potential Achilles heel.
The Human Loss Recovery process is a complex, multidisciplinary effort involving Business, HR, BCMS, IT, and DR teams.
It must become a strategic component of every Business Continuity Plan, as the risk of losing key employees is no longer theoretical — it’s a growing reality impacting organizations of all sizes and industries.
