Employee crisis communication and disaster assistance planning: Providing disaster assistance to employees and their families

Recent large-scale disasters have increased awareness of the fundamental need for employee crisis communication and disaster assistance planning. For example, following the US Gulf Coast hurricanes in 2005, many employers faced challenges locating and communicating with employees. As a result, business continuity plans were impaired, and excessive amounts of money, time and resources were spent trying to locate and communicate with employees. To improve business continuity programmes, organisations should evaluate available resources and ensure their business continuity plans address how the employer and employee can exchange important information before and after a disaster. Organisations should also plan to provide disaster recovery assistance to employees by having appropriate human resource representation on planning and response teams to address employee concerns such as payroll, work schedules, benefits and wage continuity. This paper will explore pre- and post-disaster resources for employee support; programmes to facilitate response activities related to incident management; warning and risk communication; employee tracking and post-disaster employee reporting programmes; enquiries from loved ones; and organisationally sponsored aid for immediate housing, re-employment and emergency financial assistance to employees.