If the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it’s that a crisis can develop without warning, quickly undermining daily life and disrupting business processes. Wildfires, pandemics, arson, civil unrest, earthquakes, and extreme weather have long-lasting impacts, both on your business and your employees.
Employee support is vital during and after a crisis. Your employees will be stressed. Many will be traumatized, and even those spared the worst of the disaster will need your support. Your employees won’t be able to return to normal levels of productivity overnight. Nor should you expect them to.
So how can managers support employees, facilitate a return to normal operations, demonstrate employee appreciation, and support the larger community’s recovery efforts?
How can managers support employees during disasters?
Understandably, employees will be worried and anxious during a crisis. They may be concerned about job security or dealing with the direct effects of the crisis at home. Some may have lost loved ones, others may have lost homes. Offering employee support during crises helps make their lives less uncertain while strengthening the employee/employer bond. In emergencies, effective managers take the following steps:
Regular communication
Clear communication is the single best way to provide employee support in times of crisis, and important to both the essential worker and the employee who is temporarily furloughed or unable to work. Keep your employees updated on what’s happening in the business and the community, and what you expect of them.
Your employees will look to you as the voice of reason and comfort in difficult times. Be honest when you communicate (it’s okay to admit when an outcome is uncertain), and strike a supportive, optimistic tone without offering false hope. Issuing updates at regular times (such as every morning or evening) will provide a sense of predictability, which many employees will find comforting.
Use every communication method at your disposal: email, group texts, messages on your social media board, intranet message boards, phone calls, and physical signs at the workplace. Depending on the nature of the crisis some people may not have access to online means of communication. Coordinate with your workforce to see if they can get needed information to their offline coworkers.
Employee support and recovery assistance
If members of your workforce are directly affected by the crisis, you’ll want to offer them support. Some businesses maintain a special fund to assist employees in need, but not all can afford this luxury. If you cannot help employees recover from the crisis directly, provide them with the information needed to access local, state, and federal relief programs. Include such information in your crisis updates, including the name, website, phone number, and physical address of organizations.
Not all employee support needs to be financial. Condolences on the loss of a loved one, delivering food to help an employee's family, or coordinating coworkers to help clean up an employee’s home after a flood all show both support and employee appreciation. Take a look at your inventory of employee appreciation gifts — that piece of branded outerwear you were saving as an office Christmas party prize might help keep an employee clothed in the aftermath of a house fire.
Disasters don’t strike everyone equally, and some of your employees may not have experienced any adverse effects from the crisis. Check in on them. It’s not uncommon for people who dodge the worst of a disaster to experience “survivor's guilt.” Encourage such employees to put their time and energy into helping their coworkers and community, using service to show their appreciation for their good fortune.
Be specific when communicating expectations
During a crisis, some strange things happen to the human brain. Stress causes a “rapid and dramatic loss of prefrontal cognitive abilities.” In less scientific terms, this means much of the brain’s higher functions — reasoning, concentration, and memory — are impaired by stressful events. Our long-term planning skills are put on the backburner in favor of meeting short-term goals. Essentially, people go into survival mode: great for living through a crisis, but not well-suited for the complexities of helping your business weather the storm (be it figurative or a literal hurricane).
Keep this in mind in the aftermath of a crisis. Everyone, from essential workers to customers and, yes, even you, will be operating below peak efficiency. Any instructions regarding business processes, cleanup, and restoration should be as specific as possible, so employees don’t misunderstand them.
Keep employees informed throughout the process of returning to normalcy, and don’t assume they know how to react to unusual or unprecedented work situations. Now is the time for you to flex those leadership muscles! Offer clear advice on all expectations and circumstances, including:
- expectations for employees suddenly working from home,
- how to keep managers updated on availability,
- how to log time-off in response to the crisis,
- office hours during cleanup and restoration,
- changes to dress code during the crisis,
- which areas of the workplace are unsafe and should be avoided.
Coordinate volunteer efforts
Make it as easy as possible for employees to help the community and coworkers recover from the crisis. Volunteering during or after a disaster gives people a sense of purpose and empowerment. Suggest volunteering opportunities on an intranet or social media page. Coordinate food drives, community cleanups, or other events, providing employees with the tools (and if necessary transport) they need to participate. Set up a donation button on your business home page or social media platform, so employees and customers can quickly donate funds to relevant charities and organizations.
Show employee appreciation
Throughout the crisis, demonstrate employee appreciation whenever possible. This can be as simple as commending an individual essential worker in your daily update, or buying your entire team branded thank-you presents for their loyalty and hard work during difficult times. Be inventive — a free pizza delivered to a quarantined employee doesn’t cost much, but will certainly be appreciated.
Be kind
Ultimately, the question “how can managers support employees” can be summed up in two words: be kind. When your employees, customers, and community are struggling with a crisis, kindness and compassion are essential. Kindness and a willingness to help encourage employee loyalty and morale during hard times. And don’t forget to be kind to yourself as well: you’re affected by this crisis too, and one of your organization’s essential workers.