Supporting employee wellbeing following natural disasters
Jeena Murphy
Improving Health & Safety Culture for all Kiwi organisations | Managing Director at Working Wise
How to be resilient in the face of cyclones, storms or earthquakes and what to do to take care of your employees afterwards are important topics for every business in Aotearoa right now.
Whether you are in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland, Coromandel, Hawke’s Bay or Tāirawhiti / Gisborne and have experienced the might of Cyclone Gabrielle and the flooding or are living in a region dealing with ongoing and relentless weather events, learning how to navigate through disaster recovery is a vital skillset.
As leaders, we can all do more to provide relief and help for employees to recover at their own pace after a natural disaster. This is key for the wellbeing of our employees and the longevity of business. As we all know from experience, staff who feel valued and cared for are more likely to be retained for longer.
The first step to supporting employee wellbeing following natural disasters is to ask a few important questions:
When a natural disaster happens, we must look after our people first.
Building on recent experiences, here are some principles to work into your reflections and preparedness planning.
1. Connect and communicate with empathy
Leaders must communicate with empathy and seek to understand employees’ individual circumstances. Spend more time listening to what employees have to say, rather than talking, to give people room to discover their needs.
Recommended by LinkedIn
2. Assess the need
Do your research. Find out what tools are available within your workplace, such as flexible work policy, leave entitlements and special leave, and understand what assistance is available from outside. Do you know how to effectively link in with government or other social assistance available in the community?
Natural disasters can have varied impacts on different people. Get in touch with individual employees to check-in and understand the impact of a disaster on them. If an employee has lost their house or is still traumatised by having to escape flood waters, their needs will be very different from others. Offer help and support such as special leave or leave banking or assisting them to connect with the appropriate external organisations.
3. Preventative approach
While we’re still living through the aftermath of several natural disasters, now is a good time to review what would have been useful to have in place - while the experiences and opportunities to respond differently are fresh.
4. Invest in workplace support packages
As part of employee benefits packages, workplaces could arrange insurance packages and other support resources for their employees to activate when a disaster occurs.
Workplaces can also invest in wellbeing support packages. One of the most popular employee assistance programmes offer a variety of mental health and wellbeing resources including free counselling sessions. These organisations can also offer other services to employees affected by natural disasters.
5. Develop a Disaster Recovery Plan
Leaders can take a proactive approach to disaster planning after conducting a risk assessment and developing emergency response plans. These could include training employees on emergency procedures, being able to stand the business up in other centres if needed, and simulations of how to respond when a disaster hits. By being prepared, the impact of future natural disasters on your employees can be minimised.
While having disaster recovery planning measures in place is the first step, making sure disaster plans are up to date, regularly reviewed and understood by employees are critical too.
If you’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed in how you can be better prepared for natural disasters to look after your people, the team and I at Working Wise Ltd can help assess your emergency management needs and help you develop your disaster recovery plan.