Turning crises into opportunities has long been a guiding principle in preparing for future needs—whether related to health care, education, retirement or other financial goals. But what if uncertainty crept into your life today instead of tomorrow? When the unexpected occurs, organizations and their employees must ensure the continuity of essential services even during a crisis. Maintaining payroll, health insurance and other benefits is critical to maintaining employee morale, productivity and overall business stability, especially when natural disasters, cyberattacks or other unforeseen crises unfold. Without a plan, organizations could face significant employee dissatisfaction, potential legal issues and reputational damage.

“Throughout my career, I’ve observed an increasing number of regulations requiring a documented disaster recovery plan or a business continuity plan. In some cases, insurance policies require it,” said Jennifer Brandt, CISA, CBCP, the managing director of CBIZ Risk Advisory Services. Brandt and her team at CBIZ, Inc., a financial services firm specializing in accounting, insurance and advisory services, play a crucial role in business continuity and disaster recovery planning. Their expertise helps companies prepare their plans, allowing them to focus on restoring systems and maintaining critical business operations during or after a disruption—whether it’s a hurricane, cyberattack or even a mouse chewing through wires in a control closet. Their focus on preparing and training employees to implement a plan immediately after a disruption is invaluable.

Developing a Strategy

After the COVID-19 pandemic, Brandt talked with potential clients who weathered the challenges of the pandemic, managed remote work and felt confident in their less formally structured approach. However, for other clients, their experiences during the pandemic highlighted the importance of being prepared for any disruption, leading them to strengthen their organization’s continuity procedures. These clients placed an increased emphasis on a structured process.

Brandt and her team work with clients to identify the most critical business processes needed to continue or be restored to an acceptable level of operations after a disruption for that business to continue. They assess the IT systems supporting these processes, key personnel with specialized skills who lack cross-training, and any third-party partners—such as vendors or contractors—essential to recovery.

They start by performing a business impact assessment, or business impact analysis, with the client. Based on this, they help document a business continuity plan, including a high-level document that identifies a department-specific recovery plan outlining workarounds—or recognizing when none exist— to keep each department running or identify potential obstacles.

Brandt provided an example with a manufacturing facility: “If it isn’t safe to access the manufacturing facility, or there’s no electricity, maybe there’s no workaround, but maybe they can redeploy workers to another facility and continue limited operations there. We work with clients to document all of that, too.”

Brandt’s team also trains the client’s business community coordinator, a key role in ensuring the continuity plan continues to be updated as the company evolves and conducts future training. The business community coordinator is responsible for coordinating the plan’s updates, conducting regular training sessions, and ensuring that all employees are familiar with the plan. Additionally, they work with the IT team on their disaster recovery plan, a subset of the overall business continuity, focusing on developing and documenting their system restoration priorities and technical runbooks. To reinforce preparedness, Brandt noted that they create and moderate tabletop scenarios, guiding clients through their plan in a verbal walkthrough, which not only trains them and gives them confidence in what they need to be doing, but also can highlight anything missing in the plan.

“After a disruption, companies need to conduct a ‘lessons learned’ analysis and update their plans accordingly,” Brandt said. “It might highlight for them that the employees weren’t properly trained, creating delays or fumbles as they tried to continue the business.” While evaluating and refining their response after an event happens is crucial, Brand added that it’s also important that organizations take care of their employees and their community, too.

Best Practices

The CBIZ, Inc. website offers the following ways organizations can support their employees in the aftermath of a disaster.

Modify Workplace Policies

Depending on the extent of the disaster, employees may have suffered severe losses. Implementing flexible workplace policies can create a supportive environment.

• Relaxed dress codes. Easing attire policies can relieve stress for employees managing personal recovery tasks alongside work responsibilities.
• Increase flexibility. Offering adjustable work schedules allows employees to address personal matters such as insurance claims, family needs or home repairs.
• Temporary leave options. For employees severely impacted, consider providing paid or unpaid leave to help stabilize their situation.

Post-Disaster Employee Support: Best Practices for Business | Property & Casualty

Brandt recalled an informal conversation with a manufacturing client who considered setting up a fund or providing financial aid to those unable to access the facility. She acknowledged that while it wasn’t something feasible for every company, it was an idea this organization was exploring.

The CBIZ, Inc. website continues:

Offer Technology Assistance

Following a disaster, some employees may have lost personal devices or face connectivity issues.

• Loaner devices: Provide temporary laptops or mobile devices to help employees stay connected and productive.
• Connectivity support: Offer stipends for internet access or mobile data plans for remote workers.
• Temporary workstations: Establish workstations in unaffected areas for employees to utilize if their home offices are compromised.

Establish a Crisis Communication Plan

Clear communication is essential during and after a disaster to ensure employees are informed.

• Centralized communication channels: Create a dedicated hotline, app or website to provide updates on the company’s status, recovery efforts and available resources.
• Consistent updates: Provide employees with regular and transparent updates.
• Multi-lingual support: Ensure that communications are accessible to everyone by providing updates in multiple languages as needed.

Expand Remote Work

If infrastructure or transportation is disrupted, allow all nonessential employees to telecommute.

• Improve remote work options. Strengthen the ability for employees to work from home or another safe location.
• Adapt work schedules. Some employees may need to manage childcare or other family responsibilities with work. Offering flexible hours can alleviate stress.

Address New Workplace Hazards

Post-disaster environments can introduce various safety hazards, including building structural damage, compromised roadways or air quality concerns.

• Revise safety protocols: Identify new hazards and educate employees about them. Provide training to manage these threats effectively.
• Provide protective gear: If employees must return to an environment with potential hazards (e.g., debris, compromised infrastructure), ensure they receive appropriate safety equipment (e.g., masks, gloves, first-aid kits).
• Review workspace safety: Perform ongoing assessments to ensure the office or worksite is safe and sanitary before employees return. Consider engaging a third-party safety consultant.

Avoid Burnout & Fatigue

Employees juggling work-related and personal recovery may experience exhaustion, leading to fatigue and impaired decision-making. Preventing overwork is essential for maintaining safety and productivity.

• Set realistic work expectations. Temporarily modify workloads and expectations to reflect staff shortages or decreased productivity. Prioritize urgent tasks and postpone non-essential projects.
• Encourage breaks and rest. Ensure employees take regular breaks and avoid extended working hours. Consider implementing mandatory time off to support rest and recovery.
• Monitor employee well-being. Schedule check-ins with employees to ensure they’re managing the pressures of recovery. Offer access to counseling services or Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) to help with stress management.

“There are opportunities to provide specific training to manager and supervisor staff on additional touchpoints, team building and solidarity type initiatives,” Brandt said. She provided the example that after a disruption, teams could dedicate part of their weekly status meetings to discussing workplace adjustments and employee well-being beyond just the nuts and bolts of operational recovery.

Offer Ongoing Support

Disaster recovery often requires a sustained effort beyond the immediate aftermath. It’s crucial to extend support assistance to employees.

• Career counseling: Offer guidance to workers whose roles may have shifted or been eliminated due to the disaster.
• Retraining programs: Provide retraining or upskilling for staff impacted by business restructuring from the disaster.
• Gradual return-to-work: For severely impacted employees, establish a phased return-to-work program to help them transition back to their roles. Brandt suggested that in addition to accessing existing employee assistance programs organizations could provide accommodations such as engaging counselors to be onsite when employees return to the office, as well as arranging for employees’ children to meet with therapists.

Post-Disaster Employee Support: Best Practices for Business | Property & Casualty

To the point of career counseling, Brandt also suggested, “A company could pay for the affected employees to get increased access to LinkedIn for six months.”

Brandt recommends anyone looking for more information or to get certified in business continuity and disaster recovery explore the resources available at the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI). The DRI is the oldest and largest nonprofit that helps organizations worldwide prepare for and recover from disasters by providing education, accreditation and thought leadership in business continuity, disaster recovery, cyber resilience and related fields.