Why Business Leaders Should Care about Family Preparedness

Imagine you are at work, wherever it may be.  An earthquake occurs, minor or major.  Once you and your coworkers are safe and not injured, what is the first thing everyone does?  You guessed it - contact their family.

When the freak Virginia earthquake struck in 2011, I observed hundreds of people standing outside on their cell phones trying in vain to call home.  All work stopped until people were able to call home.  Some people took as long as twenty minutes, trying to get through on overburdened cell towers.  Once the call was successfully accomplished, crisis management and emergency operations began.

Another example:  On 9/11, I was a Master-at-Arms (Military Police) in the Navy, enjoying a day off.  Actually, I was scheduled to attend training just after a dental appointment.  As soon as I found out about The Twin Towers, I called home.  I knew my family was safe - we were stationed in California, but the need to reach out for assurance was still overwhelming.

When we reflect upon incidents like these, we instantly understand the title question - Why should business leaders care about family preparedness?  There are many valid reasons management should take an interest in cultivating their employees' family preparedness.  For brevity sake, we'll take a look at just a few.

1. When families are prepared, have exercised their plans, and are now confident in their resiliency, the employee is much more likely to stay engaged at work vice heading home in times of crisis.  Once the family's safety is confirmed, the employee continues to work.  By building family resilience, the work force becomes stronger.  This resilient way of thinking, will overflow into the boardroom or onto the plant floor.  Much like a military unit or sports team, your work force will be less likely to quit trying when there is a problem, they will persist and push forward; resiliency will become an everyday thought.
2. Prior to signing on to a new company or firm, many prospective employees vet the organization similar to the company's background checks.  People I know contact current or former employees, they research the financial news sections, stock history, legal proceedings, etc.  Imagine the impact of hearing about the company's Resiliency Program - a company ran program designed to increase family readiness in times of emergencies.  They have regular preparedness workshops, send out preparedness newsletters, obtain corporate discounts to vendors marketing preparedness products.  Imagine your reputation among your peers at the Chamber of Commerce!  One option could be to offer gift certificates to preparedness vendors as contest prizes (See ads on the right and bottom of the page).  An innovative benefit which, depending on the things offered, would have a maximum impact on employees, yet a limited impact on your budget!  Finally, it solidifies the claim, "Family comes first."  Remember - actions speak louder than words.
3. The last reason we'll examine today piggy backs on the first reason - the bottom line.  In a disaster, if two-thirds of your workforce leave to attend to family, would you be able to continue the same level of productivity as your full force does?  Most likely not, or if you are, only for a limited time before your employees burnout.  Putting continuity practices in place, testing them, exercising your employees, and properly preparing for a disaster or crisis, will enable you to persist through the incident, perhaps pulling a profit, while your competitors flounder.  Think of it this way, an incident occurs.  You send all of your employees home to check on family, initiating their family plans, then ask them to return to work the following day if they feel comfortable returning to work.  A vast majority of them will because you instilled resiliency in your families prior to the incident.  Now you can open for business.  Being the astute business owner/leader you are, you take a look at your competitors - they are not open for business and there are no indicators when they will be.  You take the initiative sending out flyers, commercials, advertisements, that because of the incident, you are offering a discount to all products because in times like these, your company cares about rebuilding the future, or something along those lines.  With an absence of competitors, you can afford to offer discounts because your location is the sole location for your products in the immediate area.  Think about your company's reputation boost!  All because your employees received resiliency from business leadership.

I have only scratched the surface of the benefits to cultivating preparedness in your employees' families.  Every business and company will have varying benefits based upon their risk and level of involvement.  I never expect employees to not worry about their family, but helping them instill resilience at home will help your business push through the crises.  And that, is the true meaning behind resiliency.