Communication With Workforce

In the event of a disaster, how will you get into contact with the employees in your Agency? Employees safely evacuate the premises. Everyone’s accounted for. But this is not a drill! You release them. They go home, to shelters, or to health care facilities. Then what? If well planned, your disaster recovery team will assemble and begin their activities (see Disaster Site Recovery Restoration Actions). Your business resumption team will also start up. But the majority of your employees will have no idea what to do. Should they report to work? If so, where? What will they be doing, regular work or clean up? What if the disaster affects their family? What if they can’t report? Who do they call? Will they be paid? Must they take leave? How long will this go on? Remember, not all disasters take place during business hours. A unit of your business resumption team should handle employee communications. A workforce prepared and trained in business continuation will know what to expect. Depending on the disaster you should plan for:

  • Out of state call-in center if local phone lines go down.
  • Standard telephone tree, to include cell phone numbers.
  • Regularly updated, recorded message on agency information line.
  • Emergency website with employee information.
  • Radio, TV and print media for emergency notification.
  • Regular status reports to employees.
Your agency should have a plan for who, what, when, where, and how you will communicate with employees in the event of a disaster. The plan should include or consider:
  • Home telephone and cell phone numbers, residence addresses, and emergency contacts for all employees.
  • Standard protocols for communication with employees. 
  • A process to update the information. This will ensure that the personnel assigned to carry out the communication plan and the employees to be notified have not left the agency, moved to another location, or changed telephone numbers. And, that the employees are still in the same positions, fully aware of their responsibilities in the plan.
  • Types of information that will need to be shared with employees. Consider different kinds of probable disasters.
  • A process to share and practice the plan with all agency personnel.