Whether a disaster affects your local community or the other side of the world, it can be upsetting to your employees, suppliers, and customers. After a crisis, your staff may be grieving or in need of support, and connecting with workplace giving programs can help them feel empowered. By putting a plan in place now, you can be ready to jump in to help your employees and your community. Here are some steps to take:

Step 1: Listen to Your Staff
Sometimes, a disaster’s impact on your staff will be obvious. If a tornado strikes your town, your staff will be affected in some way. Sometimes, however, it may be less obvious.

Step 2: Make a Plan
Next, make a plan for how you will support your staff. Consider what kind of response you are able to provide. In general, financial support to established, local organizations is the best way to help. But if your company’s skills or products are being requested by response organizations, volunteering or in-kind contributions may be appropriate.

Step 3: Leverage Leadership to Launch the Campaign
If your staff has been impacted by a crisis – directly or indirectly –  work with your leadership to send employees a message of support and empowerment. Your team wants to know that leadership cares about them and understands that they are feeling dismayed. In addition to connecting employees with any employee assistance resources your company provides, this is a good opportunity to connect them with your tailored giving campaign.

Step 4: Stay Connected
Continue to monitor the situation and your staff’s wellbeing over time. As the situation develops, you may need to work with your leadership and Bright Funds to update your giving and volunteering campaign to match staff needs.

Step 5: Share Your Impact
At regular intervals, share your team’s collective giving and volunteering impact with your staff.

Read the full article about preparing staff to respond to disasters at Bright Funds.