A Message from Our CEO – January 2025
"Out of difficulties grow miracles."
— Jean de La Bruyère
I don’t know what it’s like to lose everything. The closest I came was my sister who lost her house in Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Devastating. Sitting here in the DC area, my heart goes out to Los Angeles residents: As of today, nearly 10,000 homes were destroyed-- burnt to the ground. Destructive fires are proliferating around the nation. According to USA Facts, the only state in the union that has not experienced a wildfire is Delaware. And then there are the floods and tornadoes.
All of this has consequences for employers who increasingly should consider building a plan for a disaster. The first and most critical step, according to Emergenetics, an organizational development company, is to make sure you have an immediate way of contacting your employees during a disaster. This takes planning. Companies need multiple connection points via email, text, slack, etc.
One of my clients (with 25,000 employees) publishes every employees’ mobile phone numbers in a directory that’s available to all employees.
That’s a start. But short-term solutions need to be balanced with long-term, more holistic support like extended mental health and wellness benefits or childcare assistance. I call these “Caring Benefits”. As noted in another one of our articles, employee engagement has hit an all-time low, as well as life evaluation. The economy might be soaring, but people are in a work funk. “Caring Benefits” are good for crises and for the long term.
It is not a CEO’s job to make people happy. It is her job to make people feel cared for, and part of something that is bigger than themselves. Employees—particularly younger employees—really value the notion of purpose. Purpose builds loyalty and loyalty builds purpose. Who would not be loyal to a company that is there for you in your most traumatic and vulnerable time? Btw, AI will help your productivity, but it can’t replace the long-term positive effects of “Caring Benefits.”
People. First. Works.
Warren