Most larger organizations plan for disaster

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In a survey of 134 human resource professionals, more than half of the respondents said their companies have created or revised their disaster preparedness plans to ensure employee safety and business continuity. Eighty-five percent said their organizations have formal disaster preparedness plans in place, according to the 2005 Disaster Preparedness Survey released by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

The role of HR professionals in developing disaster preparedness plans is significant, SHRM says. Forty-nine percent of those surveyed said they are primarily responsible for forming all disaster preparedness plans, or forming plans and procedures with equal input from other departments. Their organizations are focusing on crisis-response training for employees that includes CPR/first aid training, fire suppression, crisis management and hazardous-material containment. Employees with crisis management training are more likely to respond confidently, with 95% of them saying they felt comfortable taking a leadership role in the event of a disaster.

The survey also shows that 41% of organizations with business continuity plans will be able to sustain essential operations indefinitely, and 25% said that all operations can continue indefinitely. Small and midsize organizations are less likely to have a business continuity plan, while 80% of large companies have a plan in place in case of an emergency.

One-third of the HR professionals said their organization has a formal policy in place to assist employees. Large organizations are more likely than small and midsize ones to provide financial assistance. Respondents indicated the following benefits for their workers: employee assistance programs (82%), additional unpaid leave (61%), additional paid leave (35%), paycheck advance (33%) and leave donation programs (33%).