Managing a Relocation Program During Natural Disasters and Political Crises

Our world is no stranger to turmoil. We have faced damaging natural disasters, been stricken by pandemics, and endured political strife. Even now, COVID-19 continues to prevail on a global level while the crisis in Ukraine has us all glued to the news. 

But in adversity, we have also seen the best of humanity as communities come together to support those who need it. 

Your workplace is a community. Whether the organization has one location, multiple across the country, or has international reach, it’s crucial to protect your workplace community. It’s even more important to keep that community safe during an emergency.

A relocation program can be incredibly useful in quickly getting employees to safety when needed. Here are four ways to protect your employees during an emergency, including how a relocation program can offer support.

Keep an Eye (and an Ear) Out for Potential Disasters

No one expects you to be an expert in European politics or seasonal weather patterns. But if your business has multiple locations, whether statewide, nationally, or globally, you should pay attention to news related to your job sites. This could mean one person sets Google Alerts for these different regions, or a leader in each location is tasked with sharing local news.  

Having a local perspective helps your organization stay on top of potential disasters and get ahead of issues when possible. A manager could convey that there’s been an increase in riots near the office, while another in a separate state might share projections for a hurricane’s path in their area. With this information, you can help employees avoid the worst of a situation by getting them to safety before the issue amplifies. 

Create and Communicate a Proactive Emergency Policy 

Do not wait until disaster strikes to make a plan. Work with key stakeholders, including leaders in Human Resources, Communications, and Operations, to create a policy for how your company will protect employees through an emergency. Ensure that relocation is specifically addressed when developing your plan so it doesn’t get overlooked. 

After the policy is finalized: communicate, communicate, communicate. Announce the emergency plan to the entire company to increase awareness, then provide training to leaders at all worksites. Keep the plan in an accessible location, like a company Intranet site. Also, loop in your relocation provider so they are aware of how they can support your employees.

The more you communicate and plan ahead of time, the less you need to scramble in the face of an actual emergency. 

Connect with Employees Consistently

When an emergency situation strikes, timing is everything. Communicating your emergency policy to employees ahead of time should ease at least some of the stress, but you must act urgently as soon as your employees are at risk. 

If there is an emergency that impacts your employees, you should:

• Reach out to employees in the impacted area until you get a response to know the threat level they’re facing and learn what assistance they need
• Clearly state how the organization is there to assist the employee and their family, and how they can access local resources for help (including where to find shelter or how to contact the embassy) 
• Utilize your relocation program to connect employees with temporary housing or a realtor for a more permanent living situation 

Build a communication line to stay in touch with employees throughout the emergency situation to ensure they stay safe. 

Partner with a Centralized Relocation Provider

Managing an emergency for your business can seem stressful and overwhelming, but you don’t have to do it alone. Partnering with a single source relocation provider gives you a central point of contact to handle the messaging across multiple locations at once. They take on the administrative load while you can focus on protecting your greatest asset: the employees. 

A relocation provider like Allied has a national and global network to coordinate moves swiftly and get employees to safety. Regardless of whether your main office is thousands of miles from the site facing the emergency, Allied is able to manage local efforts to protect your employees and their families. 

Don’t wait until it’s too late to plan for an emergency. Develop a plan to keep your employees out of harm’s way and partner with a relocation provider to make the process run as smoothly as possible.