Gaining a seat at the table: EA professionals increasingly are being invited to help strategize and manage corporate disaster response, but they need to ensure they have the proper training and real-life experience to perform these duties.

Recent disasters and catastrophes affecting the workplace, such as the 2005 U.S. hurricanes, the 2004 South Asian Tsunami, the 2005 London subway bombings, and the events of September 11, 2001, have highlighted the need to expand crisis intervention services offered to businesses and their employees. Services such as locating missing or evacuated workers, managing internal and external communications, restoring and maintaining business continuity, and addressing personal and professional challenges experienced by employees can be invaluable to employers.

Although various corporate functions such as security, human resources, legal counsel, disaster planning, and occupational health and safety play significant roles in planning and offering these services, each of these functions must also address other challenges related specifically to their departmental mandates. Employee assistance programs (EAPs), which provide a broad base of support to the organization and its corporate functions, are increasingly demonstrating their value as a strategic partner in disaster planning and response processes.

This broadening of employee assistance services has significant implications for individual EA professionals and for EAPs overall. For individual EA professionals, the level of training required to provide workplace crisis intervention has increased significantly. In addition to formal training, EA professionals need real-life experience working in the crisis intervention field, as crisis intervention is not something that every professional can provide effectively after only receiving training.

A recent survey of Employee Assistance Professionals Association members found that while 83.5 percent (n = 237) of EA professionals providing workplace group crisis intervention services had received some type of formal training, slightly more than a third did not receive this training until after responding to a workplace critical incident (Jacobson 2004). Findings such as this suggest that some EA professionals may not be well-prepared to offer workplace crisis intervention services, heightening the need for EAPs to have crisis intervention experts on staff and/or available as consultants.

Further, the types of crises affecting businesses vary from workplace to workplace. What may be considered a crisis for one corporate client may not be for another. The ability to tailor crisis assessment and intervention services to not only the incident but also to the specific organization requires advanced training and experience.

In many work organizations, the outreach provided by the EAP includes critical support and guidance to the corporate management team. This article will highlight ways EAPs can assist businesses in planning and responding to large-scale workplace disasters.

RESPONSE VS. MANAGEMENT

Today, more and more EA professionals are being invited to serve on corporate crisis management teams and other crisis preparedness and response groups. EAPs are increasingly being called upon before, during, and after workplace crises for their expertise in the behavioral management of employees. In addition to assisting individual employees, EAPs are aligning their services with business mandates to more effectively assist in the management of, and recovery from, workplace crises.

To provide the best possible service, an EAP needs to be prepared to work collaboratively with senior management and encourage the development of a corporate crisis management team. In other words, the EAP should have a seat at the corporate planning table. The corporate crisis management team should itself have a crisis management specialist to work as a consultant and subject area expert. To the extent EAPs have and/or retain specialists for corporate crisis management, they can offer this service to their clients, thereby adding value to the relationship.

An EAP that helps a business respond to a corporate crisis often will be invited to participate in the planning, development, and training of the corporate crisis management team. Many EAPs, however, have not yet been "invited to the table" and still need to prove their value to their clients with regard to workplace crisis intervention.

In large-scale workplace critical incidents, competent strategic planning in the delivery of services and dissemination of information can make the difference between the disaster response becoming a disaster of its own and providing meaningful support to the organization and its workforce. Although many EA professionals have developed advanced skills in providing crisis intervention services, a much smaller subset of professionals has the skills necessary to provide crisis management.

To better understand the difference, picture two levels of crisis intervention professionals: those qualified to provide crisis response services and those qualified to provide crisis management services. To train the latter, the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation recently introduced a two-day seminar titled "Strategic Response to Crisis." Additional training can be obtained through the Federal Emergency Management Agency's course titled "Incident Command System (ICS)."

But just as training alone does not adequately prepare someone to offer crisis response services, it must be complemented by supervised experience to help an EA professional operate effectively as a crisis manager. While some EA professionals are best suited for offering individual and group crisis interventions, those who have advanced experience and management skills may be better suited to focus on strategic planning and business continuity.

During large-scale disasters, the availability of qualified crisis managers and crisis responders can become limited. Connecting corporate clients to appropriate crisis management and response consultants early in the process is a key function of an EAE Early (and sometimes immediate) action ensures the availability of necessary services and helps minimize if not eliminate potential problems relating to communication strategies, the release of information, and the availability of support services.

CONTROLLING RUMORS

Recent tragic events resulting in employee deaths have underscored the need to manage communications, rumors, and the general flow of information. Helping to control rumors and the flow of information can be a critical service for EAPs to offer. The EAP corporate crisis manager should work collaboratively with upper-level management from the beginning of the incident (if not sooner) to help guide communications in a manner that meets the needs of the organization, its employees and, often, the employees' family members.

The need for businesses to fully understand the nuances of crisis communication is clearly evident. Crisis communication requires clear lines of communication, quick response to rumors, and verifying information from primary sources such as coroners, incident command spokespersons, and other strategically placed personnel. Often, information is released in the form of official "scripts" that only address known information. Working with corporate clients to discuss the psychological and emotional impacts of withholding information can often make the difference in whether an incident is handled appropriately and ethically or draws scrutiny from the public.

In our opinion, corporate crisis communications may be the most challenging piece in the delivery of crisis intervention and crisis management services. The "crisis management briefing" (CMB) is one widely used method of providing factual information and supportive services in an integrated fashion (Everly and Mitchell 1999; Everly 2002). Mitchell and Everly point out that one of the primary goals of the CMB is to control the rise and spread of rumors. Clark and Volkman (2005) report success in using CMBs in several types of workplace critical incidents, including "aviation incidents/accidents, suicides of co-workers, office-involved shootings, line of duty deaths, serious motor vehicle accidents, school crisis response, and corporate crisis response."

The following is a checklist of activities and services that all EAPs should consider if they are offering corporate crisis intervention and management services. This list is not exhaustive.

Assess strengths and weaknesses. EAPs need to continuously assess their own capabilities and the dynamic needs of their corporate clients. Many EAPs have not conducted a comprehensive assessment of their own capabilities and vulnerabilities. EAPs should consider how they will support their clients as well as their own staff if they are directly affected by a large-scale disaster.

Be proactive. EAPs must be proactive and work diligently to become trusted and engaged in workplace disaster planning and response. There are still EA professionals who sit in their offices waiting for clients to call. Especially during times of crisis, EAPs need to reach out to their corporate clients and educate them about the most appropriate type of intervention.

Match resources to needs. EAPs should strive to provide the best possible assessment and intervention services, using expert personnel to address diverse needs such as crisis communication, trauma intervention, mediation and alternative dispute resolution, and threat assessment.

Offer individualized services. After assessing a situation, an EAP should offer services that match the employer's needs. Crisis intervention services cannot be provided as "one size fits all." Sometimes services that were not originally included in the EAP contract are indicated. For example, hurricanes Katrina and Rita displaced many employees, with some ending up thousands of miles from their homes. In situations such as these, EAPs can encourage their corporate clients to provide contact information as employees are located. With this initial contact information, an EAP can provide outreach to relocated employees and coordinate support services to displaced employees and their family members.

Support communication. EAPs should work with upper-level management to obtain accurate information during a crisis and assess the best way to relay news in an effective, though sensitive, manner to employees and family members. Rumor control is a major task for corporate crisis management, and EAPs can assist managers in formulating communications in a manner that will best inform employees of a potential or real situation, without causing undue stress and anxiety.

Become a corporate consultant. The role of an EAP as corporate consultant is not new. As the need for crisis management continues to grow within the business world, EAPs should look to join corporate crisis management teams and provide training for team members. They can also establish an ongoing relationship as a consultant and work with upper-level management on policy development and program guidelines related to corporate disaster planning and response. Tyler and Rogers (2005) offer an interesting perspective of the EAP role in the planning and execution of crisis intervention services within the federal government.

SEEING THE LARGER PICTURE

In conclusion, the actual EAP response will vary based on the assessed problem, the level of service the company wants to utilize, and the level of severity and need indicated. What is sometimes lost is that after the crisis subsides and business resumes as normal, traumatic events require follow-up. All too often, the follow-up suffers as the corporation and the EAP focus on everyday issues.

It is essential that any disaster preparedness and response plan include follow-up with the workforce to assess whether employees returning to work are safe, healthy, and productive and to ensure satisfaction with, and effectiveness of, services provided. The follow-up process can be planned and conducted through the use of an effective corporate crisis manager. From a corporate crisis management perspective, follow-up would be planned in advance, as would a formal evaluation of the response.

As EAPs continue to respond to different workplace traumatic events, they learn from each experience. There is a need for a formal evaluation process to be in place for EAPs to review their response to disasters and strive for continuous improvement.

The EAP corporate crisis manager is in an ideal position to work with businesses on improving preparedness and response plans. Working with organizations to see the larger picture is the next step for EAPs with regard to getting and keeping a seat at the planning table.

References

Clark, D. W and R Volkman. 2005. Enhancing the crisis management briefing. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, 7(2): 133-140.

Everly, G. 5. 2002. Crisis management briefings: Large group crisis intervention in response to terrorism, disasters, and violence. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, 2(1):53-57.

Everly, G. S. and J. T. Mitchell. 1999. Critical incident stress management: A new era and standard of care in crisis intervention (2nd ed.). Ellicott City, Md.: Chevron.

Federal Emergency Management Administration. Education and Training. Available online at http://www.fema.gov/tab_education.shtm.

International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) Website. Education and Training. Available online: http://www.icisf.org/training/.

Jacobson, J. M. 2004. Compassion fatigue among employee assistance counselors. Dissertations Abstracts International, Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 65(4A):1540.

Tyler, M. R and J. R. Rogers. 2005. A federal perspective on EAPs and emergency preparedness. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, 7(3):179-186.

Richard J. Ottenstein, Ph.D., CEAP, CTS and Jodi M. Jacobson, Ph.D., LCSW-C, CEAP

Richard Ottenstein is chief executive officer of the Workplace Trauma Center, which provides crisis management, response and training services to EAPs, businesses and governments worldwide. He can be reached at [e-mail] or at [phone].

Jodi Jacobsen is assistant professor at Towson University in Maryland and serves as co-chair of the EAPA Workplace Disaster Preparedness Subcommittee. She also provides counseling and crisis intervention services through Counseling Centers of Maryland and the Workplace Trauma Center.