Canadian HR Reporter

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HRREPORTER.COM/HR-VENDORS-GUIDE AWR Inc. - Alternative Workplace Resolutions 5863 Leslie St., Suite 505 Toronto ON M2H 1J8 (416) 490-0911 Email: sue@suevandittelli.com Website: www.suevandittelli.com (416) 923-5555 Email: michaela.allan@lhhknightsbridge.com Website: www.lhhknightsbridge.com running to my car." Finding one gas station out of gas, she waited more than 30 min- utes at another to fi ll up her car and then headed out of town with nothing but a gym bag fi lled with workout clothes and her purse. " e only words I can use to describe what I saw was apoca- lyptic. I was standing watching RCMP offi cers in blowing ash, smoke, there was embers, trying to direct traffi c," said Bernstein. "I saw people running with their cats and their pets in their hands, run- ning from their homes." Bernstein made it safely to Ed- monton and went on to Victoria to meet up with her fi ancé. As far as she knows, her house is still standing, but two business part- ners did lose their homes. Bad timing e wildfi res came at a really hard time for Fort McMurray, said Ja- net Salopek, partner and senior consultant at Salopek & Associ- ates in Calgary. "People have been laid off, people are already struggling, businesses are already struggling — and here we go again." But in dealing with a crisis such as this, employee safety is the number one concern, she said, and employers won't bring people back to work until it's safe to do so. "Really, the leaders need to think about 'What do we do in the interim?'" During the 2013 flooding in Calgary, many businesses set up satellite offi ces in other people's boardrooms, said Salopek. "Most organizations have emergency response so they will have data integrity and all of that, so they can still contact people… they can quickly get up and get go- ing again and reach out." Making sure people are safe is paramount, said Brian Brown, se- nior partner at Mercer in Calgary " is was a pretty immediate situation and mandatory evacua- tion — 'Get out' — with not lots of time to plan for various things so, in some cases, people forgot medication at home that they may need. So (it's about) what steps can an employer take to help make sure that people get access to that information." Most companies have recovery teams and recovery plans in place, said Brown. "We saw that take action when we had the fl oods in Calgary a few years back, so I think that they're well-equipped in terms of risk management, risk mitigation, so there's teams already in place and big companies have got call centres where employees can phone in." And with events such as the fi re at Slave Lake in 2011, more em- ployers have contingency plans. "Boards are demanding it — it's just part of business in terms of risk mitigation," he said. In a state of emergency, the big concern for the municipality is business continuity which, at one time, was more about pandemic planning, said Bernstein. "It's now these major natural di- sasters and where pandemic plan- ning was more about, 'Oh, if your people can't come into work.' Now it's your critical infrastructure, like what if your buildings are fl ooded, what if your buildings are burning down. at's sort of the big issue right now." While not immediately threat- ened by the fi re, oilsands opera- tions were challenged by smoke and many employees were dis- placed. In addition to off ering ac- commodation for them and their families, employers went online to communicate with employees about the situation. Suncor, for example, advised it was "reducing production at our regional facilities in order to al- low employees and their families to get to safety" and "If you have found safe accommodation for the night, stay put and do not risk any further unnecessary travel." In a crisis like this, it's all about communication, said Salopek. "Get out right away and send out a message (about) what this means for the business," she said. "HR has a huge role to play in communication and coach- ing the managers and the lead- ers and also employees on what they need to be doing around communication." It's also important for employ- ees to communicate back to keep their employer updated on their situation, said Salopek. " at's going to be important to the workforce planning." Suncor, for example, encour- aged people to get in touch: "It's important for us to know where everyone is and how to be in touch with you. To continue to support you and to facilitate this process, we want to collect and maintain the most current and up-to-date information about displaced em- ployees. is will also help us to co-ordinate the workforce that we will need to return to work." Communication means using all ways possible, such as websites, Facebook, Twitter and a central contact line, said Debby Carreau, CEO and founder of Inspired HR in Calgary. And having one main contact person is also important. "You don't want diff erent peo- ple getting diff erent messages if they call different members of your team. Or they may call peo- ple that don't necessarily have all the facts, so I encourage them to have one point person," she said. It's also important to be as open and honest with staff as possible, said Carreau. " eir whole life has been up- rooted and the last thing they need to worry about now is guessing in terms of their employment. Even if it's bad news, I encourage em- ployers to make sure they're being transparent and sharing news be- cause the unknown is worse than certainty in cases like this." From an insurance perspective and from a government perspec- tive, employers also need to un- derstand what they can and can't do, or what they need to do, when it comes to business loss insur- ance or layoff s, she said. "We need to make sure, from a benefi t standpoint, are employees still taken care of, with the medical and the dental? And obviously pay is a huge one — are they going to be paid through EI, are we going to be able to pay them through insur- ance, are we going to have to look at other government resources so we can support our employees? So there are a lot of pieces." It's still early days and there are probably diff erent sources of in- come for employers, said Brown. "As they sort this through, no doubt there will be business in- terruption insurance that may cover off costs, depending upon who's been impacted," he said. "I think, in some cases, there will be interest-free loans. It'll vary com- pany by company as to how they look after their people." Syncrude, for example, tweeted that employee pay was secure, "in- cluding (an) emergency advance to be processed for May 10. ere is no need to apply for EI benefi ts." e Wood Buff alo municipality said all employees would be paid until June 30 or until they are back at work, said Bernstein, and nec- essary staff , such as senior man- agement, essential services and emergency services, are back in Fort McMurray. However, people were being housed in the oilsands work camps north of the city as they were not allowed back in their homes. " is poses a challenge because there is limited housing available until the evacuation order is lifted. is is also the challenge of being in a small isolated community and what makes this so unprec- edented — the closest large city to house this many people is 500 km away," she said. A lot of employees are dealing with the loss of their homes or have homes with major structural damage, said Bernstein. "I don't know what if any leave they will receive to support them through that. I also suspect there will be staff calling in sick due to the stress of the situation, increas- ing disability claims." HR can help in connecting em- ployees with the employee assis- tance program, said Salopek. And when possible, employers should cut employees some slack so they can attend to personal matters. "If managed properly, this is what builds stronger teams. It's terrible what's happening right now but when managed correctly, this creates stronger teams, it re- ally does. But communication is at the root and foundation of it all, and staying true. Many organiza- tions say, ' ese are the values of our organization.' Well, now's the time to revisit your values… and walk them." Without a doubt, this is where organizations' true colours show through, said Carreau. "A lot of it comes down to com- munication. It's not always the company that throws the most money at workers, it's the ones that — you talk about empathy — understand what people are going through. And you help how you can and you're honest with them, and as loyal as you can be. And if you take good care of them, they're going to be loyal to you." Limited housing poses challenges for employees FORT MCMURRAY < pg. 1 Credit: Jason Franson (Reuters) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Fort McMurray fire chief Darby Allen (right) visit neighborhoods devastated by the wildfire on May 13. Employee support will be an important part of the return to work, say experts.

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