Page 162 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

142 Building a High Morale Workplace

Where Crisis Management
Has Helped in the Past
Times when crisis management techniques have proven
enormously helpful in rebuilding workplace morale following a disaster:
• NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger explosion
• Three Mile Island nuclear incident
• Johnson & Johnson’s two product tampering tragedies involving
Tylenol
• Financial crises of Ohio’s S&Ls
• Columbine High School shooting
• World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks

disaster, should one occur, and to provide swift and effective

support and reassurance to your employees?
Well, you have that power. Start preparing now, before
something happens. This can make all the difference between a
manager who’s considered to be a prepared and effective leader

and one who’s caught up in the chaos and unable to get ahead
of the problem or help his or her people cope with catastrophe
when they need it most.

Investigate Your Employee Assistance Program

When disaster strikes, managers must quickly mobilize their
resources. It’s not the time to try to gather information when
you’re smack in the middle of a major crisis. It’s all about

action. That means you need to make time now to investigate
what resources would be available to you, if necessary.
Start by talking to someone in your organization’s employee
assistance program (EAP). They should be able to alert you to

the firms that your organization contracts with for crisis counsel-
ing and other services in the event of an emergency. Visit those
companies’ Web sites. Find out more about what these
resources can offer your workers in various unexpected scenar-
ios. Then share this vital information with your people. Why?
Most employees say they need this “just-in-case” information

and satisfaction in order to maintain peace of mind.