#CHENNAI FLOOD DISASTER: LESSONS THAT

HR’S CAN LEARN December 11, 2015 Mukul Agarwal

Chennai Flood Disaster has costed $60 million in loss to IT companies, Rs.300

crores to telecom companies and Rs.1600 crores of loss for automobile sector.

More than 90% of the companies were not prepared to tackle this situation and

were forced to close the business without any alternate plan.

Few organisations did try some measures to successfully tackle the situation. Through this article, we would like to

reach out to a larger audience of HR’s, as suggestions to look forward in case of similar catastrophes in the future.

1. Ensuring Employees’ Safety

The first thing HR’s did was to move employees out of city, quickly and safely. They kept office close, booked

hotels or hostels for temporary stay and made necessary food arrangements. HR’s can even let employees go to their

hometown or at best other branch locations of the company. More than anything, make sure employees are at

comfort.

2. Get an alternate place to shift everything

Almost 90% of the companies in affected areas of Chennai stayed shut down for more than 10 days. They had no

alternate plan to continue the business. Keeping this in mind, HR’s should be aware of alternate places to shift

necessary equipments quickly to keep the business up and running. These places could be hostels, flats on rent,

community halls or even shared space within another organisation.

3. Encourage critical role employees to stay behind

In most of the organisations, there are few key roles which need physical presence of employees within the office

location. Companies have encouraged them to stay back with full comforts in place, like booked hotels for them or

made staying arrangements within office premises. They even gave compensatory benefits in terms of money, food,

clothes, internet etc. Infact, these organisations kept power backup and server backup options intact.

Today, after about 15 days of disaster, the water is receding down. Companies

are looking to open-up the offices again. It is time for HR’s to bring everything

back on track.

Here are some quick tips which HR’s can follow to make sure employees are motivated enough to get back to

normalcy.

1. Regular Updates about Office Situation through Social Media

Social Media has proved out to be effective in letting others know about the exact situation of the disaster. HR’s

should keep posting about current situation of city as well as office premises. Keep sending photographs, videos and

even email communication. This will give confidence among employees to travel back to city. Also an indication to

key customers, that business is about to continue with 100% efficiency.

2. Make temporary arrangements for Stay, Food and Travel

When office premises are good enough to function again, it is time for HR’s to make sure employees have access to

their stay places and food. If not, check them into a nearby hotel for stay and food and make necessary travel

arrangements as well. Make sure employees are at comfort till situation is under control.

3. Employee Entertainment Activities

A disaster can have a depressive impact on the employees. It is time to light-up the mood. When employees are back

to office, HR’s can look to make sufficient arrangements to keep employees engaged or motivated during initial

days. It could be lunch/dinner arrangements in office, movie screening, gaming activities and other similar things.

4. Keep a regular Health Check-up

Threats on Health issues are inevitable after any disaster. The best HR’s can do is to arrange weekly health-checkups

for the employees. This will make sure employees are safe, at comfort and good to continue with their office

activities.

5. Encourage employees to help others

It is times like these that show true nature of a human being or organisation as a whole. Companies should take it as

a CSR activity to help recover those who are affected. Encourage employees to move across the city, look for those

who need help and provide them with food, shelter, clothes, medicines etc.