How the Web Can Help You Weather a Crisis

As corporate managers and communications consultants who weathered the World TradeCenter attack know, the Web can provide a very effective way of communicatinginformation and support to employees. During a crisis, backup server capacitycan keep companies online, even if the infrastructure at headquarters has beendamaged or destroyed. In case the intranet goes down, however, it’s wise to create a contingency plan for quickly converting the company’s publicly accessibleWeb site into a disaster communications and information portal. That way, employeeswho are scattered can gain access from their neighbors’ home computers, publiclibraries, or cyber-cafés wherever they are in the world. Here are somefeatures you may want to incorporate into your emergency page:

• A list of confirmed survivors and missing employees. Update this vitalinformation as often as possible, but to avoid causing confusion and additionalheartache, make sure that the information you post has been carefully verified.

• Frequently updated company news about the status of the recovery effort,and any other developments that you think employees should be made awareof. Get the information up on your site quickly, so that employees focuson the site as their source of information about the company, rather thanrelying on the news media.

• Audio Webcasts by management, to give employees the reassurance that comesfrom hearing the chief executive’s voice. Real Audio or Windows Media filesof conferences can be archived, so employees who miss a Webcast can listento it later. (Don’t use video, because employees with dial-up connectionsat home may not have the bandwidth.) Provide a text transcript to reinforcethe message.

• Contact information for your employee assistance program, health insuranceprovider, message center, and other corporate services. Include phone numbersas well as e-mail addresses, so that employees and family members can speakto a person if they like.

• A Web-based e-mail form that enables employees to communicate with management,even if they can’t access their company e-mail accounts. It might be a goodidea to provide links to Yahoo, Hotmail, or other free e-mail services,so that employees can create a return e-mail address in case they don’talready have a personal account.

• A message board, to facilitate communication among many people at once.A manager can try to set up off-site meetings with team members, or an employeecan find out if anyone knows where a colleague is hospitalized. Messageboards also give employees a chance to discuss among themselves their feelingsof grief and loss, and to share ideas about how they can help others. Moderatethe board, to make sure the discussion stays focused and constructive.

• Information about alternative work sites or temporary offices. Includemaps or links to a site such as MapQuest.com. Provide advisories about trafficrerouting, the availability of public transportation, and expected delays,or else link to local government sites with that information.

• Links to outside resources that may help employees, such as relief organizations,local hospitals, and government agencies. Sites with information about trafficrerouting and availability of public transportation may help.

• Information about whatever community relief efforts the company itselfis undertaking, and links to organizations where employees can volunteeror make donations.

Workforce, November 2001, p. 32 — Subscribe Now!