Empower your colleagues for resilience when preparing for natural disasters of all sizes

With the unpredictability created by climate and geopolitical events, the importance of Emergency Financial Relief programs, and the leaders who administer them, is increasingly critical to the stability of workforces and overall business continuity. Natural disasters, whether large-scale catastrophes or smaller, localized events, can strike at any moment, leaving colleagues and communities vulnerable and in need of immediate support. Effective leaders must explore ways to build resilient systems and design strategies that ensure comprehensive financial relief for colleagues. 

The escalating scale of global disasters 

Data shows that 9.8% of U.S. businesses experienced monetary loss due to extreme weather, representing over $9 trillion¹ in total revenue or 32%² of all revenue generated by reporting businesses. This is independent of the losses experienced by their workforces on individual levels which compounds the effect on the businesses. 

The Philippines’ 2024 typhoon season exemplifies this reality: Six storms in 30 days displaced 200,000 workers and many were forced to rebuild homes and livelihoods multiple times within weeks.³ For global employers, such clustered disasters create cascading HR challenges, from sudden regional staffing shortages to prolonged mental health crises among displaced employees. 

The year 2024 marked the second-most active year for billion-dollar disasters in U.S. history, with 27 events causing $182.7 billion in damages.⁴ However, this statistic obscures a critical trend: While most people remember 2024 for the unprecedented billion-dollar disasters around the globe 46% of E4E Relief’s 2024 cash grants were awarded to individuals applying for assistance related to personal hardships or disaster events other than billion-dollar hurricanes.⁵ 

When “small’ disasters create big problems 

Recent disaster seasons revealed three key workforce vulnerabilities: 

1. Geographic concentration: Typhoon Odette (in 2021) left 33%⁶ of workers in Philippines’ Caraga region unemployed, an outcome we saw repeated with 2024’s back-to-back storms⁷ 
2. Secondary economic shocks: Post-hurricane unemployment declines in the Caribbean reveal concerning trends – labor force participation drops after major storms as workers prioritize family recovery over formal employment⁸ 
3. Supply chain contagion: An E4E Relief client’s 2024 hurricane response required simultaneous support for 14% of its Southern U.S. workforce while rerouting global supply chains through undamaged facilities 

These effects persist long after floodwaters recede and continue even as rebuilding starts. In fact, employees assisted through E4E Relief’s programs reported needing 6-18 months to fully stabilize housing, childcare and transportation – all of which are foundational elements of workforce reliability. 

The business case for all-hazards preparedness 

Climate science confirms what HR leaders already know: The 18 named storms of 2024’s disaster season weren’t anomalies, but part of a decade-long pattern where disaster frequency increased 37% compared to 2014-2023 averages. This normalization of extremes requires solutions that scale: 

• Operational agility: E4E Relief expanded its operational capacity to 500% of its pre-disaster season levels, allowing single-day processing of 2,400 disaster grant applications during Hurricane Helene 

• Global consistency: In Q3 2024, as some of our global relief programs saw colleagues affected by Spanish floods and Brazilian rains, E4E Relief scaled our operations to care for needs across continents in a systematic and equitable manner  
• Preemptive action: Several E4E Relief clients seeded funds with E4E Relief cash grants to individuals, recognizing that 68% of disaster-affected employees need multi-layered support 

Beyond recovery: Building adaptive workforces when government agencies experience cutbacks 

The recent cuts to FEMA's disaster recovery programs significantly increase the value of E4E Relief's Emergency Financial Relief programs, as a relief fund can fill critical gaps created for individuals by reduced federal support, including: 

• Addressing immediate needs: E4E Relief’s expedited financial relief solutions, such as Accelerated Response℠⁹, provide timely grants to individuals and communities during disasters, ensuring that those affected receive immediate support, which will be increasingly important if FEMA assistance is delayed or unavailable¹⁰ 

• Supporting underfunded areas: With FEMA scaling back its role, state and local governments face increased financial burdens, especially in disaster-prone regions like the Gulf South and mid-Atlantic.¹¹ E4E Relief’s programs can step in to provide targeted financial aid to underserved individuals and communities, mitigating the uneven distribution of resources caused by FEMA’s withdrawal. 

• Scalable solutions: E4E Relief offers scalable programs tailored to specific organizational or community needs.¹² This flexibility allows companies and organizations to address large-scale disasters while also helping colleagues during smaller-scale disaster events and everyday personal hardships. 
• Building resilience: E4E Relief focuses on fostering resilience by providing financial safety nets that help individuals recover from crises more effectively.¹³ This approach aligns with the increasing need for localized solutions as federal disaster recovery systems experience capacity challenges. 

Achieving resilience through proactiveness 

While the challenges posed by escalating disaster risk can appear daunting, there are concrete steps organizations can take to build workforce resilience, elevate corporate social responsibility best practices and mitigate the impact of future events. 

• Assess current resilience levels through employee surveys to gauge stress, workload and support systems, identifying gaps in mental health resources or work-life balance initiatives 

• Develop tailored resilience programs including: 

• Flexible work arrangements and wellness programs (e.g., counseling, mindfulness sessions) 

• Leadership training to model adaptability and foster psychological safety, encouraging employees to view setbacks as growth opportunities 

• Reimagine ways to support your workforce before and after disasters. This includes investing in a comprehensive Emergency Financial Relief fund as part of the total employee experience, which is proven to result in higher productivity, improved mental health and well-being and increased loyalty among employees who have incurred unexpected expenses after a disaster. 

• Promote rest and recovery by normalizing downtime, offering paid mental health days and discouraging burnout culture 

• Upskill teams in emerging technologies and crisis management to enhance adaptability during disruption 

The call-to-action is clear: By cultivating a culture of readiness, leaders can prioritize preparedness for the high-profile events that dominate headlines, while also fostering a culture of readiness for the smaller-scale, more unexpected crises that can disrupt communities in profound ways. By helping colleagues feel empowered and equipped to prepare for disasters—regardless of the scale—you help to create a more resilient community. Together we can build a proactive, comprehensive approach to disaster relief that supports both large and small-scale emergencies. The organizations thriving in 2025 will be those recognizing that employee resilience is business continuity and building employee support systems accordingly. 

Footnotes: 

1. https://climatecrisis247.com/news/us-business-hit-with-9-trillion-loss-due-to-extreme-climate/  
2. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-business-leaders-should-demand-stronger-climate-adaptation-policies-from-the-federal-government/  
3. https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/ilo-22-million-workers-affected-typhoon-odette-philippines 
4. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/2024-active-year-us-billion-dollar-weather-and-climate-disasters  
5. https://www.e4erelief.org/2024-year-in-relief  
6. https://www.carbonbrief.org/record-breaking-philippines-typhoon-season-was-supercharged-by-climate-change/  
7. https://reliefweb.int/disaster/ls-2024-000003-phl  
8. https://webapps.ilo.org/static/english/intserv/working-papers/wp026/index.html  
9. https://www.e4erelief.org/how-to-start-a-program  
10. https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/03/fema-disaster-recovery-budget-cuts-state-impact?lang=en  
11. https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/03/fema-disaster-recovery-budget-cuts-state-impact?lang=en  
12. https://www.e4erelief.org/relief-overview  
13. https://www.ptoexchange.com/blog/partner-profile-e4e-relief