Caring , High-trust leadership
Wildfires in Los Angeles echo other disasters, from wildfires in Maui to hurricanes in Florida. Here’s how companies can support their employees.
A dreadful déjà vu accompanies news around natural disasters as the frequency of billion dollar crises has increased in recent years.
The wildfires consuming Los Angeles in early 2025 echo the wildfires that destroyed parts of Maui in Hawaii a year and a half earlier. Or the Camp Fire that destroyed communities in Northern California in 2018. Nine out of the 10 years with the highest number of natural disasters occurred in the last decade.
The devastation isn’t limited to Western states. Hurricane Helene struck the Southeastern U.S. in 2024, causing flooding and more than 200 deaths in the deadliest storm since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
For employers and business leaders, these disasters are becoming a bigger and bigger part of the job. How can you support affected employees? What is your role in helping to reassure concerned employees and redirect their anxieties?
“All of these things are having an impact on employee wellness and well-being,” says Tony Bond, chief impact officer at Great Place To Work. “How can leaders address the psychological trauma and the long-term chronic impact of these events?”
Offering the essentials
Companies should start with the basics. An employee assistance program (EAP) offers important resources like counseling and legal services. A generous PTO policy, or excused absences for employees dealing with an emergency, is also crucial.
Companies like Edward Jones set up disaster relief funds for associates affected by natural disasters like wildfires or hurricanes. Employees at The Cheesecake Factory can apply for a hardship grant to cover basic needs when they experience a housing disaster or other family emergency.
Companies can also partner with other organizations. CarMax worked with the American Red Cross to send disaster kits with pallets of water, blankets, cleaning supplies, and food to Florida stores affected by hurricanes.
These steps address the immediate trauma, but leaders must do more if they want to counteract the rising tide of fear for employees.
Addressing the psychological impact
Employee well-being has fallen in recent months to pre-pandemic levels, and a perceived lack of safety could exacerbate those trends.
How can leaders boost the resilience of their employees? “Three behaviors come to mind,” Bond says. “Our research shows that key leadership behaviors can build trust, and three in particular apply when responding to external events like natural disasters: listening, caring, and inspiring.”
1. Listening
Listening is all about empathy, Bond says. While compassion is about caring for another person, empathy is more situational. To have empathy, you must understand how a person is personally impacted by an event or crisis.
“This requires careful listening,” Bond says. Leaders might turn to employee resource groups or offer space for employees to share their experiences. “Leaders must be present to the experience employees are having,” Bond says.
2. Caring
For employees directly impacted, leaders must demonstrate care, Bond says. Companies express care in a variety of ways, from flexible work policies to robust employee well-being programs.
Leaders often show care by giving their attention to things that might otherwise go unnoticed. Having a one-on-one meeting and asking thoughtful, specific questions can reveal opportunities for the company to have an impact.
3. Inspiring
For leaders, offering an inspiring vision of the future is key. When employees believe you know what needs to happen next and have the right strategy to get the job done, they are more likely to trust your organization.
A great first step is to embrace being vulnerable and share challenges you’ve faced in your career, Bond says. “You can give people hope by sharing the wisdom of your experience, but you have to be honest about the hard parts.”
Focus your team on where they can have an impact, whether that’s a company-wide donation campaign or volunteer efforts.
A pivot to service
One of the best recipes for building resilience is offering employees a chance to make a difference in their community.
The best workplaces find ways to get every employee involved in giving back. For employees, having the chance to serve their local community gives their work more meaning and can provide an increased sense of agency in responding to disasters.
“It’s hard to know that you have meaningful work if you don’t know what my meaning is as a person,” Bond says. “Great leaders can help employees understand how their unique contributions are making the world a better place, and that doesn’t just apply to the company where they work.”
Employee volunteer programs often benefit from the passion that employees bring to a cause that inspires them. When leaders help an employee uncover a skill or talent, they often take those skills and create incredible things in their community.
As an example, Dow employees who are former members of the armed services join forces with Team Rubicon to deploy to areas affected by natural disasters. By honoring and recognizing the unique skills of these employees, Dow enables them to serve their communities in ways that go far beyond the workplace.
And the research says that giving employees the opportunity to volunteer is good for their well-being, too.
“When I’m caring for others, there is an effect on me physiologically and psychologically,” Bond says. “The more companies can care for others on the outside, the more resilience it creates on the inside.”
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