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Business Continuity and Your People
 According to the Red Cross Ready Rating Program,15-40% of businesses fail following a natural or man-made disaster,
and 50% of all Americans believe that taking care of employees is the
best thing a business can do in order to be considered a socially
responsible company (3). In BizTechMagazine, companies were encouraged
to budget adequately for continuity, to establish recovery objectives,
develop a response plan with a viable recovery team, and to revisit business continuity often (4). The relatively new field of Business Continuity (also known as "Contingency Planning," "Continuity of Operations Planning," and "Business Resumption Management") has expanded dramatically over the past decade to the point where programs no longer solely account for technology crises or facility losses in planning for business continuity. Nowadays continuity planners have to also consider flu pandemics, hurricanes, terrorist attacks and a myriad of other events that can disrupt normal business operations.
Taking care of employees can be a complex and multi-layered endeavor. There are numerous physiological and psychological problems following a workplace crisis. However, attending to the psychological health and safety of the workforce is often skimmed over or minimally addressed. While some continuity programs do insert a response and recovery strategy for the psychological health of employees, we have found that many of the responders are not specialized in workplace response and the recovery process is therefore often incomplete.
An incomplete recovery renders a business vulnerable to the effects of post trauma stress and symptoms. Signs of post-traumatic stress include fear, worry, depression, and, as a result, difficulty concentrating. People suffering from these symptoms may have increased absenteeism and higher medical claims.
Trauma Outreach is committed to addressing this neglected area head-on and has developed a method for fully preparing businesses before a devastating event occurs in order to mitigate the effects of post traumatic stress. A Trauma Readiness Plan is comprehensive, to the point, and easy to implement. We'd be happy to talk to your continuity managers to ensure that they are informed and updated on this critical development. For more information about Trauma Outreach Associates feel free to read the About Us section below or visit our website at http://www.traumaoutreach.com.
To read more about what's missing in 21st century business continuity planning from a psychological perspective be sure to read Vanessa's article titled "The Missing Link - Your Trauma Response Plan" by clicking here.
3 Redcrossreadyrating.org
4 Greengard, S. Thwarting Disaster. BizTechMagazine.com, September 2007, p.50-51
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About Us
 | Trauma Talk is the monthly newsletter of Trauma Outreach Associates, Inc. a San Francisco based trauma response group. Founders Wilma Bass and Vanessa Watt are licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, certified Critical Incident Stress responders, and EMDR practitioners with extensive traumatology experience and credentials. Wilma and Vanessa co-founded Trauma Outreach Associates when they identified a major deficit in organizational response to trauma: the common disregard for mental health. When a company faces a traumatic event they often find themselves unprepared to address and provide for employees' psychological health and recovery, an oversight that can be costly both in money and time to complete recovery. Furthermore, when these traumatized companies call on insurance brokers for recovery assistance, the psychological support they send are responders that may or may not have extensive trauma recovery experience. Trauma Outreach Associates, Inc. is committed to addressing this gap by offering comprehensive trauma preparation and recovery services to businesses. With Trauma Outreach Associates, Inc. every step of preparation for, response to, and recovery from trauma will be handled by licensed, senior-level professionals with training and experience in trauma recovery and dedicated to sustaining your company so you can go back to business as usual. To find out more about our services and how you can partner with Trauma Outreach Associates please visit our website at http://www.traumaoutreach.com/whatwedo.asp.
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