What constitutes an “emergency” may vary from person to person. For small business owners, a workplace emergency can be anything from a macro-level catastrophe like a natural disaster or a pandemic to an acute crisis like a medical event, explosion, or workplace violence.
Most owners feel ready for whatever may come. But are they? According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, 94% of small businesses believe they could recover from a disaster, but only around 31% actually have a plan in place. That gap is exactly where businesses get caught off guard.
No matter the nature or scale of the emergency, one thing is always true: your people will look to you for guidance. As a leader, you’ll need to address the situation in both practical terms and in a broader sense: communicate proactively, deal with rumors and uncertainty, and face the emotional impact of challenging times.
Here’s a three-stage process for rising to the occasion in the event of an emergency. The first focuses on preparedness, the second focuses on you, and the third focuses on leading your employees through a crisis.
1. Be prepared
In the event of a workplace emergency, what matters most in the moment is the work you’ve already done. Taking appropriate measures in emergency preparedness can be the difference between overcoming or succumbing to a disaster, crisis, or emergency.
You can prepare your business by following these steps:
Assess the risks that face your business. Do you operate in an area that’s prone to severe weather, like tornadoes? Maybe you manage a manufacturing facility where workplace injuries or chemical spills are a possibility. Conducting a risk assessment helps identify threats to your business so you can start planning how you’ll address them.
Build an emergency action plan (EAP). Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires some employers to create an EAP to keep employees safe during any crises that arise from the risks facing your business. This includes creating checklists for evacuation procedures or a shutdown procedures, keeping your emergency contact lists up to date, noting your alarm systems and making sure they’re operational, and noting the emergency response teams you can contact in certain situations.
Have the right emergency equipment on hand. You should have personal protective equipment (PPE) and first aid supplies on hand for common injuries and medical emergencies. You can also train your staff in first aid and CPR. Workplaces such as construction sites, manufacturing plants, remote facilities, and health clubs should also have a defibrillator on-site.
2. Lead yourself through an emergency
Managing a workplace emergency can come with a great deal of anxiety, uncertainty, and fear. Give yourself the tools to work through these feelings effectively while maintaining your ability to lead.
Before you act, write down everything you’re worried about.
“Getting Things Done” author David Allen’s wisdom bears repeating: “Nothing changes when you write things down except how you engaged with your issues… Without exception, you will feel better if you get stuff out of your head.”
List out potential problems, concerns, and outcomes of the emergency you’re facing. You might discover things are worse than you thought—but that’s okay because now you’ll be able to determine ways to make things better.
For example, say you own a dog grooming business and it's December in New Hampshire. You get an alert on your phone that a big winter storm is going to hit soon. You need to make sure your employees get home safely and that the dogs under your care get picked up soon. Even if you have a plan for these sorts of situations, it can feel paralyzing trying to decide what to do next. To begin, write down your emergency response. Instead of passively worrying, you’ll be able to actively problem-solve and start executing your emergency plan.
Break your list into categories.
That’s what Tim Ferriss does whenever he’s afraid or uncertain. He writes down the problem, then breaks it into three categories:
Define: Whether it’s 10, 20, or 30—list however many possible worst outcomes you can think of.
Prevent: Next, think through what you could do to prevent each possible worst outcome.
Repair: Finally, think of what you can do if you can’t prevent one or more possible worst outcomes.
The key is to decide ahead of time what you’ll do if you’re unable to overcome challenges.
Act on your plan.
If you’ve taken the right preparedness measures, you already have a plan. It may change a few times along the way, but that’s okay.
You’ve turned a vague fear of the unknown into a conscious, rational assessment of possible outcomes—plus a plan of action for dealing with those outcomes. At the very least, you will have applied some structure to an extremely ambiguous situation.
This allows you to then communicate effectively with your employees and start to manage their concerns, anxieties, and fears.
3. Lead your employees
In an emergency situation, your job as the leader is to guide your staff through both operational and emotional issues. Here are some steps you can follow:
Help your team feel safe.
This is crucial. While you may not be able to allay employee fears completely, you can describe the steps you’ll take to make the workplace as safe as possible from here on out.
The key is to acknowledge your team’s concerns, outline the appropriate chain of command, assure them that you have an emergency response plan, and explain what you can and cannot do. While you can’t undo an emergency, you can make your people feel safer in the situation
Be direct, yet empathetic.
One way is to take a page from the Jeff Bezos playbook. Here’s what Bezos wrote to hundreds of thousands of Amazon employees during the early days of COVID-19:
“This isn’t business as usual, and it’s a time of great stress and uncertainty. It’s also a moment in time when the work we’re doing is its most critical.”
Bezos is brief and to the point. The result is a mixture of honesty and empathy. Things will change. Change is hard. But change has to happen; there’s no sense pretending otherwise.
Reinforce your “why.”
As Simon Sinek says, every great business is built on why: your mission, what you care about, and the difference you make.
Reinforce your why. Share why customers, partners, suppliers, and vendors depend on your business—why what your team does every day matters.
Use that as a springboard for stating your commitment to do everything in your power to get through the difficult times ahead.
Set new expectations.
Here’s when you shift to operational thinking. Communicate overall changes in work hours, shifts, job duties, etc.
If certain people can work from home, explain why and how. If certain people need to shift to different job functions, again, explain why and how. If certain people will face a reduction in hours or even be laid off, make sure you communicate why individually.
The key is to always detail not only what will change, but the reasons those things will change. During an emergency, purpose matters more than ever. It’s impossible to buy into a change when you don’t understand where the change is coming from or the context that led up to it.
While a natural sense of urgency will tempt you to cut explanations short, don’t. The time you invest up front to lay the groundwork for the coming days and weeks will more than pay off.
Give employees greater authority and control.
Workplace emergencies naturally create stress. Research shows stress levels increase even more when people face heavy demands while also feeling they have little control.
In other words, when you’re working harder than usual, facing a time crunch, or experiencing heightened pressure, feeling like you have little authority over your situation ratchets your stress levels even higher.
While you may not be able to reduce the workload or time pressure your employees face, you can give them the authority to handle those demands.
Set guidelines within which your employees can function, and then trust them to make good decisions within those parameters. Create a framework, assign authority, and only expect employees to ask for approval if they feel they need to exceed the parameters you’ve set.
Not only will your employees feel more engaged and empowered, they’ll also experience less stress.
Address any elephants in the room.
If you’re not sure whether the changes you make will be sufficient to weather the current storm, say so. If you think more changes might follow, give your team a heads up. If you think there’s a genuine threat to your business’s survival, don’t hide it.
Fear and uncertainty can be motivating, but more often they’re just distracting. If you don’t work to clarify the situation, others may try to fill the void. Rumors blossom in ambiguity.
Don’t leave your employees wondering. If you don’t have all the answers, be honest about that.
But always say what you do know. And be willing to admit what might be necessary, as well as what situations could cause those actions to be necessary.
Make sure everyone knows they can speak with you individually.
Yes, you’re busy. Yes, you have a business to run, and possibly save. But some of your employees, even if they’re not materially affected by an emergency, will still want to talk. They’ll want to express their concerns, share their fears, or seek reassurance.
Let them.
If certain employees were affected directly by an emergency, have discussions with each person in private. Whenever one individual is affected differently than others, talk to that person in person.
Doing so gives the employee the chance to vent, share frustrations, and ask questions. It also allows you to respond in an empathetic, emotionally intelligent way. And don’t try to “solve” every problem or concern. Sometimes all people need, especially during a crisis, is to be heard.
No matter how busy you are, it’s your job to listen.
Clearly state your commitment.
Your employees will care about the future of your business if you show you genuinely care about them. Reinforce the fact that you’re worried about the same things as your employees, both professionally and personally.
Whatever emergency your business might face, you’re all in it together.
FAQs
What counts as a workplace emergency?
A workplace emergency is any unplanned event that threatens employee safety or business operations, ranging from macro-level events like natural disasters or pandemics to acute incidents like a medical emergency, explosion, or workplace violence. The common thread is that employees look to leadership for immediate guidance and a clear plan of action.
What is an emergency action plan (EAP)?
An emergency action plan is a written document outlining how a business will respond to workplace emergencies, including evacuation procedures, shutdown steps, emergency contacts, and alarm system checks. It gives employees and leadership a clear, pre-decided process to follow so decisions don't have to be made from scratch in the middle of a crisis.
Does OSHA require small businesses to have an emergency action plan?
Not automatically. OSHA requires an EAP only when a specific standard calls for one, such as rules covering process safety management, hazardous waste operations, or fixed fire-extinguishing systems (29 CFR 1910.38). Employers with 10 or fewer employees can communicate their plan orally rather than in writing.
How should a business owner communicate with employees during a workplace emergency?
Be direct, empathetic, and specific about what's changing and why. Vague updates leave room for rumors to fill the gaps. Acknowledge concerns, explain the chain of command, set new expectations around schedules or duties, and make time for individual conversations with employees who are directly affected.
How can business owners manage their own stress during a workplace emergency?
Writing down every worry and sorting it into what you can prevent versus what you'd need to repair turns vague anxiety into a concrete action plan. Acting on that plan, even if it changes along the way, gives leaders the footing they need to communicate calmly and confidently with their team.
