After a storm, there is an opportunity to bring people together and create a stronger team.

 Here are some tips about ways to do that while building camaraderie and teamwork.

Check in with your employees – Preferably in a group setting, find out who was affected and how. Did anyone have damage to their home?  Who has elderly parents or someone with special needs?  Who has “refugee” family staying with them? Who lost power? Does everyone have the basics covered?  It helps when everyone knows each other’s home situation so they can be more understanding and supportive.

Facilitate help –  Once you have established who needs what, create an environment where it’s okay to ask for help and to offer help.  Have you seen those signs next to a cash register that read: “Need a penny, Take a penny – Have a penny,  Leave a penny”?  Same sentiment. Encourage people to communicate and support each other.  For instance does someone need a propane burner? Or a charger?  Or a ride somewhere?

For employees who have lost power  would an invitation to a warm shower and hot meal from a co-worker be a godsend?  Speaking from experience, losing power is fine the first 24-48 hours, but every day after that is grating on your nerves.  Maybe someone needs tools, or help cleaning their yard or moving a large branch out of the way.  You get the idea.

Support the community – If you were lucky and your business and employees are all safe and sound this is a great time to think of others.  Can you offer employees time off to volunteer?  If you can’t spare employees, then perhaps make a donation on behalf of the company to a local charity or round up a group collection.  Few things feel better when you’re feeling blessed and lucky than giving to others who are not.

Try to have a little fun – maybe you can have an impromptu barbecue before the food in the fridge spoils -or use that as an excuse- or just make time as a group to decompress from a stressful time. You live in Florida and survived another storm.  Yay!

©Copyright Eva Del Rio

Eva Del Rio is creator of HR Box™ – tools for small business