Insight Performance offers tips for National Preparedness Month in September

Is your business ready for an unexpected emergency or natural disaster? Are important financial and human resource records backed up? Do you have a plan for essential employees to work so that you can maintain operations? How quickly would your office be able to get back up and running from just a minor interruption in service to major natural disasters?

Insight Performance, an HR Consulting and Employee Benefits solutions firm, poses these questions for National Preparedness Month (NPM). During September, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sponsors a month-long awareness campaign designed to encourage businesses and communities to prepare and plan for emergencies and disasters.

“If your company has not thought about these questions in a while, it might be a good time to review disaster recovery and business continuity plans,” said Mike Ward, President of Insight Performance. “We try to encourage our clients to think about issues in the event of an emergency around employee resources, working from home, compensation, as well as benefits and insurance questions,” continued Ward.

Preparation is the key to success. When you prepare and practice for an emergency in advance, it makes a difference in your ability to take immediate and informed action when it matters most. Additionally, training is an essential part of the preparedness program process. It is vital to ensure that everyone knows what to do when there is an emergency or a disruption of business operations.

“A little planning and communication goes a long way to limit a disaster’s impact on your business, including loss of life, injury, financial loss, property damage, and lost productivity from missed work,” said Nancy Saperstone, Senior HR Consultant at Insight Performance.

Insight Performance offers a few suggestions when developing emergency plans:

· Resource Management- addresses resources needed for responding to emergencies, continuing business operations and communicating during and after an incident.

· Emergency Response Plan- protects people, property, and the environment. Plans include evacuation, sheltering, and lockdown.

· Crisis Communications Plan- addresses communication with employees, customers, the news media, and stakeholders.

· Business Continuity Plan- addresses recovery strategies to overcome the disruption of business.

· Information Technology Plan- addresses the recovery of computer hardware, connectivity, and electronic data.

· Employee Assistance & Support- encourages employees and their families to develop family preparedness plans.

· Incident Management system- addresses responsibilities and coordination of activities before, during and following an incident.

· Training- helps people with a defined role in the preparedness program so they are ready to perform assigned tasks.

About Insight Performance, Inc.

Founded in 1995, Insight Performance, Inc. is a strategic human resource consulting firm that works with small to mid-size companies to build exceptional workplaces. The firm provides proven and cost-effective HR solutions to help companies in a wide range of industries solve real-world problems and achieve their business goals. Insight has won sixteen awards for being their own exceptional workplace including one of the top five companies in “Best Place To Work in Massachusetts”, national recipient for Employer of the Year, national recipient of Best Overall Company of the Year for Service Business and national finalist for Best Human Resources Organization. www.insightperformance.com