After Hurricane Ian, Employers Offer Aid

​When Hurricane Ian wracked southwest Florida, it left human resource professionals rushing to support their employees, as well as the communities they serve.

"I have never experienced anything like this before," said Stephanie Deiter, SHRM-SCP, chief human resources officer at the YMCA of Southwest Florida, based in Venice, Fla. "The silver lining is when you see people helping one another," whether they be co-workers, neighbors or community members.

The hurricane packed 150 mph winds when it made landfall Sept. 28, accompanied by massive storm surge and torrential rains.

In Lee County, where the storm came ashore, more than 5,000 homes have been reported destroyed, with another 13,000 suffering major damage and 14,000 suffering minor damage. The hurricane also flooded cars, sweeping some out to sea.

A "significant number" of employees at Lee Health, the region's largest employer, have had their homes damaged or destroyed, and many are also grappling with transportation and child care issues, said Mike Wukitsch, SHRM-SCP, the health care system's chief people officer. Two weeks after the storm hit, Lee Health was still in the process of identifying every employee who needed assistance.

One of the largest not-for-profit public health systems in the state, Lee Health has more than 14,000 employees and an additional 3,000 volunteers.

Despite communication being impossible for the first 48 hours after the storm hit, some employees came in to relieve those already onsite. "The character of the staff is really tremendous," Wukitsch said.

At the YMCA of Southwest Florida, which has more than 1,000 employees, the HR department had made contact with more than 90 percent of employees within 10 days of the storm's arrival, said Deiter, who is also a district director with HR Florida State Council, a SHRM affiliate.

Deiter said one of her primary goals was "to make contact with every employee," to ensure all were safe. "We felt like communication was our key," Deiter said, and the HR department used software to send push notifications to staff so they could mark themselves safe from the storm.

HR staff also tried to call employees, she said, but in many cases cellphone and Internet service were down.

Deiter said she thought the phone calls helped, even if only in a small way. "I think that means so much to people just to know their employer cares," she said.

In some cases, staff even did wellness checks by knocking on other employees' doors, she added.

One of the main goals was to "identify those with immediate needs," such as safe shelter, Deiter said, and the Venice branch of the YMCA temporarily served as a shelter for displaced employees and their families.

About 80 employees' homes had major damage or were destroyed. In one case, an employee's garage door was blown in and the worker was afraid to leave her home unsecured. Two YMCA employees bought supplies out of their own pockets and boarded up the home, according to Deiter.

"Out of devastation comes such humanity," she said.

YMCA of the USA also has an employee assistance fund that workers can tap into for financial support with housing, living expenses and gasoline, she said.

At Lee Health, the HR department set up a call line to help match employees with available residences, such as rental properties and hotel rooms, Wukitsch said.

Along with housing issues, employees also lost cars. Lyft and Hertz have offered discounted and free transportation to health system employees, he noted.

Schools were shut down because of the hurricane and have just recently begun to reopen.

For many employees, "the ability to work is predicated on having available child care," he said.

Lee Health's acute-care facilities remained open throughout the hurricane, and while the majority of its outpatient facilities have reopened, a few remain closed indefinitely.

The health system decided to pay all employees, regardless of whether they were able to work or not, through Oct. 15, Wukitsch said. "We are going to take care of people."

Lee Health also has allowed hardship withdrawals from 403(b) accounts, he added, and funds from the United Way have been used to help employees with issues such as paying for housing.

"Donations and support from the community have been tremendous," he said.

Employee assistance programs and spiritual services are available onsite at larger Lee Health locations. "I think we're still processing it," Wukitsch said.

The YMCA opened up its facilities as quickly as possible to serve as community hubs where residents could shower, recharge their phones or grab a meal. Employees "put their personal needs aside to help support the community," Deiter said.

Kiosks have been set up at Lee Health's acute-care facilities to help direct people to available resources, such as through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Despite the impacts of the storm, Lee Health has resumed orientation for new hires. Some employees can't work because of personal issues and others have left the area, so "we need to make sure to bring in refreshed resources," Wukitsch said. "We need to keep going." 

Susan Ladika is a freelance writer based in Tampa, Fla.