“Emergency preparedness,” “risk management,” “resiliency,” “contingency planning,” “all hazards” are ubiquitous terms throughout the lexicon of crisis management. All variety of work organizations from educational to healthcare settings, financial services to factories, and sales to services are preparing for the potential of a wide range of incidents that may disrupt the flow of goods and services, products and programs. Often, the focus is on IT and infrastructure security and preparedness with limited regard for personnel readiness. Regardless of what it is called the best way to mitigate the likelihood of an event from occurring or the impact should it occur is… to be prepared.

Currently, many organizations focus on security and resiliency with respect to infrastructure, operations and IT functionality. Certainly, this level of preparedness is essential to any plan, yet it is insufficient if it remains the primary focal point. All organizations should be as vigilant about the viability and availability of their workers as they are on IT, infrastructure security and other aspects of continuation of operations.

To that end, in 2009, Dr. Lewis developed the Employee Preparedness Survey (EPS).
The EPS:

• Is anonymous, thus protecting individual privacy;
• Is easily modifiable for different work organizations;
• Administered through a “user friendly” web-based platform;
• Takes about 5-10 minutes to complete;
• Is evaluated by a 3rd party consultant (Dr. Lewis) not anyone from the work organization;
• Aggregate data is then supplied to the work organization;
• If requested, Dr. Lewis will provide recommendations to enhance the workforce resiliency of the organization that may be built into the current contingency plan.
• The EPS assesses key characteristics of the total workforce such as:
  • Workforce demographics (gender, age, marital status, etc)
  • Dependents (children and others
  • Mode(s) of transportation to work
  • Understanding of job duties during times of crisis
  • Availability to remain at work for extended period of time
  • Status of employee’s family preparedness plan should the need arise for remaining at work
  • Available modes of communication
  • Other factors

"As part of the assessment of our emergency management program conducted by the independent consulting firm of Booz Allen Hamilton, this survey was identified as an exemplary practice...”
From large (4000+ employee), hospital located in a major east coast city.

For more information, please contact Dr. Lewis directly.