One of the most daunting tasks for contractors on short-term or even extended deployments to disaster zones is the ability to rapidly staff up on short notice. Though we can see some natural disasters such as landfalling hurricanes coming, others like volcano eruptions, earthquakes and their attendant tsunamis and human-caused accidents can and usually do happen with little to no prior notice.

Those are frequently the disasters that cause the most disruption and require the fastest response. Because disaster cleanup and recovery work is so varied in nature and location, it’s impossible to keep enough permanent staff to respond on a timely basis to these types of massive mobilizations. What’s a contractor to do, without overstaffing that could spell financial ruin?

Fortunately, those whose job it is to make sure disaster cleanup and recovery goes smoothly have put together some guidelines to make it easier for contractors to prepare adequately and respond quickly when needed. The Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers offers the following advice:

KNOW THE FACTS

The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act requires FEMA to contract with businesses located in the affected area when feasible and practicable. This not only helps shore up local economies sure to be negatively impacted by the disaster, but it also spells much shorter wait times for actual work to begin, as labor is supplied close to the cleanup site, requiring less travel.

State and local government agencies control a large proportion of disaster response activities, so many related contracting opportunities will come through these offices.

At the time of a disaster, responsible agencies may initially rely upon contracts already in place to ensure a safe, timely response; but there will be some bidding and negotiations for longer-term recovery contracts.

Potential contractors must be registered in the appropriate federal, state and/or local databases to be eligible for contract awards. In other words, if they don’t know you exist, they can’t hire you. If you’re serious about winning disaster recovery business, register today as the process can take a while. (See August’s Business Builder column for the easiest way to do so.)

BUILDING CREWS

One of the top challenges for disaster recovery contractors is hiring enough field workers to do the actual labor of clearing debris, pumping out buildings, etc., needed to start the affected communities on a road back to normalcy. Short of overstaffing on an everyday basis, which is hardly sound fiscal management, there are a few ways to scale up your crews in a hurry, as needed.

TEMPORARY STAFFING AGENCIES

One of those tactics is establishing ongoing relationships with temporary work agencies. Nearly all major staffing firms have at least some experience supplying disaster relief workers, while others have come to specialize in this field. One of these, PeopleReady, even developed its own mobile app, JobStack, to make the process faster and easier.

You don’t want to wait until you need staff immediately to get in touch. By that time, these agencies have jumped through all the hiring hoops for you: posting jobs, sorting through an endless pile of applications, interviewing four people for every one you hire, setting up drug screens, paying taxes, procuring worker’s comp insurance. Let them do the heavy lifting so all you have to do is train the temp workers and get them to the work site.

These organizations tend to spring up in areas that frequently get hit with large-scale severe weather events, so it’s not a bad idea to reach out to those in any area of the country where you feel your firm might operate in an emergency. Establish a relationship with a liaison, find out the firm’s strong points, and reach out a few times a year. You just want to say hi, learn of any policy or process changes, and remind them that at some point, you may become a big customer.

STATE JOB ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

When a disaster leaves workers unemployed for an extended period, some states can provide temporary assistance until the local economy has recovered. Many accomplish this through a department of unemployment and economic development. These departments may also administer federal disaster recovery programs, including National Emergency Grants that can provide temporary work for displaced workers; and the federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance program, which can provide assistance to workers not covered by standard state assistance. These are great places to contact in your search for skilled, experienced cleanup and recovery workers.

ASK FEMA’S HELP

FEMA and state-level emergency management agencies maintain their own ongoing contact lists of people interested in disaster recovery work. They will be motivated to help you locate temporary employees to aid in cleanup because everyone has the same goal in these situations: To get back to normal life as soon as possible. So make the effort to develop and maintain a good rapport with those you might need to work with under some pretty stressful conditions.

WORKFORCE DISASTER ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

States that suffer frequent natural disasters are likely to have one of these, offering National Dislocated Worker Grants that fund temporary recovery workers affected by major dislocations.

Disaster relief employment can be in the form of temporary jobs to address structural and humanitarian needs of residents of an area that has suffered a federally declared emergency or major disaster. These jobs are restricted to projects that provide food, clothing, shelter and other humanitarian assistance for disaster victims and projects that involve demolition, cleaning, repair, renovation and reconstruction of damaged structures and facilities.

Individuals who qualify for disaster relief employment are those temporarily or permanently laid off as a consequence of the disaster, dislocated workers and individuals who are long-term unemployed.

WORK YOUR NETWORK

Before you ever need emergency staffing, take the time to consult your peers, both locally and across the country, to find out where they source temporary disaster relief workers. You want to develop sources both nearby and from farther away areas that aren’t likely to be impacted by your area’s disaster. That way, you spread out the demand across a larger potential workforce pool, and should have better luck finding the people you need. One great tool for this purpose is to reach out through your LinkedIn profile to colleagues in other areas who don’t view you as a competitor. They won’t mind sharing their staffing hacks with you.