Employee Emergency Assistance Funds Are Not Just For Large Corporations: Now Medium-Sized Companies Can Benefit

Our research shows that more than 70% of employee emergency relief funds are set up by companies with over 10,000 employees. These companies have a large employee base to draw from when it comes to contributions, and tend to have employees scattered across the country and often, around the world. It is true that these companies have the resources to create large employee emergency grant funds. However, that does not mean that smaller companies cannot also build successful funds, even if on a smaller scale.

In times of need, every little bit counts for the impacted employees. While it would be wonderful to have a large fund to pull from when distributing grants to deserving employees, it is also useful to have a fund available to make smaller grants. Covering even a portion of someone’s expenses when they cannot is still a valuable act. This is true even if it does not cover as much as a grant from a larger fund.

Medium-sized companies do enjoy significant advantage over larger employers in one respect though. Organizations with fewer than 10,000 employees often have the benefit of enjoying a closer-knit working environment. Where this is true, each person is more likely to feel as if the company values their contributions to the organization. Further, they may feel much more affinity towards their co-workers. Building on that sense of community with an employee relief fund is a great idea. The employer should encourage employees to join the company in taking care of each other through contributions to a disaster relief fund. Every dollar counts, and the employees are likely to realize that when they know the fund will help the co-workers they see every day.

Source: An Environmental Scan of Disaster Relief & Employee Hardship Funds, September 2013. https://eafrelief.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Environmental-Scan-Disaster-Relief-Employee-Hardships-Funds-White-Paper-1013A.pdf