Two years later: Hurricane Katrina still poses significant human resource problems for local governments.

This study explores the impact of Hurricane Katrina on local government HR management for several cities along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The authors interviewed mayors, city managers, chief administrative officers, and HR directors regarding a range of topics, including the recruitment and retention of employees in the post-Katrina environment. Analysis of the interviews shows that the smaller cities and towns on the Gulf Coast continue to struggle with hiring and retaining qualified employees. While some local governments have faired better than others during the recovery period, discussions with city officials have shown that retaining employees has proven difficult and daunting following the catastrophe.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in southeast Louisiana and southwest Mississippi. This storm spawned winds up to 175 miles/hour and destroyed homes and businesses across a 100-mile swath of the Gulf Coast. As the eye of the hurricane passed over southeastern Louisiana, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, which is located just to the east, was vulnerable to Katrina's strongest winds. A 25-foot storm surge spread inland for approximately six miles and destroyed 90 percent of the homes and businesses in its path.

As the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, Katrina caused an estimated $100 billion in damages, and in Mississippi alone, left 231 people dead. (1) Many coastal communities were physically destroyed, and some where utterly wiped off the map. While the federal government has and will continue to pay a large share of the monetary costs for Gulf Coast recovery, local governments will bear a huge burden of the other recovery efforts for years to come.

Two years post-Katrina, Mississippi's Gulf Coast still shows dramatic signs of the hurricane's wrath. Some localities have faired better than others during the recovery period, but much of the debris created by the hurricane still remains to be dismantled and removed. Some homes and businesses have yet to be rebuilt. Many residents have not returned to the area, and most are unsure of their plans. The governments of the cities that participated in this study have every intention of reaching their prehurricane operational levels; however, for most, this monumental task requires significant planning, funding, effort, and the return or hiring of numerous municipal employees. Many of the city governments in this study have found that the continuation of operations through a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina is greatly dependent upon employees who are willing to remain at work or willing to return to work.

The emergency management literature regarding public HR management is virtually nonexistent. Likewise, HR management literature is lacking when it comes to emergency management. Much of the emergency management literature focuses on emergency preparation, first responders, public health, and intergovernmental relations. This report seeks to establish a baseline in both the enqergency management literature and the public HR management literature. Specifically, the purpose of our research was to assess the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the retention and recruitment of local government employees in Mississippi. The findings should prove useful for managing public HR functions during future catastrophes.

Background

While no local government is immune from the effects of an unforeseen natural disaster such as a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, or flood, the ultimate goal for city officials when such an event occurs is to minimize interruptions of local government operations. Although each disaster a municipality may find itself dealing with is somewhat unique, there are four phases of emergency management that are common to all disasters. The Emergency Management Framework categorizes government activities before and after catastrophes into four phases: response, recovery, mitigation, and prearedness. (2) The response phase is the first phase, during which government personnel and resources must be focused on saving lives and protecting public health, safety, and property. Most often, this phase is short and involves first responders, emergency medical services personnel, and other public safety officials. The recovery phase usually begins during the response phase and involves meeting the food, shelter, clothing, and medical needs of individuals affected by the disaster. Recovery also involves cleanup and repair to property and infrastructure and can extend for many months after the disaster occurs.

During the third phase of emergency management, governments focus on measures that can be implemented to minimize or eliminate hazardous conditions that can affect the municipality and its citizens. Such measures might include relocating residents from flood plains, elevating housing, and designing flood barriers. The final phase of emergency management takes place continually and involves preparedness. Preparation is essential for handling future emergency situations and involves educating government officials, municipal employees, and citizens on how to minimize losses and disruption should a disaster occur.

A common mistake many local governments make in disaster planning is to think about their human capital only after plans have been made for operations, infrastructure, and public relations. Without its employees, however, a local government's best-laid plans for disaster response and recovery cannot be implemented. HR management during the response and recovery phases of a emergency management following a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina must include implementing an infrastructure plan for getting the employees back to work and paid on time.

Also, in the case of hurricane Katrina, local managers were concerned with housing and labor shortages. There were not enough workers to fill available positions, and there were not enough affordable housing options for employees to live where they worked. As construction costs have increased, the average coastal resident's ability to secure affordable housing has greatly decreased. These two situations have combined to create one of the most serious obstacles to recovery across the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Prestorm personnel levels have yet to be reached by several municipalities, as many displaced employees can not afford to rebuild in their communities.

Methods

The qualitative methods used to gather data in this research project involved conducting personal interviews with key city officials and analyzing typed records of those interviews. Personal interviews allow researchers to obtain large amounts of data, perform in-depth probing, and ask more complicated or sensitive questions regarding the issue at hand. (3) These types of interviews also work well for studies with lengthy or complex data-gathering instruments. Visual clues usually allow the interviewer to determine if the respondent is telling the truth. Furthermore, visual aids can be used to explain confusing or complicated questions. Personal interviews are more likely to elicit concise and accurate responses to sensitive questions than are other forms of interviewing. Lastly, the qualitative nature of this research project facilitated in-depth analyses of how and why relationships exist.

In order to determine the impact of Hurricane Katrina on local governments' HR management, the authors interviewed mayors, city managers, chief administrative officers, and HR directors from many of the municipalities located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that were affected by the disaster. The interviews covered a range of topics, including information on the retention and recruitment of employees, employee pay scales, rebuilding individual communities, and the lack of leadership at the local level during the crisis. Interviews were conducted with representatives from the Mississippi cities of Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, Gautier, Gulfport, Moss Point, Ocean Springs, and Pascagoula.

The interviews were conducted in May 2007, and interview notes were immediately typed. The authors analyzed the interview notes for common themes and patterns, which are discussed in the following section.

Findings and Discussion

Federal census data reveals that Mississippi's three coastal counties--Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson--lost roughly 14 percent of their population following Hurricane Katrina. (4) Many of the cities in these three counties also failed to replace numerous employees in the days, weeks, and months following the disaster. While these aftereffects are to be expected, their occurrence.gives rise to questions regarding what preparations municipalities can make to respond to anticipated natural disasters and what procedures can be implemented in the aftermath of a disaster to enhance recovery efforts.

Local governments may experience numerous problems with retaining and recruiting employees especially during the recovery phase of emergency management. Some of these difficulties stem from evacuations, lack of housing, families wanting to leave, private sector employers paying higher salaries, and stress. These types of problems are common to all municipalities hit by a disaster, regardless of population size or form of government, and they were noted by several of the local government representatives interviewed for this study.