TOPSHOT – Traffic warden Ry Rogers stands on his street corner during an 8-hour shift under the hot sun in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 12, 2023, where temperatures reached 106 degrees amid an ongoing heat wave. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images)
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Business leaders have spent the past several years absorbing one workforce disruption after another: a global pandemic, labor shortages, supply chain volatility, rising health care costs, and shifting expectations around flexibility and well-being. And as heat waves, hurricanes, floods and severe storms become more frequent and more disruptive, it’s clear that the next big challenge is already here. It’s extreme weather.
The numbers are impressive. More than four out of five US workers report experiencing at least one weather-related work disruption in the past year. Nearly two-thirds of workers say these disruptions hurt their productivity, from unsafe conditions and commute delays to school closings and caregiving challenges. However, employer preparedness does not keep pace with the risk. Only 4% of employers have assessed weather-related threats face their workforce.
This gap between exposure and preparation should concern every CEO, benefits leader, occupational health and safety professional, human resources executive, risk manager and policy maker in the country. The US has already absorbed $12.4 billion in losses from weather and climate-related disasters only in 2026, and that number only captures damage to homes, roads, businesses and infrastructure.
THE damages that accrue to the workforce – lost work hours, lower productivity, rising health care costs, staff instability and increased safety risks – are easier to miss, but no less real. The direct health care costs associated with climate change, for example, are estimated to exceed $800 billion annually in the US, and disturbances such as extreme heat are estimated to cost 100 billion dollars in 2021, a figure expected to rise to $500 billion annually by 2050.
AUSTIN, TX – Icy roads cause traffic delays on I-35 on February 15, 2021 in Austin, Texas. Winter Storm Uri has brought record-breaking cold weather to Texas, causing traffic delays and power outages, while storms have swept 26 states with a combination of freezing temperatures and rain. (Photo by Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)
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Weather risk is a risk to people
For too long, extreme weather has been framed as an environmental issue. More recently, we’ve come to understand it as a public health issue. For employers, however, it is now something more immediate. It’s a workforce and productivity issue.
Heat, wildfire smoke, hurricanes, floods, poor air quality, and severe storms determine whether workers can commute safely, stay healthy through a shift, care for their families, and perform once they arrive. And the effects don’t stay neatly confined to one mode or section. A heat wave can start as an occupational safety concern for a construction crew. But it can quickly become a benefits issue when workers experience dehydration or cardiovascular strain. Absenteeism becomes an issue when schools close or transit systems shut down. It becomes a mental health issue when families face displacement, damaged homes or financial stress. And it becomes a matter of business continuity when staffing becomes unpredictable, operations slow and supply chains break.
We saw this play out in real time after Hurricane Helene swept through the Southeast in 2024. Large Employers in Western North Carolina lost weeks of operation, and the workers faced not only damaged houses but cascading effects on childcaretransportation and mental health that persisted long after the floods receded. The companies that recovered the fastest were those that had already created flexibility in leave, pay and communication policies.
ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA – Heavy rainfall from Hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend with winds of up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)
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Readiness must become a workforce strategy
Historically, many companies have viewed weather preparedness as a facilities, sustainability, or emergency response function. This is no longer enough. Preparedness, response and recovery must become part of the workforce strategy, integrated into benefits planning, leave policies, occupational health and safety, communications and business continuity planning.
The key question is simple: do employers know which workers are at risk, what those risks are, and what support is in place before the next disruption arrives?
The good news is that employers don’t have to start from scratch. Earlier this year, the Health Action Alliance (HAA) started Extreme Weather + Work help employers better prepare for the increasing impacts of extreme weather on the workforce. I co-chair HAA’s National Committee on Workforce Climate and Health, which serves as an advisory board to this new effort, bringing together employers, public health experts, and business leaders to create practical tools and evidence-based guidance. The initiative offers free resources including a Projecting the Costs of Climate Healtha Employee climate and health scorecardand for a specific role leadership guides designed to help employers plan for costs and stay ahead of weather-related risks.
This practical orientation matters. Employers need no more abstract warning about climate risk. They need a playbook. They need tools that help them identify exposed workers and areas, predict health and productivity impacts, design benefits that build resilience, and equip managers to communicate effectively before and during disruptions.
What employers can do now
Here are four practical steps every employer can start taking right now:
- Assess the risk: Identify which workers are exposed to heat, smoke, flooding, storms or travel disruptions and which construction sites are most vulnerable. Consider how health conditions, caring responsibilities or housing instability heighten this exposure.
- Make readiness cross-functional: This cannot be within a group. HR, benefits, occupational health and safety, operations, risk management, security and communications all have a role to play and need to be aligned before the next event, not after.
- Update policies before the next emergency: Review heat safety protocols, remote work flexibility, paid leave, emergency communication, backup personnel, transportation support, and health coverage for weather-related needs.
- Listen to the workers: Employees are often the first to see where policies fall short, and our poll shows they see employers as central to protecting their health and safety.
PHOENIX, AZ – Sharlaye Taylor wears an ice vest while working at a Chick-Fil-A franchise in Phoenix, Arizona on August 31, 2023. Ice vests are part of several measures to protect workers from excessive heat, including changing workers every 30-60 minutes on the hottest days, with cool window fans and fans. water available for workers.
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Employers who prepare will lead
Preparedness is not just a corporate responsibility. It’s a good job. Companies that plan ahead will better protect workers, sustain operations, reduce avoidable health costs and retain talent. Those who wait will find themselves responding to crisis after crisis, often at greater human and financial cost.
Our workforce has always adapted to changing conditions. But adaptation has limits. You can’t retrofit a workforce in the middle of a hurricane or train crews through a heat wave. Extreme weather is already changing the way Americans do business. Employers who plan for it will lead the next decade of work. Those who don’t spend it will spend it reacting.
Interested in getting involved in Extreme Weather + Work? Request more information about our growing coalition of members here.
