Managing a global, remote team comes with many well-known challenges. Time zones stretch across continents. Cultural references and communication styles vary. Languages overlap and sometimes collide. These are the complexities people often talk about when they talk about distributed work.
But over the last few years, another reality has become impossible to ignore: the world’s crises do not feel abstract when your team is truly global. They feel close to home.
Members of our team have been directly impacted by wildfires and floods. By regional conflicts and international wars. By local unrest. By environmental degradation and infrastructure breakdown. When you work across continents, “the news” is not just something you read. It is something one of your colleagues is living through.
As an organisation, we are deeply committed to our staff. At the same time, we are largely grant-funded, and most of our resources are tied to specific projects and deliverables. We do not have unrestricted reserves that allow us to relocate staff or provide large-scale emergency support. That tension has been very real for us.
This year, we were able to take one concrete step forward. We created a Staff Emergency Fund.
The fund is a dedicated pool of money that staff can access if they face a sudden, serious emergency that creates urgent financial or practical needs. It is designed for exceptional, time-sensitive crises. It is not meant to replace public systems, nor can it offset the scale of what is happening in the world. But it is a tangible expression of solidarity and care.
We designed the fund around a small set of core principles:
- Fast and simple
When someone is in crisis, speed matters more than paperwork. The process is intentionally lightweight so that support can move quickly. - Trust and dignity
No one should have to “prove” that they are in crisis. We operate from a place of trust. - Fair and consistent
Decisions are made case by case, guided by shared principles rather than rigid rules. - Privacy first
Personally, delicate situations are handled confidentially. Transparency is important, but it never comes before privacy. - Compassion with limits
The fund is finite. It must remain available for future emergencies and for additional staff. The goal is not to spend it down, but to steward it responsibly so it can continue to support our team when it is most needed.
This fund is not a grand solution. It will not solve the structural inequalities or systemic crises that shape our world. But it does mean that if something dramatic happens, staff know two things: they still have their job to rely on, and their workplace will stand beside them in practical ways during an emergency.
It is not everything. But it is one meaningful thing we can do right now.
In a time when global events feel increasingly personal, we believe that care, trust, and solidarity must be built into our organisational infrastructure. HURIDOCS’ Staff Emergency Fund is one small step in that direction.
*This was drafted with the editorial support of Chat GPT.