Like many companies directly impacted by the recent terrorist attacks, financial services giant American Express must manage the crisis on two main fronts, its employees and its customers.
Its headquarters, located at 7 World Financial Center, is just a stone’s throw from the crumbling ruins of what was once the World Trade Center. The 5,000 employees that work at the site were all evacuated safely on the day of the attacks as debris rained down and smoke filled the air. Twelve others who were at work in the Twin Towers at a client office are missing.
Customers worldwide were affected by the attacks in any number of circumstances. Some were stranded by the shutdown of air traffic, often for days, while others were unable to return to their homes in the weeks following the tragedy in the most heavily impacted areas of New York City.
The hours of operations for American Express service offices for travelers were quickly extended and extra cash was made available for those who needed it. Credit limits were increased and cash advances offered to card members in the hardest hit areas. Delinquency fees were waved for card members in New York and Washington affected by postal delivery delays.
American Express suspended outbound telemarketing operations nationwide for an undisclosed period of time and halted direct mail marketing to affected areas in New York and Washington “out of sensitivity for the nation that has really been rocked by the tragedy,” said spokeswoman Judy Tenzer.
The attacks had no effect on inbound customer service or bill processing operations, which do not operate from the World Financial Center but are housed in various locations around the country.
“As far as printing a statement and then putting it into the mail system we are certainly functioning normally,” Tenzer said. “Depending on what region of the country you live in there are certainly differences in the amount of time that it might take to get to you.”
Employees, fearful and unsure of what was to happen, found a safety net in a familiar business hotline. In use for years, the hotline offers up such information as what action to take on a snowy day. After the attacks, the phone line helped maintain communications among those displaced from the World Financial Center.
“We’ve had employee communication efforts from the first day, very shortly after the building was evacuated,” Tenzer said.
Executives also communicated with each other and passed information along to subordinates. “Everyone is staying in very close touch,” she said. The company has 80,000 employees worldwide.
At the American Express Web site, www.americanexpress.com, a link for employees is regularly updated with messages from executives as well as tactical information about the company’s recovery and relocation efforts.
The company worked immediately to secure a number of locations to relocate its employees including an American Express facility in Jersey City, NJ, as well as two other sites in New Jersey and one in Stamford, CT.
Seven World Financial Center still stands but was damaged by the collapse of the Twin Towers. Employees are not expected to return to the site for many months “There is lots of clean up going on,” Tenzer said. “Some time needs to go by before they finish the clean up effort and allow people to go in to secure the area, investigate and make sure things are safe.”
On Sept. 17, the company reported that its third quarter profit would be below Wall Street estimates due to the effect of the terrorist attacks. Economic and market weakness throughout the travel, payment services and financial services industries were cited as the reasons for the lowered estimate. It added that reduced air travel and reduced corporate and consumer spending, as well as costs related to leasing the alternative headquarters facilities, would also contribute to the lower than expected earnings.
Are employees concerned about returning to work in the World Financial Center?
“Certainly right now everyone is trying to be as flexible as they can about where they’re going to be working for both the short term as well as the long term,” Tenzer said. “Everyone is trying to make the best of it.”
Network
