Rob Lytle received a call in May 2002 that changed his life for the next five months as well as the life of his employer, SS&G Financial Services.

The Air Force Reserves, with which he had enlisted to help pay for college nine years earlier, was calling to say the tech sergeant's help was needed in southwest Asia.

Within 10 days, he was on his way, leaving behind his wife and his job as a marketing associate at SS&G, a Leading Edge firm.

In the post-Sept. 11-world that includes Operation Iraqi Freedom, hundreds of thousands of those calls have rung throughout the country as National Guard and military reserve units are needed. No longer are employers only affected 12 weekends and a couple weeks a year that the guard or reserve required. Today, employers face operating their businesses without these military employees for months and even years.

"Businesses should have a plan of action in case they are faced with not only one employee being called to active duty but several at one time," says Sharon Powlus, a principal at Lattimore, Black, Morgan & Cain, a Leading Edge firm.

SS&G director of human resources, Rebecca Osborn, says SS&G survived without Lytle and is working on a strategy to do so again in case he gets called up another time, a serious potential that has been rumored recently.

"Next time, his departure will have a bigger impact because we have another person in the four-person department going on maternity leave," Osborn says. SS&G now is discussing its plans to handle marketing with 50 percent of its department gone. Ideas include hiring another person or finding temporary assistance.

Powlus says most companies began developing military leave policies post-Sept. 11 that were in line with federal requirements. "However, policies addressing employees' rights to military leave do not address the void that is left by the employees' departure.

"It is difficult to anticipate who might be called to active duty, but being proactive rather than reactive is certain to produce a positive outcome for the business and the employees left to step in and fill the void."

Powlus suggests the company involve the other employees to offer input on how to handle the responsibilities that the departing military employee did.

"Co-workers can add great and valuable insight and may save the company the cost of hiring a temporary employee," she says. "The co-workers will be more than willing to help so it is important that the management team manage the situation and not let any single employee take the full load—leading to burnout."

A large company may have an easier time handling an employee's absence because it has more employees who may be able to step up as well as the financial resources to withstand the potential impact on the bottom line, Powlus says.

The U.S. Small Business Administration seeks to help those smaller companies that may be harder hit by the financial burden of having an employee serving in the military. The Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program enables businesses to borrow the amount of working capital needed to pay its necessary obligations as they mature until operations return to normal after the essential employee is released of military duty. The maximum interest rate is 4 percent. Visit www.sba.gov/disaster/mreidlall.txt for complete information.

In addition to the business impact, the emotional impact of employees in the military also can be felt by workers who remain at the companies. Powlus notes, "The co-workers will have unanswered questions: Will he/she return home safely? What about their family? How will they be supported? What will it be like when they return after seeing such tragedy.

It is important to identify outside support to aid employees through this troubling time."

Osborn says employees at SS&G responded well to Lytle's military service. "Everybody felt very patriotic," she says. "They wanted to know, 'what can we do to help him?'"

In 2002, Lytle's call came at a changing time for the firm's marketing department. Osborn says an intern helped a lot to lessen the workload. But for Lytle, the changes were difficult to experience overseas where 25 military personnel had to share one computer.

He e-mailed his supervisor but received no response for awhile. Then, he received an e-mail letting him know about the supervisor's departure and periodic correspondence updated him on the ongoing changes.

Osborn says she believes keeping in contact with employees to let them know what's happening at the company is helpful in making the transition back to the office when the military time is up.

"When I got back, everything was different," Lytle says. "Even though they had communicated with me, it was such a time gap."

Lytle also says he was lucky because SS&G continued to pay him during this time—the difference between his SS&G salary and what the military was paying him. "I don't know how my wife and I would have been able to make it without that support," he says. e