Florida CEO in storm of controversy after telling staff to report to office as Hurricane Ian approached land

The CEO of a marketing agency based in Clearwater, Florida, sent texts that appeared to downplay Hurricane Ian’s impact, encouraging her staff to bring their pets and kids into the office "so they wouldn’t miss work," the Tampa Bay Times reported recently.

Joy Gendusa, head of PostcardMania, apparently sent the texts to employees the Monday before the powerful storm hit — a storm that was originally forecast to hit the Tampa Bay area directly, potentially causing up to 10 feet of storm surge, said the same outlet.

"I’ve lived here for over 30 years. There is always more hype in the media than any storm that has ever hit here. PostcardMania is the best place to be," Gendusa said, as text messages obtained by the publication indicated.

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Workers were expected to come to the office "to continue to service our national clients." 

Employees were also told there would be "movies and fun" for the children.

"It’s super strong — bring your pets if you feel the need. I doubt in the end you will really need to," the texts from Gendusa said, according to the Times. 

"We are not closing. We are working," she also wrote.

By Tuesday, however, Gendusa reportedly changed her mind.

"I’ve lived here for over 30 years. There is always more hype in the media than any storm that has ever hit here."

PostcardMania soon announced that headquarters would be closed on Wednesday and Thursday, in order to turn the building into a hurricane shelter for employees. 

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Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998.

Today the company pulls in some $50 million per year and employs 300 people in the Tampa Bay area, according to the Times.

Fox News Digital reached out to PostcardMania for comment. 

The company's public relations office replied, forwarding the staff memo that Gendusa had emailed to employees.

"I know this has been a stressful time, and I want to apologize to anyone who received our text message on Monday and felt that it came across as insensitive," Gendusa began her message, parts of which are also shared within this article.

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"That text did not accurately reflect how seriously we were taking this storm and everyone's safety," she also wrote, "and I regret that it was sent without better judgment."

"What isn't included in the text are all the precautions we were taking, all of the prep already being done behind the scenes …"

She continued, "We should have acknowledged there and then — from the get-go — the stress many of you were probably feeling with Ian approaching and should have done more to convey the depth of our concern for every one of you."

She also wrote, "What isn't included in the text are all the precautions we were taking, all of the prep already being done behind the scenes, and it's on me how that text came across and if it made you feel not cared for."

She added, "To those of you that felt that way, I apologize."

Gendusa then outlined all of the actions the company was taking, such as offering child care in the office as the schools closed out of precaution ahead of the storm.

"We never intended to make people feel like they had to come in to work when they need to evacuate or take other hurricane precautions," she said.

She further noted that once the storm path was "clearly heading toward our county," the decision was made to close the office on Wednesday and Thursday "to ensure everyone’s safety."

"My handling of communication with my staff ahead of any disaster planning was ill-planned."

"As we did during [Hurricane] Irma [in 2017], we announced that we would let any staff use the building as a shelter if they needed to evacuate and had nowhere to go," Gendusa continued in her memo to staff.

"When we do this, we pay PostcardMania staff to set the building up with blow-up mattresses and snacks and be at the building 24/7," she added.

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"This has always been intended as a help to the staff to ensure they had a safe place to be if it was needed," her message continued. 

"When we did this for Irma, we had over 60 people use the building as a safe shelter because they didn’t feel safe in their homes."

"Our HR department needs a formal plan for hurricanes and other emergencies, including what communication will go out to the staff and when," she said. 

"We’ve always played it by ear and watched the path of the storm and called it when the timing was right."

"Offering the PostcardMania campus as a location for our employees to shelter with their families, however, was a good offer ─ and will be built into our disaster plan …"

"Now that we’re responsible for so many staff," she also wrote, "we need this all worked out well in advance so that our plans and communication are well thought out and delivered to our staff with proper context and in enough detail to prevent confusions."

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In a statement she posted to PR Web, Gendusa also offered thoughts on how her staff messaging went awry.

"My handling of communication with my staff ahead of any disaster planning was ill-planned," she said, in part.

"I have apologized for making light of a situation that was worsening. Widespread panic in our area of Florida had naturally set in and made it hard to concentrate on work while preparing for the worst," she also said.

She said that "making light" of the situation in her effort to "calm fraying nerves" was wrong. 

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"Offering the PostcardMania campus as a location for our employees to shelter with their families, however, was a good offer ─ and will be built into our disaster plan, which will be communicated and facilitated properly moving forward," she added.

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Gendusa’s directive was first reported by labor rights writer Jonah Furman after he posted on Twitter about it, said the Times.

The PostcardMania public relations staff said employees have since been granted two paid days off for Wednesday and Thursday, Fox News Digital was told.