Business Continuity Management processes aim at getting businesses backup and running after a crisis or disaster, but do not necessarily have a focus on the longer‐term, people‐related challenges that can follow. This study, based on a longitudinal, action‐research case study, demonstrates how employee well‐being and organisational performance of an organisation were affected over 2 years after the Canterbury earthquakes (2010–2011), in New Zealand. It details the organisational actions taken to improve staff resilience and well‐being, and their performance, including: acknowledgement, increased autonomy, process flexibility, and focus on well‐being. These lessons are presented to guide organisational strategies for crisis recovery. The strategies can strengthen organisations’ adaptive capacity and increase performance in the long‐term aftermath of a disaster.