This week, we watched as major Fortune 500 companies slashed their workforces drastically across the board. Sprint, Microsoft, and Home Depot to name a few of the more famous of these companies were forced to shake-up the lives of thousands of employees within the first two working days of the last week in the New Year!
Watching Microsoft slash its workforce and GE profits plummet 46%, we knew the news on employment stability was going to get worse. But the question we should ask ourselves as Human Resource professionals – with many of us double-hatted as public relations-public affairs/strategic communications professionals – is where would you be in executing (or assisting) your organizational public relation efforts if news was about to break about massive layoffs.
One thing is certain: Many employers (not accusing any named in this article) missed the chance to keep their brand equity intact.
We know that it’s not just about layoffs – Americans know we are in rough economic times. It’s about the response to the layoffs. It’s about the restructuring plan that is being talked about at the water cooler. It’s about the leak of a possible right-sizing effort. In all this, it’s about employee emotions, perceptions, and anxiety. Most of us know the value of brand equity. The Home Depot was in the midst of putting the focus back on the customer after years of corporate mismanagement and strategic dis-alignment only to have the media shape the message, perception, and story. Sprint was in the midst of trying to shore up its perceived or actual reputation for less than stellar customer service.
It is possible that all those efforts were for naught because of late (or no) response or lack of a proactive response. So my question to you as HR professionals is “What are you and your organization doing during these challenging times – even if your specific organization or industry appears to be safe – to communicate to your employees/stakeholders? Here are five tips that you can utilize today in plain, executable language!
1) Determine what actions are taking place in your company in which you need information to help you craft or refine your organizational response plan. For example, are there product-service meetings in which your presence seemed unnecessary or you were filled in on the back-end? You may want to evaluate your role and presence in such meetings, briefings, off-sites, etc. if there are indications that the workforce may be impacted.
2) Review your current public relations-public response plan to ensure that you are ready to respond (for better or worse) on any matters that may impact the organizational workforce. Don’t wait for the news “to hit the wire,” before your determine that a critical organization was missing, or that stakeholders need to be updated. At the writing of this post, Edward Jones, Google, and Cisco were just a few EOC companies that ensured that they shaped their workforce news – acknowledging that good news is easier to deliver.
3) Communicate aggressively with senior leadership, peers, and business partners. This is one of the most critical areas that I urge my fellow professionals to follow. Discuss the possibilities of crafting an emergency-urgent response. Do a mock-exercise to ensure the response plan works. Work with line managers, senior leadership, and external business partners if there are horizontal supply chain relationships that may impact your organizational workforce. Communicate – Communicate – Communicate!
4) Speak with your employees consistently. I can think of few organizations and individuals that are not impacted by our current economic challenges. Any news on the impact to your organization and collecting employee feedback based upon the overarching response plan of the workforce is better than no plan at all. Don’t think that your employees assume the best (or worst). Get out in front of your organizational strategic communications and let your employees-workforce know just how they will or will not be impacted. Communicate (or propose) to communicate regularly as situations-events warrant.
5) Build partnerships with public relations and ensure that external and internal communications are coherent and uniformed. If you and your team are responsible for your organization’s communications ensure you update and revise as necessary. And least be said, ensure that you build the response plan with senior leadership/line management engaged and providing input as appropriate.
The bottom-line is this: Employee anxiety is high. The anxiety in some sectors or industries is of course higher than others; however, most are “feeling the pinch.” Your employees, if not witnessing it first hand, likely know someone that is being impacted. That person may be an immediate family member or it can be a good friend. In the end, we serve our roles well when we recognize this fact. We serve our organization well if we play the critical part in protecting organizational brand equity. And finally, We serve our internal and external customers well, by being prepared. Better that our organization (with HR at the forefront) give the news rather than the media interpret the news as they see fit.
Protecting your organizational brand is important, and one of our many important roles within an organization. Forthright and ethical communication allows our organizations to control the message and let the organizational workforce and key stakeholders maintain a level of trust that is critical during these unique times.
