When times are tough, as they certainly are now, employers can face major challenges especially when communicating with employees.
Unemployment rates are at their highest levels since World War II, and almost every American is affected. We’re all in the same boat and everyone is nervous, including employers. Employers are human, too, after all.
It’s still a big mistake for employers to retreat during these times.
No doubt communication is very difficult because of all the uncertainty and instability. The news carries layoff reports almost every day, and very few businesses seem to be recession proof.
Yikes! Need I say more?
Understandably, right now, employers may tend to align with that expression, “less is more.” However, it's really in an employer's best interest to take the opposite approach. Employees have a need to know, and the more information that employers can provide—the better for everyone right now.
So employers should do everything within their power to keep employees updated:
- What is the current state of the business? Keep them informed whether the news is positive or negative.
- Where do the employees stand? Let them know company plans. When employees are left in the dark, they tend to generate their own theories and come to their own conclusions.
- How is the economy affecting the business or the industry you’re in? Explain how you see the business doing as a whole, and how you see the economy affecting you now and in the future.
Employers also have options for keeping employee communications flowing steadily and frequently:
- Develop a frequently asked questions (FAQs) and answers document. This type of document can help you deliver standard and consistent messages. You don’t want a variety of conflicting answers floating around out there. HR can help you develop the FAQs document, because these practitioners are aware of the types of questions employees tend to ask during these times. Also, involve leadership and management to find out what employees are asking. You can even directly ask employees for their feedback. What do they want and need to know?
- Hold regular communication meetings, whether every month or every two weeks, but make sure they are held regularly. These can be kind of “state of the union” addresses where employers tell employees what is going on. In other words, here is where we are, and here is what we are planning. Here is what we foresee and so on. This is a time and place for you to give employees the information they need in order to help you reach your goals and objectives. This approach, in effect, gives employees the opportunity to know what they can do to help affect the bottom line.
- Make sure you communicate consistent messages. This is an entire process in and of itself. You want to start with leadership and gather their input to details: the what; the where; the why; the how; and, the when. Next, you will want to meet with the next level of managers and supervisors.
- Make sure you consider the timing of messages and that you communicate messages at the same time. When messages are shared or announced at various times, you may end up dealing with inconsistencies. Normally, your front-line managers are the ones who get most of the employee questions. So leadership needs to make sure those managers are briefed first: “Here are the issues that we are having. Here is how we want those issues answered.” This way, when the messages are scheduled and you’re ready to take the next step, which involves cascading the message down to the employees, there is one consistent message.
Again, you want to approach employee communications, especially during these tough times, with a “more is better” philosophy. When employers invest in extra efforts, it also helps to show employees that they are respected and valued.