Companies around the world are reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis has been incredibly disruptive for both management and employees. One key way that companies can navigate these uncertain times is to keep their employees informed, engaged, and aligned through good communication practices.
Cristian Grossmann, CEO, Beekeeper looks at how companies can design a crisis communications strategy to ease the pain of the uncertainty ahead.
Never before in our lifetime has it been so important to communicate effectively with employees. It’s vital to invest time and resources in the right tools that can help keep business operations moving with as little disruption as possible, but—more importantly—it can also ensure the safety of your staff.
For me the key message for all leadership teams is to remember that leading during an emergency situation requires calm, confident communication.
With an ever-changing situation the need for real-time communication is imperative to keep everyone updated on the latest developments and protocols. With many employees now working from home, sending emails may seem the easiest way to communicate, but we need to remember that frontline workers make up 80% of the world’s workforce, and they need to be included in crisis communications.
Frontline workers are often the only teams who remain at work during emergencies, and they can offer valuable insight into what’s happening onsite. It’s important to make sure they stay informed both for planning purposes and safety reasons.
In a rapidly-changing scenario like the one we’re currently experiencing, there are two important elements of internal communication to keep in mind:
- Confident and supportive messaging to keep your teams aligned and informed in a time of uncertainty.
- The right digital tools to disseminate information rapidly to every single employee.
That’s why companies should utilise digital solutions such as a mobile workforce app that allows you to:
- Relay up-to-the-minute information in real-time and speed up response times
- Connect dispersed employees across multiple locations.
- Instantly communicate with every employee for unified messaging.
- Share updated shift schedule information to minimize confusionCommunicate vital messages to your diverse workforce in their preferred language with inline translation.
- Create virtual meetings through group chats when in-person is not possible.
- Share safety information through the document library.
5 Actionable Tips for Communicating with Employees During a Crisis
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1) Create a crisis communication task force
In an ideal world, we would all have a plan for a crisis before the situation arises; however, with the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak many companies will need to have a more reactive approach.
Create a communication task force and appoint a team who will need to have emergency procedures and roles mapped out as far in advance as possible. The team will then be ready to manage the communications command center for your organisation through the workforce app.
2) Become a primary source for reliable communication
The task force is then in charge of creating group chats, dedicated crisis communication streams, and sending out surveys to ensure uninterrupted communication and verify that every employee receives urgent information.
In a crisis event like COVID-19, there is often an explosion of news circulating around the internet. This can make it very difficult for employees to decipher what is accurate, and what is fake news. . More and more workers are turning to their employers as a source of reliable information. 63% of employees recently surveyed said they look for daily updates from their companies.
It is crucial to create a single source of truth for your staff. Create a crisis communication stream in your employee app to create a feed of reliable information.. This ensures that every employee has the same, accurate information.
3) Use a mobile workforce management app to keep two-way communication open
Crisis and chaos build fear and anxiety. A useful way to combat this is opening up comms between management and employees to answer questions and inform. It aids a more calm workforce and helps staff feel like they’re being listened to and valued.
4) Track who is receiving information
A workforce management app is a great way to track overall engagement among employees during normal conditions. But in a crisis, leadership teams can use the analytics dashboard to track engagement to ensure people are receiving messages for their safety and well-being. This is particularly valuable in the fast-moving COVID-19 environment.
5) Be a source of non-work related information
In times like these, it’s important to support employees not only in the workplace but also serve as a resource for your workforce needs. Adding a stream around local resources that may help your employees during a difficult time can help them stabilise. Information about food supplies, childcare, or medical facilities can help employees access the resources they need.
During a crisis event like the coronavirus, business leaders should to be a source of reliable information and maintain a calm demeanor. By implementing a good internal communications plan, you can keep your entire team connected until you’re back to business as usual.
By Dr. Cristian Grossmann
Dr. Cristian Grossmann is CEO and Co-Founder of Beekeeper. Beekeeper is an internal communications platform that helps hospitality companies like hotels streamline their operations and connect with their frontline employees.
