Importance of Internal Communication During Covid-19

Internal communication, aka, communicating with internal stakeholders like employees to keep them connected and informed is a very important part of any business.

If done poorly, it can affect your company’s revenue and reputation. A 2017 study by Conference Board shows that disengaged employees could cost organisations over $450 billion per year.

It also has the ability to affect employees’ morale and motivation, with one-third of employees saying a lack of open, honest communication has the most negative impact on their morale, according to Recruiter.

And this is just during normal work conditions, not considering the unique set of challenges that a crisis — let alone a pandemic — brings to employees.

The current coronavirus crisis is different from the 2008 recession because of several reasons. For one, “Most people have lived through a recession in their lives, but no one has lived through a pandemic,” says Farzana Baduel, CEO at Curzon PR.

The problems of a crisis are compounded this time because of uncertainty and fear surrounding not just one’s job, but also of one’s health. The changes arising out of social distancing like homeschooling and remote work bring their own unique challenges and lasting impact.

Fear of Job Loss

According to a recent survey by Crosby Textor, in June, a high number of 83% people in UAE and 81% people in India fear that they would be laid off because of the pandemic. Even the region with the least percentage of people who are afraid of a layoff, UK, was at a 28% mark.

Image and data source: Crosby Textor Group

Fear of One’s Health

The fear of a job loss is compounded with the fear of vulnerability to one’s health.

According to a worldwide survey done in March, 47% people in Indonesia and 44% in Malaysia are “very scared” of contracting the virus, however, this number is lower in the UK and the US.

Image source: Statista

Work-From-Home

Most companies, including Facebook, Amazon, Airbnb, Twitter and Google have moved to remote work, wherever possible (like with knowledge workers), since the outbreak — at least temporarily. According to Gartner, 74% of companies also plan to permanently shift to remote work post-COVID.

But most employees (and managers) are not used to remote work, where problems of procrastination and loneliness abide. 76% of HR leaders recently reported in a Gartner poll that the top employee complaint during Covid-19 is “concerns from managers about the productivity or engagement of their teams when remote.”

Homeschooling of children

Parents who work from home are now on double duty as they homeschool their kids while trying to get their own work done.
One parent says to Elizabeth A. Harris at  The New York Times that she stays up late, sometimes until 3 a.m, trying to finish her office work.

“I had a breaking moment when I had to lock myself in a bathroom and cry.”

Our senior consultant, Bahareh Khezr, needs to wake up as early at 5 a.m. some days to be able to balance between office work and homeschooling. According to her:

“Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. Trying to work while helping my son to do his schoolwork, and caring for a family throughout the day while working, requires a different approach.”

Physical isolation

Social distancing rules restricting people to meet their family and friends lead to anxiety, especially when they are not able to meet and help the elderly. “I feel strange and frustrated,” says a 24-year old in Madrid to Reuters, “All I can do for my grandparents is to call them.”
This feeling is compounded and feeds loneliness and grief when people are unable to meet their closed ones in their last moments who are dying because of the coronavirus.

Mental health

Because of all the above reasons, people’s mental health has taken a toll. People in the US are reporting more symptoms and signs of depression, anxiety, and fear than what has been reported in the past, according to research by Healthline

Problems with Current Organisational Culture

According to a 2015 survey by Deloitte, the largest percentage of crisis professionals (30%) believe that employees are the most overlooked during a crisis.

Data and image source: Deloitte

An analysis by h&h shows that during change, 21% of employees feel they’ve been kept in the dark, 31% think the focus is more on the process than the people, and 47% feel unimportant and undervalued.

Traditional businesses are known for top-down one-way communication and anti-empathetic office culture.

Data from Interact shows that when it comes to internal communication, 69% of managers feel uncomfortable communicating with employees.

Though granted that work from home takes some time, skills, and learning to adapt to, there seems to be a lack of trust in employees — and in employers’ ability to teach, learn, adapt, and grow — baked into the corporate culture. A study by Gartner shows that only 56% of managers let their employees work remotely — even when policy allows it.

“The ‘work-from-home’ style goes against their belief of how employees should be managed,” says an Asia regional lead for a consultancy to BBC’s Lu-Hai Liang.

Side Effects of Poor Internal Communication During a Crisis

But this kind of neglect of employees during a crisis can be harmful. Failing to manage employees successfully during such a time can lead to low morale, poor customer service,  and lack of trust.

Most likely, you’d need the help of your employees to manage the crisis internally — from keeping the spreading of rumours and panic, and ensuring that the right information is shared externally through social media. In the absence of clear and effective communication, employees may turn to speculation.

A McKinsey study shows that 70% of change programs fail because of poor communication.

Importance of Effective Employee Management During a Crisis

Due to uncertainty, change, and fear during a crisis, employees need more support than usual — not less. Extreme stress during a crisis may keep otherwise productive and professional employees to turn in work late and of low quality.

Paul A. Argenti, a corporate communications academic, writing in The Harvard Business Review in 2002 after interviewing executives at Morgan Stanley, Starbucks, Verizon, Dell, and other MNCs on the lessons learned during the 9/11 crisis, says,

“What I discovered is that, in a time of extreme crisis, internal communications take precedence. Before any other constructive action can take place—whether it’s serving customers or reassuring investors—the morale of employees must be rebuilt.”

8 Tips for Internal Crisis Communication During Covid-19

Here are the 7 tips for communicating effectively with internal stakeholders during any crisis, but especially during the coronavirus.

1.Empathy

Show empathy and shared humanity by focusing first on the human and emotional elements of the crisis — like fear, vulnerability, and gratitude, instead of on revenues and profits.

“We knew within the first day that, even though we are a financial services company, we didn’t have a financial crisis on our hands; we had a human crisis. After that point, everything was focused on our people,” says Ray O’Rourke who used to work at Morgan Stanley, on what he learned during the 9/11 crisis to HBR.

Example: Starbucks CEO in a letter to his employees affirming human safety as the top priority. The letter has been hailed as a “brilliant lesson in emotional intelligence strategy” by Inc. 

2. Connection

Because of the physical isolation of social distancing and the loneliness of remote work, employees crave interaction and connection. As a result, businesses have started to incorporate more video meetings, podcasts, and group chats to share and celebrate success stories of employees and the company.

Example: Expedia created several Slack channels like WFH Parents Club and others where employees share photos of their pets photobombing their virtual meetings, according to an interview by Chris Daniels in PR Week.

3. Timeliness

As news unfolds regarding the crisis, keep the employees updated. From updated guidelines by the Government and WHO on how to keep oneself safe during the crisis, to improved measures the company is taking to keep its employees safe — as restrictions are relaxed. 

4. Transparency:

Be transparent even about negative information like impending layoffs to keep employees from the fear of uncertainty. 

Example: Airbnb CEO announced 25% of its staff layoff in a letter that led with transparency.  Forbes’s Jack Kelly called it a “masterclass in empathy and compassion”.

5. Frequent Communication From Top Leadership

While communication between managers and employees needs to be strengthened, communication, especially from top leadership, holds special weight during a crisis.

“If the voice belongs to a company leader, the listener has reason to think that the full weight of the company stands behind whatever promises and assurances are being made,” Argenti writes in HBR. 

6. Audience-driven content

Instead of focusing on business-related communication and jargon, create content on what the audience would relate to or need. As employees are left feeling scared and confused, providing information on the company’s mission might also help — giving a sense of purpose to their work. 

Examples:

• A recycling company SUEZ offered content on personal health and wellness to its employees, from mental health and physical fitness to how to entertain kids at home, according to an interview in All Things IC.
• A senior executive at Expedia blogged about his experience homeschooling five kids, according to an interview by Chris Daniels in PR Week. 

7. Feedback

While you put the above tips to practice, it is important to think about it strategically. Use surveys or questionnaires to find out what kind of content or communication channel is resonating with your employees, and which is not. 

8. Adapt

Based on the feedback collected, change, adapt and improvise the internal crisis communication strategy as the crisis unfolds and the employee needs change.

Conclusion

While companies got away with unhealthy internal communication earlier, the companies that will survive this pandemic and continue to maintain employee loyalty would be the ones that make the desired changes to their internal crisis communication strategy. These changes focus on communicating with empathy, connection, and shared humanity with employees during the crisis.

Curzon PR is a London-based PR firm working with clients globally. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Business Development Team [email protected]