10 Best Practices for Employee Communication During a Crisis

By Linda Olejniczak, courtesy of SBAM Approved Partner ASE

Employers can earn the trust of their employees through timely and accurate communication.  But how to communicate and how much is a question that came up in a recent ASE Member Roundtable regarding COVID-19 in the workplace.

Our partners at McLean & Company created a guide to discover the 10 best practices to keep in contact with employees, teams, and the entire organization

Organization

1. Create an online portal for easy access to information – Keep everyone in the loop with necessary updates and include recognition to celebrate small wins, birthdays, and anniversaries.

2. Senior leadership involvement– This personal connection minimizes stress and provides a vision for the future.

3. Create a connector– Create an online forum to share ideas and resources.

4. Provide an HR Hotline – Give employees a contact outside of their manager for specific or confidential needs.

5. Ask for feedback and provide support – Ask to make sure you are providing all workers the support they need and build connections.

Teams

6. Regular check-in meetings – Provide a forum for sharing how they are coping with changes – not just regular department agendas. Make time for personal highlights.

7. Avoid nonessential meetings – Avoid over-collaborating by determining if a meeting could be an email instead. Do all participants need to be present? Would an email be sufficient?

8. Connect with other teams – Lookfor ways to create more social interaction past your own team.  Create a check-in with other departments or employees.

Individuals

9. One-on-Ones – Get insight to how individuals are doing during a crisis and monitor how they are coping with all the changes. Consider increasing the frequency if you feel a member of your team is struggling.

10. Lend an empathetic and compassionate ear – It is important for employees to know they are not alone. Everyone feels stressed and is dealing with uncertainty.   Connect them with your EAP or other resources.

Employers are using traditional and non-traditional methods to communicate with employees. With employees still working from home and onsite, the most common methods are:

Timely and accurate communication during a crisis can ensure calm and provide employees a clear understanding of the impacts to their organization, department, and role.  Your employees will appreciate the information and support. 

ASE Approach
ASE has instituted daily or bi-weekly huddles by department during this time.  We also utilize Microsoft Teams for video calls, meetings, and the chat function. In addition, we moved our all-staff meetings from monthly to bi-monthly.