I was a history major in college, and when I’m looking for answers, I tend to be analytical and think back to what history has taught us. Now we are living in unprecedented times, and there’s little to reference. Most experts advise leadership to over communicate, and communications teams must be at the front line of messaging and information distribution, providing support to leadership at all levels as they navigate the situation and disseminate guidance to employees.

As a professional services firm, we are fortunate to have decades of experience working with federal, state, and local governments to respond to major events such as the more recent hurricanes and wildfires. As we navigate the severity and weight of the current COVID-19 situation, we’ve drawn on our preparedness plans and colleagues’ experience managing our company’s response. While our IT professionals make sure each employee has the resources he or she needs to be successful providing quality, professional services to our clients, during the first month of this crisis the communications team has taken point on keeping our employees informed and supported.

Acclimating to Teleworking: What is and isn’t Working

Once employees transitioned to their home offices, the communications team set to work gathering best practices. Two of our writers interviewed managers to gather tips and tools they are using to keep teams connected and track productivity, including time logs and daily video call check-ins. By recording these interviews, our communications team has also been able to develop a series of podcasts to share with employees.

Use Your Intranet Effectively

If you have a social intranet, this can be one of your best tools to engage staff and help them feel connected and informed. We’ve developed and encouraged a healthy balance of the following:

• Detailed updates on our COVID-19 response and letters to staff from executive leadership, like our chairman and CEO
• Messages that emphasize health and wellness of staff and associated benefit programs, such as employee assistance programs
• Programs that support the effective delivery of our services, like technology systems and quality management
• Posts from all levels of employees that reinforce our client-focused culture
• Fun, work-related stories about community, people, or other non-pandemic related good news!

If you also have good search analytics associated with your intranet, make sure you’re checking what employees are searching for, early and often. We noticed early trends around search terms like “teleworking” and safety and benefit-related topics, and quickly put into place search returns that direct employees to these critical needs. We also posted communication to address their concerns.

Partnering with Company Operations for Consistent Messaging

Another critical responsibility of the communications team is partnering with corporate groups to make sure the messages are consistent, cohesive, acknowledge similar directives, and appropriately timed to help employees understand priorities. For example, if the accounting and payroll department has an important update for employees, the communications department should help craft a message and determine the best medium and time to deliver the information so that messaging remains consistent and employees are well-notified. The communications team must also think about alerting all parties who must be aware of the message’s details prior to disseminating the message to all staff, so supervisors can be aware, supportive, and help answer questions.

While time consuming, I also recommend keeping a log of communication that has been disseminated. An important record, the log also serves as a way to remember which temporary directives you need to undo and becomes a playbook for future crisis communication plans.

Keeping up to date with Crisis Communications

Recently software company Cision hosted a webinar called Best Practices for Brand Communications in Times of Uncertainty. During this webinar, we heard from Planit Advertising Public Relations and Social Media Account Director Jennifer Donahoe, Edelman Managing Director of Corporate and Advisory Services Jim Prosser, and Visit Raleigh Director of Public Relations and International Tourism Scott Peacock. Highlights from this webinar include:

1. Employers are among the most trusted source of information.
2. More than 50% of respondents (of Edelman study) say they want their employer to update them on information regarding the virus daily or several times a day.
3. Determine what the plan will be internally and externally when an employee is diagnosed with COVID-19.
4. Gear your messaging to how you can help with the pandemic as an organization.
5. Determine how to keep up with your data analytics and adjust your response accordingly.
6. Humor shouldn’t be lost (internally and externally) but used in a sensitive way.
7. Determine which channels are the most appropriate for which messages.

For more than a month now, I’ve been using the word “dynamic” to describe this situation as it unfolded and continues to unfold. Now I would choose some more words to describe how communicators must be moving forward: flexible, responsive, forward-thinking, consistent, empathetic, and persistent. Good luck as you navigate this for your own company, and please stay safe and healthy.