[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/03\/16\/employee-communications-during-covid-19\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/03\/16\/employee-communications-during-covid-19\/","headline":"3 lessons for employee communications during COVID-19","name":"3 lessons for employee communications during COVID-19","description":"During these unfamiliar times, leaders are learning from one another how to navigate uncharted waters in order to best serve their customers and the public. Discover how the leadership team at Microsoft worked to make decisions related to COVID-19. It\u2019s a great look at information gathering, planning, and execution under stress regarding the way the company is communicating internally and externally.","datePublished":"2020-03-16","dateModified":"2023-01-25","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/frank-x-shaw\/#Person","name":"Frank Shaw","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/frank-x-shaw\/","identifier":406,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b35cd6ca0982dd4dfa2f8f39651bb86dab89428dac47d84130b3a2aa907c7fcb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b35cd6ca0982dd4dfa2f8f39651bb86dab89428dac47d84130b3a2aa907c7fcb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/employee-communications-during-COVID-19.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/employee-communications-during-COVID-19.jpg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/03\/16\/employee-communications-during-covid-19\/","about":["COVID-19 and Business"],"wordCount":577,"articleBody":"The New York Times\u00a0published a story today looking at how the leadership team at Microsoft worked to make decisions related to the spreading coronavirus.It\u2019s a great look at information gathering, distributed decision making, planning, and execution under stress. And of course, it\u2019s also threaded through with the impact of communications, and in this case, the way the company is communicating internally and externally.One of the key principles captured in the story was that the company\u2019s decisions would be guided by experts in public health and science, and that it would not fall into the trap of believing it knew better.So, each decision was tested through that lens \u2013 as we looked at taking a step, we asked ourselves what were we hearing from the experts in that space? This principle turned out to be at the center of our communications strategy as well.Employee communications during COVID-19: 3 quick learnings about handling employee communications1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Establish a rhythmWe established a regular rhythm of communication with our employees. Each night following the leadership team meeting, we shared an email that captured key decisions and learnings as well as recommendations and links to additional information. We were clear that these updates reflected a moment in time and were likely to change rapidly as the situation evolved.That meant that we were willing to say one day that employees were\u00a0encouraged\u00a0to work from home, and then the next (based on engagement with public officials) say\u00a0recommended to work from home if they could. On the latter, we worked to get the communication out before employees left their offices for the day so they could make sure they had what they needed. I lugged out my Surface Studio and set it up on my antique roll top desk. I should have taken a chair.You can see my setup on Twitter:This content is hosted by a third party ( twitter.com ).To view the content, either update your cookie preferences or view it in a new browser window.Cookie PreferencesNew Window2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Create a center of gravityTo ensure all teams responsible for communications were doing so from the same set of information, we set up a COVID-19 Response Microsoft Teams channel and SharePoint site as the repository of truth where the company\u2019s communicators could see what was being said, which communications were going out, etc.The Teams channel especially has been a great resource for me, both to find information, to collaborate with the global team, and get questions answered quickly.3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ensure symmetryIn cases where we knew there would be strong external interest in our decisions, we ensured symmetry by posting the same email we sent to employees to our\u00a0external news site\u00a0as we did when we moved to\u00a0recommend employees work from home. From an employee standpoint, we always want to make sure that what they\u2019re hearing direct from company leaders is what they\u2019re seeing us say to the rest of the world as well.Under these trying times, our company is doing so many good things to help employees, customers and the regions in which we operate. I am grateful for this, and my dog is grateful I am working from home and that she shows up sometimes on video calls \ud83d\ude0a  HR, better.Employees, happier.Businesses, healthier.It’s time to modernize the employee experience.This post was first published on LinkedIn, and is syndicated here with permission."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2020","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"03","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/\/03\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"16","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/\/03\/\/16\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"3 lessons for employee communications during COVID-19","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/03\/16\/employee-communications-during-covid-19\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]