Corporate communications during the COVID-19 era. Supporting our corporate communications friends and the challenges they are facing.
As I sit in my living room on March 17, 2020, I check Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to keep my mind busy because my freelance adventure has drastically slowed. I see people commenting on how they are getting unwanted emails from credit card companies, delivery services, and other businesses sending updates to their inbox. While some do not care what a corporation is doing to protect their employees and businesses, we also need to think about the impact COVID-19 has on the teams sending these updates.
I hear my roommate who is on the corporate communications team for a Fortune 500 company in her room from 8 am to 9 pm on the phone planning the next internal and external communication. Another friend on the internal comms team for a large corporation is also trying to coordinate with their team on how to protect not only their employees but their in-store customers too. These people are working tirelessly to protect employees, customers and consumers, keep them safe and informed with accurate ever-evolving news and information coming from the federal and local government.
Corporate communications teams are managing comms from the highest level of the organization and the number one priority for them is their employees followed by customers and consumers. This is something that crisis communications teams plan for, but the COVID-19 crisis is unprecedented. Teams can prepare and have contingency plans, but when boiled down to it, this is something they have never handled before and is the most crucial topic they have handled this decade.
Coordinating with The Team
The communications team for a corporate business is multifaceted. When the world is not faced with a global pandemic they are planning quarterly meetings and press releases with the executive and C-Suite team. They are making sure employees are informed and educated on company updates, and coordinating events to promote the general well-being of employees — essentially managing all communications sent to the internal and customer-facing community. Bringing in a global pandemic puts these daily tasks on the back burner, but the day-to-day still needs to be addressed and completed.
Most communications teams for a corporation run lean, now suddenly, the business is relying on this small team to execute information the best way possible with technology hindrances and a constant flow of news updates and information on COVID-19. Maintaining this structure and agile management style is so much more complex now with the various layers of approvals needed and cross-functional work. Now throw this into the work from home environment.
When you are in the office you have the ability to walk over to someone’s desk and ask a question, you can see a reaction and emotions, and you can get to a resolution much quicker. When you are forced to work from home, it is harder to understand a person’s intent through email, and your questions take longer to get answered because most employees are now full-time caretakers. Maintaining the in-office dynamic is complex, how do you maintain the team environment and working relationships while working remote?
Beyond a Full-Court Press:
The corporate communications team’s goal, as stated previously is to ease the minds of their employees and help them understand the company’s reaction to COVID-19, implications the pandemic has on the business functionality, industry, and the human population globally. The communications team is being held to a high standard right now, they have to be the knowledge resource center for employees, customers, and consumers.
Comms teams are challenged with using channels they don’t use every day with information that is crucial to the business and employees. They have to get emails out to employees in real-time — while the employees are dealing with WFH challenges because they are also providing full-time childcare.
Corporate Communications teams are currently handling information that is coming from every direction. The leadership team relies on them for updates, employees and sales teams want to know how to continue to run the business as usual without risking their health and the health of others around them, and consumers & supermarkets require many of these products.
Managing all of these vehicles of communications partnered with the severity of COVID-19 is stressful and overwhelming at times, my roommate is constantly hunkered down at her homemade desk in her room providing the business, consumers, and customers the most accurate information as efficiently and transparent as possible.
How You Can Help
I make my roommate coffee, when I make myself lunch — I make hers as well, I check in on her when I don’t hear she is on her phone, and I make her take 15 minute walks outside with me — small things add up that show my support and help make her life easier.
My friend, that is across the country? I call her when she has a break to check in on her, I help her with copy suggestions, I make sure she is taking a 15-minute break to get outside and read.
These are small things you can do to help your friends and family who are dealing with changing communications plans in a faced-paced and ever-evolving crisis. But the most important thing to remember as a consumer and human is that everyone is doing the best they can do keep their employees healthy and safe.
Stay safe & healthy my friends.