Firms need to show that employees matter now more than ever
By Ben Appleby
There has been lots of research in recent times exploring the individual traits of different age groups from Baby Boomers to Generation X and Millennials to Generation Z.
Born in 1995, I don’t fit succinctly into one particular category, instead being a “cusper” which refers to someone born near the end of one generation and the beginning of another.
Cuspers are often said to have a mixture of characteristics, in my case from the Millennial and Generation Z categories. These characteristics range from bearing more liberal social views to preferring independence, as well as being more financially and technologically focused.
When it comes to marketing to Millennials and Generation Z, there has been a great deal of research underlining the importance of brands instilling greater purpose into their campaigns.
With covid-19 dominating the news agenda and the majority of businesses facing great challenges just to survive the coming months, it seems now more than ever that only those companies that can resonate with their audience will thrive.
Workers are already being made redundant or having hours cut as businesses try to grapple with vastly reduced income and financial pressures, but the way that they go about reducing staff numbers will have a long-lasting effect.
Since the introduction of social media, the need for crisis communications and reputation management support has increased drastically with sales and share prices affected by one negative post that goes viral.
During a seemingly endless scroll through Twitter this weekend, I noticed a link to a Google Document titled ‘UK Businesses Coronavirus Response for Workers’.
The document explains: “We are sourcing the reactions by employers (particularly big corporations and billionaire owned business) both good and bad to coronavirus in the UK. Ultimately, the goal is to share this knowledge and organise mass boycotts of those treating their workers badly, and celebrate those who are enabling workers, their families and our communities to stay well.”
It lists over one hundred businesses, both UK and global, from companies like Uber, Virgin and Barclays that have reacted ‘negatively’ to those that should be celebrated, which includes the likes of Tesco, Microsoft, Aviva and O2.
There is no easy way to inform staff that salary reductions must be made, that stores are closing, or that their jobs may not be safe in the future, but companies must strike the right tone or face scrutiny and potential backlash as a result.
Richard Branson is often used as an example of a master communicator when it comes to reputation management, but he was widely criticised for asking Virgin Airline’s staff to take unpaid leave, despite being able to cover wages should he have wished.
Having initially remained silent, he yesterday pledged around £215m to protect Virgin jobs, but it seems the damage has already been done and few have been fooled by the ‘empty’ gesture from one of the UK’s billionaires.
Pret a Manger received widespread praise last week for their tweet offering free hot drinks and 50% discounts off all other food and drink for NHS workers, but even their response has been deemed ‘negative’ for cutting staff hours and wages.
They are far from the worst culprits however, with Boohoo providing a perfect example of how not to react to a crisis of this nature.
According to the crowdsourced document, they have been reticent to the idea of staff working from home – contrary to government advice – as well as selling coronavirus related merchandise including clothes with the slogan ‘wash your hands’.
It’s not just businesses that have continued to make mistakes despite the escalation of the global pandemic, with social media influencers also receiving criticism for ill-judged posts and captions during a time of crisis.
Now, more than ever, firms must show that they are acutely aware of the magnitude of this crisis and the effect it’s having on people in all walks of life.
As well as ensuring that messaging is consistent across all social media platforms, firms must also maintain frequent communication with staff to ensure that they are kept up to date at all times, adhering to the values that they promote in normal circumstances.
Covid-19 requires a considered internal communications crisis plan to ensure that employees feel valued and can generate increased goodwill towards those in leadership positions.
The health and welfare of employees must always be put first and companies that don’t understand that can’t expect to be around for much longer.