Don't Let a Virus Harm Your Company Culture
The numbers are frightening. In early April, 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits. This is double the 3.3 million claims filed just a week before. This surge of joblessness dwarfs the previous record of 695,000 new claims filed at the height of the so-called “Reagan Recession” in March 1982.
The current cause, of course, is the nationwide shutdown precipitated by the COVID-19 virus currently sweeping the nation — and globe. On orders from state governors, non-essential businesses, such as beauty salons, gyms, and most retail stores have temporarily closed their doors. Restaurants have shut down their dining areas and have switched to take-out and delivery only. As a result, millions of workers, particularly those in the service industry, have found themselves jobless.
Unfortunately, we can predict it’s only going to get worse before it gets better. Federal health officials don’t expect the number of new COVID-19 cases — and deaths — to peak until at least May. And it may be many more months before the “All Clear” is given and business can return to normal. Until this happens, many companies will, at best, limp along by either laying off large groups of employees and/or temporarily furloughing others. (The difference is that a furlough is considered short-term, while a layoff is, for all intents and purposes, permanent.)
It’s often said a person’s true character is revealed under intense pressure. The same goes for a business. How company management handles delivering the “bad news” to its employees is therefore an important consideration. A poorly handled mass dismissal can reflect poorly on a company’s culture and come back to haunt it when the economy is finally back to business-as-usual.
To understand why this consideration is so important to company culture, allow me to offer a personal example. One of my friends works as a senior advisor for a professional services firm which has more than a dozen employees. She has been with the company for 16 years. Last week, she received a letter from her manager telling her that due to the recent decline in business activity, her senior advisor title has been revoked.
Worse, she’s been reduced to generic hourly part-time status. Now, you may argue my friend should be happy she has a job at all in these challenging times. This is true. On the other hand, the cold, distant (and not just socially distant) way in which she received the news left a bitter taste in her mouth. She plans on seriously reconsidering her professional options once economic conditions improve.
As this story demonstrates, how companies treat employees is always important, but is even more critical now that emotions are high, tempers frayed, and simple human contact is at a premium. Employees — even those being laid off — need to be treated with respect — and empathy. Perhaps most of all, they need a chance to be heard. CEOs must be mindful of the kind of culture they are trying to preserve and be careful not to violate their own values in the name of temporary expediency.
At the same time, senior leadership must also be frank — painfully so, if necessary — with the employees who remain. They need to explain why people were laid off or furloughed, even when it means stating the obvious. More than this, they also need to be vulnerable enough to let their employees know how badly these moves make them feel.
To understand why this matters, we can turn to the book “Under the Hood.” In it, author and office culture consultant Stan Slap explains what happens when business leaders don’t share their reality with their staff. Abhorring — and fearing — the informational vacuum, employees tend to create their own reality. Rumors and conspiracy theories run rampant. Resentment flourishes. Morale plummets. And along with it goes productivity.
As you might imagine, these are big problems for any organization, even in good times. It’s hard enough keeping a company afloat during a global health crisis the likes of which few have ever experienced. Any company that doesn’t heed Slap’s wisdom risks making things worse by stoking employee unrest and insecurity. In times of crisis, it is especially important to communicate even more clearly and more consistently than one might otherwise.
The takeaway for senior leadership? Be forthcoming. Be honest. Be open. And don’t forget to be a human being. (This means it doesn’t hurt to tell your people you feel terrible about letting their fellow coworkers go.)
On the flip side, painful as these times are, this too shall pass. It’s key for management to also remind people this is a temporary situation. Yes, no one knows how long it will last, but eventually we will get back to normal. That said, it is inadvisable to make promises about when things will turn around and what this will look like, because we don’t know. However, it is crucial for morale to proceed in a (prudently) hopeful manner.
For more information on how my team and I can help your business maintain a healthy culture even during a global pandemic, please email me @ laura@conoverconsulting.com. And to learn more about the essential nature of people in business, please read about me in Forbes. In the meantime, stay healthy. Stay safe. And if possible, stay home.