Policy & Regulation
Organizations Rising to the Challenge of COVID-19 Communications, but Needs Persist, Study Finds
6 April 2020 - - A new study shows 83% of US organiaations have been impacted by the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, consulting and communications firm Orangefiery said.

The research shows leaders have risen to the challenge of communicating with employees during the pandemic, but only a slim majority of employees say they are very satisfied with the communications they have received.

In assessing the communications they've received from their employers about COVID-19, significant percentages of respondents said their organisations had been delivering on-topic communications using the right communications channels with an appropriate frequency.

Respondents also indicated that leaders have been keeping their promises by following through on doing what they said they would do and communicating what they said they would communicate.

Asked to rate the effectiveness of the communications they've received, smaller majorities said the communications were "very" or "extremely" trustworthy, appropriate in tone, clear, and honest and open.

Fewer respondents said they were very or extremely satisfied with the messages they were receiving, with 11% saying they were not very or not at all satisfied, and only 53% said the messages were very or extremely useful in communicating what employees should think or do.

In the survey, leaders rated organizational communications more highly than employees did on several issues.

Leaders were more likely than employees to say that communications were very or extremely trustworthy (75% to 63%), clear (69% to 62%), honest and open (75% to 58%), successful at alleviating anxiety and concern (46% to 33%) and useful at communicating what employees should think and do (58% to 51%).

Leaders also were more likely to say communications were frequent enough (85% to 76%) and clearly indicated what leaders did and did not know (29% v. 21%).

Additionally, a slim majority of employees said they believe their organization is very or extremely committed to satisfying employee communications needs, compared with 64% of leaders.

Less than half of employees (43% as opposed to 60% of leaders) said they believe their organisation is very or extremely interested in hearing employee feedback during this pandemic.

In more than 200 open-ended answers to a question about what organisations should do differently for the future, respondents said they wanted to understand clear plans for the organisation's future, the impact of the disruption on their role, work and job security, information about benefits, and more consistent, frequent and direct communications from top leaders, with a number of respondents indicating that they were receiving inconsistent information depending on the source of the communication.

In more than 200 open-ended responses to a question about the most important thing they want leaders to know about communicating during the COVID-19 pandemic, the top six categories of responses were: be honest and transparent; stay calm and lead by example; help employees stay safe and healthy; be factual; check in and care; and be clear and direct.

As one indicative response said, "Just be open and transparent with employees. These are scary times."

The research report, "Leadership Communications During COVID-19," details these findings and provides recommendations for organisational leaders responsible for helping their employee teams and external stakeholders navigate this unprecedented disruption of our lives and businesses.

The research was conducted online from March 25 to March 29, 2020. 454 respondents completed the survey. Of these 454 respondents, 327 identified as an "employee" and 127 identified as leaders, specifically as a "board member," "member of the executive leadership team" or "member of the management team." Respondents represented all regions of the United States.

Respondents also represented organizations of all sizes; 27% worked in organizations with 1-50 employees, 18% with 51-200 employees, 20% with 201-1,000 employees, 14% with 1,001-5,000 employees and 21% with 5,001+ employees.

All respondents were required to be employed at the time they completed the survey.

Orangefiery is a consulting and communications firm focused on helping leaders and brands navigate inflection points. We aspire to provide our clients in healthcare, technology and other sectors with intellectually rigorous work that inspires their stakeholders and advances their business goals.
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