Communicating COVID-19 risks and protocols to employees, customers and investors

May 2020 | SPOTLIGHT | RISK MANAGEMENT

Financier Worldwide Magazine

May 2020 Issue

The world is on edge. Nobody quite knows what is happening, or what happens next. It is difficult to comprehend what ‘normal’ now means or what it will look like next week, next month or next year.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world are telling us to do things that run fundamentally counter to the core principles upon which we have organised democratic society. And yet we are complying, for the most part, for fear of the alternatives.

We are all happy to listen to experts again. Yet it is clear to all of us who watch TV news that no-one yet has all the answers. So, who do we trust? Whose voice are we listening to?

We were keen to throw some light on these questions. Our researchers have been conducting the largest global survey on trust for each the past 20 years. Our trust barometer team went back into the field between 6 and 10 March in 10 different countries, each with varying degrees of problems, to test public attitudes to the crisis, and its response.

We polled people in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, the UK and the US. While our data was gathered at a time when the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic was not yet clear, people everywhere were already fearful and confused.

Looking through the findings offers some clear pointers on what people want to hear, however.

Crucially, the data hammers home the role business must play as a source of reliable and timely information. From that we have been able to glean guidance about communicating with employees, through the evolving COVID-19 situation.

Companies need to be communicating clearly, often and honestly. There is a huge weight of expectation on business to do the right thing – by customers, employees and society as a whole. Investors’ concerns are being relegated.

We are already seeing that those who try to prioritise financial solvency – particularly in consumer-facing sectors – are quickly stigmatised online and subjected to consumer boycotts, running the risk that their longer-term sustainability is jeopardised. The same goes for any business, large or small, seen to be trying to capitalise on the crisis – or offering communications that seem tone deaf to the environment we live in.

Our studies show that ‘my employer’ is always the most trusted source of information globally. In our annual Trust Barometer, published in January, trust levels in ‘my employer’ stood 18 points higher than non-government organisations (NGOs), and 27 points above government or media.

This has been reflected in attitudes to the coronavirus crisis. Some 63 percent of our respondents globally said they would believe information from their employer about the number of people exposed in an organisation. This compared to 58 percent who said they would believe an official government website.

More than one third of respondents indicated they would never believe information about COVID-19 if the only place they would find it was on social media.

Fake news is a big concern. People are much more inclined to believe what they are told by traditional established media, than they are even by global groups such as the World Health Organisation (WHO).

This scepticism comes in spite of a clear desire to hear from experts, rather than politicians. Scientists and ‘my doctor’ are the most trusted spokespeople about the virus, with 83 percent and 82 percent approval scores respectively.

The damaging impact of years of government spin in western democracies is now being made clear for the problem that it always was. Less than half of survey respondents across those 10 countries trust what government officials are telling them. Some 60 percent believed that the crisis was being exaggerated for political gain. Yet 54 percent of those surveyed said they would trust the chief executive of the company they work for.

Employers are being put in a difficult position. Bailouts and interventions are being invented ad hoc. Whole industries are being nationalised by press conference. Just as cataclysmic decisions are about to be made, policy interventions are cooked up to support wages or subsidise rents.

Everything is in turmoil – maybe for months, maybe years, maybe until Easter, depending upon who you believe.

Yet people still have faith in the business that pays their wages. In eight of the 10 countries surveyed, ‘my employer’ is seen as better prepared for the virus than ‘my country’. That is an understandable reaction. For while most governments have seemed flat-footed, big employers have mobilised business continuity protocols that were designed post 9/11 or in response to previous health crises such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Knowledge in the business community of experience in other countries seems to be greater than it is among the political class.

The general public is keen to see government lean on business for help. There is twice as much trust in a combined business/government effort than in government combatting the virus alone (45 percent versus 20 percent).

Protecting employees and acting in the interest of the common good are clear demands; 78 percent of respondents said they expected this to be the priority of business. Some 73 percent of those surveyed expect business to be flexible with its HR policies too.

Information needs to be shared. Employees want clarity on everything from how many colleagues have contracted the virus (57 percent), to how the virus is affecting the organisation’s ability to operate (53 percent).

Employees want to be informed beyond the effect on the company, including advice on travel and what can be done to stop the spread of the virus. They want to get the information via email or newsletter (48 percent), posts on the company website (33 percent) and phone and video conferences (23 percent).

It is urgent that business enables fact-based decisions and allows employees to feel part of a broad societal movement to fight the challenges that lie ahead.

Companies need to initiate regular briefings for employees, to provide trustworthy content that can be shared with employee families or community, to reach out to government to cooperate in work-at-home initiatives, and to ensure that the company’s social channels are contributing to knowledge and not panic.

Not every big business is living up to these standards thus far. Those that do need to stick with doing what is right, even if it feels hard. These next few weeks and months will leave a legacy upon which all of us will be judged for years to come. Trust is hard to win, and easily lost.

Iain Dey is a senior director at Edelman UK. He can be contacted by email: iain.dey@edelman.com.

Iain Dey

Edelman UK