Crisis and Corporate Culture: Communicating with Staff in Tough Times

Tip 1: Provide Information, Time, and Financial Clarity

In a crisis, having a clear action plan is essential. Carefully allocate resources and build your communication strategy around them. Work with top management and organizational leaders to devise this plan. Keep in mind that every employee wants to understand the company’s next steps and how their needs will be met.

Address three key questions:

• Time: How long will people continue working, and when should they start looking for new opportunities?
• Money: What will their compensation look like—will fixed salaries be cut, or will there be a bonus component?
• Guidance: What does the company recommend employees do in this situation?

Be open and transparent. Highlight potential risks, challenges, and your roadmap forward. Share tough news as early as possible and offer support. Choose a compassionate tone, do everything in your power to help, thank your team for their contributions, and honor all company commitments.

Tip 2: Engage All Leaders in Communication

A single HR professional cannot shoulder the burden of effective communication alone—they need the backing of leaders, top executives, and even the owner. Only through this collective effort will employees truly hear and accept the message.

Tip 3: Match Communication Channels to Purpose and Context

The right channel depends on your goal. For regular updates or data sharing, an email newsletter works well. To announce news, you might send a memo—or better yet, host an online call to personally deliver the update, offer support, and answer questions.

There’s no one-size-fits-all list of channels for every crisis scenario, given the unpredictable nature of business turbulence. Put yourself in your employees’ shoes and ask:

• How would I want to receive this news?
• Would this method feel comfortable to me?
• Would I have follow-up questions?
• Do I need support alongside the information?

Tip 4: Speak the Truth

The pandemic underscored the value of honesty—sharing genuine feelings, thoughts, and the company’s status with your team. Being authentic and human builds trust and provides a pillar of support for colleagues. Everyone knows that for many businesses, a crisis like the pandemic posed not just a hurdle to growth but a threat to survival.

Cutting staff without revealing the full picture is a flawed approach, one that’s losing favor with each new crisis. This shift, I believe, reflects growing awareness among entrepreneurs and lessons learned from past challenges. Speak openly—hold online or in-person meetings to share the real situation. Admit that even you can’t predict or plan as confidently as before. Do so sincerely, stick to the truth, and care for your team in tough times—they’ll repay that care by looking after your clients when times improve.

Tip 5: "Sell" Changes Well in Advance

Change is unfamiliar and often daunting. It’s human nature to prefer the status quo. Some adapt quickly to new circumstances, while for others, change brings greater stress. This spectrum must guide how you introduce shifts in the organization.

Why do employees resist? We all need time to process change—some more than others. The stages are universal: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Resistance emerges at every step, and the larger the organization, the longer it takes to overcome. That’s why you should “sell” changes well before they roll out—present the idea, explain its value, and address the discomfort of reworking processes upfront, while emphasizing the benefits everyone will eventually gain.

Tip 6: Support the Departing and the Remaining to Bolster Your Employer Brand

Layoffs during a crisis are, sadly, not uncommon. But how you handle them can either reinforce or erode your employer brand, which directly affects the cost of attracting new talent and retaining current staff. If your company tracks HR metrics, you know the price of getting this wrong.

Support those you’re letting go—help them find new roles or prepare for the job market. Some companies offer training for outgoing staff, focusing on resume-building, job searching, and career coaching. Investing in outplacement not only strengthens your employer brand but also signals to remaining employees that, even in hard times, the company values its people. These actions solidify your reputation as a caring employer.

In Place of a Conclusion

No one can definitively say how to manage staff during a crisis. Every company is its own universe, shaped by unique resources, rules, and circumstances. For instance, Bloomberg advises leaders whose teams remain remote (a common scenario in the U.S.) to maintain regular contact through any channel, showing care and openness while praising effort, even if results fall short.

Consider the story of Barry-Wehmiller, which, during the 2008 crisis, preserved 12,000 jobs by trimming executive salaries and travel budgets. This example proves tough times can be weathered without major losses—if leaders face their teams directly and rethink priorities.

Draw on expert advice and global company experiences to preserve strong employee relationships, enhancing not just your company’s image but your HR brand as well.