How to help managers communicate during a recession

Are we in a recession?

Already companies ranging from 7-Eleven and Walmart to Netflix and JPMorgan are letting employees go. Even if you’re not losing your job, you’re seeing those pandemic-induced pay hikes eaten up by inflation. Whether we’re in a recession or not, many employees are anxious about their livelihood, which is tied to the company.

That’s where internal communicators need to step up, providing a link between employees and the enterprise amid the uncertainty.

So, what are communicators to do?

Your organization should already be sharing information about its financial performance and outlook in a way that anyone can understand. That will make your task easier when the news is bad.

For those unhappy occasions, your first step is to determine exactly what a downturn means to your company. Layoffs? Store closings? Office consolidations? Compensation changes? Just as economic downturns don’t affect every person in the same way, they also don’t affect every company in the same way.