STAT OF THE DAY Employees who live with someone who is vulnerable to the coronavirus are more likely to experience burnout and other mental health symptoms. Two-thirds of employees who say they “feel like a failure,” live with someone at-risk for COVID-19, according a SHRM survey. COVID-19 UPDATE At the time of reporting, The New York Times showed 1,379,377 cases in the U.S. and 82,476 fatalities. Bing’s COVID-19 Tracker showed 1,403,597 cases and 83,225 deaths. Global cases are now over 4.2 million. House Democrats unveiled a $3 trillion stimulus bill on Tuesday, called the Heroes Act, but the bill is already getting opposition from both conservatives and progressives. If passed it would be the largest stimulus package in U.S. history. Updated COVID-19 projections put the U.S. death toll at 110,000 by June 6. Fed chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that more policy intervention will be needed to pull the U.S. economy out of its slump. The Dow was down 500 points.
OSHA offers tips for COVID-19 communication and back-to-work initiatives. Important tips from the U.S. agency that overlooks workplace safety and health include encouraging self-monitoring among your workforce and using telework solutions when possible. We pulled out 11 tips for busy communicators.
Twitter embraces remote work permanently. In an email to employees, CEO Jack Dorsey told employees they would be allowed to work from home permanently after the crisis was over. Jobs that require a physical presence, such as working on servers, will still have onsite workers. Buzzfeed News reported: “We've been very thoughtful in how we've approached this from the time we were one of the first companies to move to a work-from-home model,” a Twitter spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. “We'll continue to be, and we'll continue to put the safety of our people and communities first.” Free How-To Session: Due to popular demand, Happeo has decided to host another how-to session on "how to digital workplace". On May 20, digital workplace experts Britney Schulz and Meg Rivers will discuss practical use cases on: How to build and maintain a high-performing remote culture with G Suite How to connect G Suite apps into a unified digital workspace in a few hours How to create a collaborative workspace in G Suite The session is limited to 20 attendees. To save your spot, please RSVP here. Are you prepared for the next crisis? Here are some steps to take before a situation arises, including building relationships with legal teams, developing response templates for anticipated scenarios, and having a couple of rehearsals. Here’s a list of overlooked ways to prepare for a misfortune. More than half of employees report burnout from their work during COVID-19. Make sure you are thinking about how you can help employees combat stress, overwork and emotional fatigue. Can you offer flexibility? Extra time off? How can you encourage workers to take some PTO?
Image courtesy of SHRM. Your audience knows when you try to hide bad news. Don’t couch a bitter pill in corporate doubletalk or legalese. Your audience knows better and will only get angry with you for the attempted obfuscation. Here’s an example from recent headlines about how you can be more transparent and build trust. When thinking about remote work, focus on “how” over “where.” Remote work experts say that the benefit of remote work isn’t about location as much as it is about new work norms, such as “asynchronous communication” and “results-based tracking.” Here’s how you should think about the new normal of work. Employers should actively lower expectations during the COVID-19 crisis. According to reports, your workers are putting in more hours, not less, during this crisis, all while juggling multiple new challenges like childcare. Make sure to set clear guidelines, expectations and consider ways you can cut your workers some slack. Visualize what a successful return-to-work looks like. You need to start thinking about your goals for reopening and use those priorities to work backwards to discover your messaging for the immediate present. Here are some ways you should think about your messages both during and after this crisis. Elon Musk’s “thank you” note ignores employees fears over COVID-19. The CEO told employees that he was grateful for their return to work and touted an “honest day’s work” as “honorable.” However, employees told reporters they feared reprisal if they did not return to their jobs. Business Insider reported: Workers who spoke to Business Insider's Linette Lopez and Mark Matousek ahead of Tesla re-opening the Fremont factory said they feared for their jobs if they didn't report for work. One employee said they were told by the company they wouldn't receive benefits if they didn't come back to work, and would be unable to apply for unemployment. Another said they were told their furlough status would change. Deutsche Bank restarts restructuring and layoffs. In an internal memo, the bank said that “uncertainties” from COVID-19 made actions “imperative.” Remember to treat employees with respect, even when delivering difficult news. The Financial Times reported: Deutsche said in the memo that restarting the cuts so soon was “not something we do lightly.” It pledged to “mitigate to the maximum extent possible the adverse impact of these measures on our colleagues affected.” In Germany, where half of the 18,000 job cuts will happen, workers’ representatives told the Financial Times that they were in a “constructive dialogue” with management. Virtual Conference Alert Join us for PR Daily’s Media Relations and Measurement Virtual Conference May 14–15. Learn from experts who are transforming their pitches and media relations efforts, as well as their measurement strategies, to meet the challenges presented by the health crisis. Join our Crisis Leadership Board Ragan’s Crisis Leadership Board is the resource you need before, during and post-crisis. As a Board member, you have access to all back issues of this newsletter—as well as research, data, case studies, checklists, tip sheets, articles and other resources—plus a peer-to-peer discussion board and an all-access pass to the annual Crisis Management Conference. Sponsorship/Advertising Opportunities Contact Hannah Lavelle at HannahL@ragan.com with sponsorship and advertising inquiries. Pitch Us Have a great story to share about crisis communication or your own take on current best practices? Contact Editor Ted Kitterman at TedK@ragan.com. Sign Up Subscribe to Ragan’s Crisis Daily newsletter today. | 