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Risk Managers: What’s Your Plan for a Public Relations Crisis?

Risk Managers: What’s Your Plan for a Public Relations Crisis?

​Companies have no shortage of business risks to avoid, with the COVID-19 pandemic, a labor shortage and rising consumer costs all at the top of this year’s management ticket.One risk that may supersede them all, however, is damage to a company’s reputation. Case in point: According to a recent survey from Willis Towers Watson, 75.5 percent of the risk managers surveyed said their C-suite “was either somewhat or very committed or invested to managing reputational risk.” Nearly 80 percent said their company would be more committed to brand protection in the next five years than it is right now.Facing Down Reputational Risk: An Action PlanIf a public relations crisis does occur, companies need to address it quickly and decisively, before events spiral out of control and consume the company. Corporate decision-makers looking for guidance on handling a public relations crisis can take these steps.Brace for impact. In August, Delta Airlines announced it was going to charge employees an additional $200 per month for health insurance if they didn’t get the COVID-19 vaccine. Since Delta announced the vaccine-related insurance premiums, its stock price has fallen over 5 percent. Feelings on COVID-19 vaccines run hot, so public relations experts say company leaders need to be prepared for the backlash if they insert the corporation’s brand into a heated national health policy debate.To address a controversial decision that could negatively impact a big consumer brand like Delta, be direct with the public, advised John Millen, managing partner at Millen Group, an employee benefits advisory firm in Richmond, Va. “Act quickly and decisively,” Millen said. “This may go against the instinct and guidance of hired consultants, but … own the issue and take the hit.”Delta did wind up keeping the insurance premium intact, but major media companies have pointed out the uphill climb companies face by getting directly involved with employee health decisions. Reflect and collect before reacting. While quick and decisive action is important, try to gather as much information and as many facts as possible before reacting. “Recklessness will make the situation worst,” said Courtney Quigley, a reputational brand consultant with Rize Reviews, a brand management consultancy in Arlington, Texas. “Assign one spokesperson to avoid inconsistent messages or statements. Create a statement and distribute it to all employees. Also, be transparent with your employees on what is happening. Ensure they know how to react to the situation, and [advise them to] steer any inquiries to the assigned company spokesperson.”Build a brand management team that’s ready to go. The primary goal of any executive in a crisis should be to limit the damage and control the problem. “That’s why it’s important to have a communications team—whether in-house or contracted—[that] can handle media relations during a crisis while the executive leadership team works to end the problem as soon as possible,” said Stephanie McCay, director of U.S. communications for PCL Construction, a construction company in Denver. “Media training is critical in the event your executive does have to address the media.”Get the cameras rolling. …

12/10/2021

What’s Your Favorite ‘Golden Rule’?

12/10/2021 Comments Off on What’s Your Favorite ‘Golden Rule’?
What’s Your Favorite ‘Golden Rule’?

​Many company leaders say they instill their own “golden rules” at work and strive to make those rules stick. They’re gratified when they see their employees follow those rules in the workplace—often when wise guidance is most needed.Here are some of their stories.”Who’s got the monkey?” Rick Eberly, CEO of Chembio Diagnostics Inc., headquartered in Hauppauge, N.Y., says his favorite golden rule is about accountability.”My favorite golden rule for … management comes from the best-read Harvard Business Review article, first printed in 1974, called ‘Who’s Got the Monkey?’ ” Eberly said. “In fact, it is one of two of HBR’s top reprints ever.”Eberly worked for the CEO of a public company in the health care market for over 20 years, and the CEO drilled the “monkey” concept into his managers. “The bottom line is, don’t bring your problems to your boss with no proposed solutions or, in essence, [don’t put] the monkey on your boss’s back,” he explained. “This leads to successful delegation, transparency and accountability throughout an organization.”Once leaders understand that they are accountable for solving problems and improving the operation, it cascades throughout the organization. “That leads to quicker solutions being executed across areas in the business,” Eberly said.There’s no traffic jam on the extra mile. The best golden rules are applied consistently, said Charles J. Read, president and CEO at Custom Payroll Associates Inc. in Lewisville, Texas. “The rule should be followed almost every time,” he said. “There can be rare exceptions.”That goes for Read’s favorite golden rule: There is no traffic jam on the extra mile.”Many companies and company [managers] won’t go further than the required minimum,” he said. “In business, always go further in taking care of people, clients or employees. [That] means bending over backward to help make our clients’ lives as easy as possible. We’re always trying to find better and simpler ways to prevent and solve problems and to make the routine even simpler.” All tasks are our tasks. To Phillip Lew, CEO of C9 Staff, a remote staffing solutions company based in Seattle, a golden rule is any belief or practice that gets the job done according to standards and as quickly as possible. Additionally, it must bolster a positive working atmosphere.Lew’s favorite rule: “All tasks are our tasks.” “It’s a golden rule I want company managers to prioritize,” Lew said. “Instead of saying, ‘Here’s a task. You have until the end of the week to complete it,’ a good manager should say, ‘Here’s a task. Study it. Before the day ends, I want you to get back to me and tell me how I can help you complete this task by the end of the week.'”This way, the chance of getting the task done to standards is greater [and you avoid the risk of] having to redo the entire thing if it’s done incorrectly,” he said.Act on suggestions from your team. Stephen Roe, founder and head of digital strategy at Mexico-based Grow Atom, an SEO agency that counts Salesforce and AT&T …

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How Managers Can Move Employees with Disabilities into Leadership

12/10/2021 Comments Off on How Managers Can Move Employees with Disabilities into Leadership
How Managers Can Move Employees with Disabilities into Leadership

​A recent study found that employees with disabilities often believe they don’t have the same opportunities for advancement within their company as do employees without disabilities.Overall, employees with disabilities are less confident their skills will be used effectively or that their employer will trust them to use their own judgment when performing their job, according to a recent study on The State of Disability Employment Engagement by Mercer and Global Disability Inclusion. It often depends on a manager whether an employee with a disability gets the same leadership development opportunities as any other employee. “Leaders … need to look for ways to give people with disabilities opportunities to be visible in front of a group,” said PwC Tax Director Rob Rusch. “If we live in world where an individual in a wheelchair is visible, then it starts to break down that perception” that someone in a wheelchair may not be capable of performing a certain job.Here are three ways managers can provide leadership opportunities for employees with disabilities.Encourage Self-IdentificationMore companies are encouraging employees to self-identify that they have a disability, particularly if an employee has an invisible disability. People who disclose their disability are more engaged with the organization, their managers and their teams than those who have not disclosed, according to The State of Disability Employment Engagement. “I’m very comfortable identifying my disability, but I don’t have much choice because it’s an external physical disability,” said Rusch, who has a neuromuscular disability and uses a power wheelchair. Although Rusch understands that an employee with an invisible disability might not be as eager to disclose because of concerns about how a manager or co-worker could react, he doesn’t regret being open about his disability. “It has opened resources and doors for me to lean into that identity,” he said.Of the 45,078 PwC employees in 2020, 2.6 percent self-identified as having a disability, up from 1.6 percent of its 43,713 employees in 2018, according to the 2020 PwC Diversity & Inclusion Transparency Report. However, Senior Associate Nesa Mangal said, because PwC is relying on self-identification, the number of employees with disabilities is likely higher.At tech company Intel, 1.4 percent of the 110,600 employees self-identified as having a disability in 2020, said Dawn Jones, chief diversity and inclusion officer and vice president of social impact. Intel’s goal is to increase the percentage of employees who self-identify as having a disability to 10 percent of the workforce by 2030, Jones noted. “This is an important goal for us as we work toward an inclusive and psychologically safe environment where employees are empowered to bring their whole self to work and succeed,” she said.Address Inaccurate Perceptions “Because of first impressions, people with disabilities probably don’t always get the benefit of doubt that [other people] get, especially if their disability is visible,” said Paula Jenkins, a project manager and executive chef at The Galley Dining Hall in Charleston, S.C. Jenkins manages 120 employees, and about 92 percent have a disability. The Galley contracts with Palmetto Goodwill in …

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Take the Fear out of Feedback

22/09/2021 Comments Off on Take the Fear out of Feedback
Take the Fear out of Feedback

​The ability to give feedback is a superpower. Little nuggets of feedback can change lives. But the word “feedback” has a negative connotation, perhaps because not many people are comfortable giving it.One mistake many managers make when giving feedback is to focus only on poor performance instead of also speaking to successful performance.That’s according to Tamra Chandler, partner at EY, and Laura Grealish, senior manager at EY, both in Washington state, who co-authored the book Feedback and Other Dirty Words: Why We Fear It, How to Fix It (Berrett-Koehler, 2019). They provided a new outlook on one of the more dreaded duties of HR and managers during their session “Redeeming Feedback for Good” during the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2021.”We need to redeem feedback and start over, because feedback is good for your company,” the presenters shared. “You have to lean in and listen in your feedback. If you do, you will outperform those companies who don’t.”Chandler and Grealish said teams should allow frank and positive thoughts in their feedback because teams that encourage this will stay together longer. Employees who receive specific praise in the form of feedback performed better at future tasks than their counterparts, they said.For example, two-thirds of employees whose managers focus on their strengths are “fully engaged.” When managers focus on their weaknesses, employee engagement drops to 31 percent.”Research shows that focusing people on their shortcomings doesn’t enable learning. It impairs it,” Chandler said. “Our words have the power to inspire, to unlock potential, to lift us up instead of knocking us down. If that doesn’t get you on board with fixing feedback … nothing will.”Most importantly, when supervisors focus on fixing a performance problem through negative feedback, “It’s a huge turnoff in the employees’ minds,” they said. “When we exert control over someone, their performance will actually go down, outcomes suffer, and learning is limited. As a supervisor, remember it’s about their future and not your agenda.”Trust and Positivity Are KeyWhen giving feedback, managers shouldn’t be judgmental. Feedback should be intended to help individuals or teams thrive and grow. “If not, then don’t fool yourself into thinking it’s feedback,” they said.Once a manager and employee develop trust, more valuable and more effective discussions over feedback can be had, they said.”When there’s a trusting relationship, so many good things happen. There’s 74 percent less stress, 106 percent more energy, 50 percent more productivity, 60 percent more joy, 70 percent more purpose and 50 percent more retention,” Chandler said.Chandler and Grealish said negativity will kill the process. They recommended that supervisors tie necessary negative feedback to the future: They recommended conveying the message “It’s not that you did it wrong. It’s that you can do it even better.”Don’t Make Feedback ScarySupervisors should aim to lower employees’ fear of receiving feedback. “The last thing an employee wants to hear is, ‘Let’s set up some time tomorrow for you to visit with me in my office,’ ” Grealish said. “That is something that will surely lead to …

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5 Common Mental Health Challenges in the Workplace

22/09/2021 Comments Off on 5 Common Mental Health Challenges in the Workplace
5 Common Mental Health Challenges in the Workplace

​You can’t see mental health challenges, but they are happening all around you.Speaking during a session at the recent SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2021, Andrea Sides Herron, SHRM-CP, told the plight of her sister, who has struggled with mental health issues for nearly her entire life. Then COVID-19 made them worse. Herron’s sister initially hid how she was feeling from friends and family, but eventually the warning signs became clearly visible and she asked for help.Mental health issues are afflicting people in your office, too, Herron said. Pre-pandemic, 1 in 5 people in the U.S. had some form of mental disorder; the numbers have skyrocketed since then. Identifying Employees Who Are Experiencing Mental Health Challenges”Many of you are being squished by mental illness,” Herron said. “You have more than you can handle.”One way HR teams and supervisors can identify staff members experiencing mental health challenges, she said, is by paying attention to each person’s base lines. What is the person’s typical behavior? Learning this becomes more difficult with remote workers, she said, but there are signs that should cause concern.”Have you noticed that a person’s appearance has shifted?” she asked. “Are they choosing not to have their camera on during videoconference meetings when they usually did? Is there evidence that they’re drinking too much or [have] picked up smoking again? Maybe they’ve told you about the 12 Amazon deliveries that show up at their house each day. These are signs.”Herron, a seasoned HR executive, author and host of the HR Scoop podcast, advised HR and managers to be careful when reacting or responding to an employee’s changed behavior. “Do not add to the shame that can come with mental health’s stigma,” she said. Addressing Struggling EmployeesHerron described five fictional employees, explored some of their behaviors and suggested ways of dealing with those behaviors. Masa: He’s been an employee at the company for three years. He’s been a solid performer, but his manager has noticed changes in his behavior and there are rumors that he’s getting a divorce.Check in with him. Managers should keep an open-door policy and let employees know they are there for support, Herron said. “Employers should never make that first one-on-one meeting … because an employee did something wrong,” she said. “Try to meet earlier on with employees under friendly terms to help to establish a better relationship.” Carlyn: She’s been working at the company for two years. She’s a high-performer, and she has asked for an off-cycle raise. You sense that she’s under financial strain.It turns out her partner was fired and her household is lacking income. She’s become uncharacteristically angry at her co-workers.”We know there is a strong link between financial stress and mental health,” Herron said.Herron suggested that the employer might:Offer her a promotion with more responsibilities since she is a high-performer, if it makes business sense.Think about whether the company is doing enough to offer resources that support financial wellness.Consider offering tuition reimbursement or student loan payoffs or other benefits in addition to a traditional 401(k).Employees can be high-performers and have mental …

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