How to support employees through uncertainty and change

uncertainty

Need to know:

Whether political instability, economic downturn or organisational change, employers need to ensure that they soften the negative effects of uncertainty on employees.
Positive behaviours, such as financial stability and psychological resilience need to be embedded in advance to be fully effective.
Clear, deliberate and open communications will help ensure that staff feel their employer is willing to support them, even when it is not clear what the future holds.

Britain’s impending exit from the European Union brings with it uncertainty regarding UK law, the economy, and all other aspects of everyday life. With little concrete information to hand, employers may well be at a loss as to how to prepare their staff.

This is far from the only scenario in which employees are subjected to confusion, uncertainty and seismic change. Whether mergers and acquisitions, economic downturn, or personal crises, change is always around the corner; therefore, employers would do well to consider their plans to support staff during times of uncertainty.

Financial resilience

As with many aspects of both life and business, the best way to deal with a crisis is to be prepared in advance.

Ian Bird, director at Secondsight, says: “[It is] about being robust financially and able to cope with whatever the change is. [Employers could] run education on making the most of finances, teaching people about APRs and credit scores, and having an emergency fund to fall back on.”

Focus on education

In October 2018, Hargreaves Lansdown conducted a survey of 1,516 people with a workplace pension who are yet to retire; only 27% were aware that their pension is invested in the stock market, when the number is actually closer to 100%.

Nathan Long, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says: “[If] the stock market falls very quickly, that means no one’s going to be immune. So, all those people who currently don’t think they’re invested in the stock market, that’s going to come as quite a shock.

“There’s no way [employees] can feel comfortable with [worrying] information, but if [they've] got the knowledge in the background that, actually, this isn’t the end of the world and this is why it happened and what’s likely to happen in the future, [they] can still make logical decisions and not overly panic.”

A healthy culture

Often, an organisation that thrives despite uncertainty will already have in place a strong, supportive culture, ensuring employees feel more secure when crisis strikes.

Mike Hicks, chief marketing officer at Igloo Software, says: “It comes down to how connected [employees] feel, how well they understand the purpose of their business, how much visibility they have into their own performance, and [whether] they feel appreciated and valued.

“When organisations have a level of transparency and provide ways for employees to have a two-way dialogue with the [employer], it helps people better cope with some of the stressors, whether those are personal or corporate.”

It is also important to ingrain other positive behaviours, such as stress management, before they are needed, says Anne Allen, director of people experience at Xero.

“Get people used to using them, get people practising those really good habits and taking ownership, taking responsibility,” she explains. “It’s even better if people are using those things when they’re not in crisis, because they’re actually helping prevent the extreme response in a crisis situation.”

Being deliberate

A deliberate and united approach was key during digital transaction management organisation Docusign’s acquisition of secure cloud platform SpringCM, a period of potential uncertainty for those employees being transferred to a new, much larger employer.

Maria Dillon, director, HR EMEA at Docusign, says: “Before even engaging with the [SpringCM] employees, we wanted to make sure that we were going to provide them with a very clear understanding of what was happening, and the time frame.”

From that point, the goal was to ensure that the new team members did not feel lost or forgotten at any point. “It was very important to get that message out there, that we were working on the integration and [were] super excited, even when we didn’t have much to say,” Dillon explains.

Another aspect of this considered approach was in the onboarding of the 200 new employees. This included, for example, direct leadership involvement on their first day, and decorations that combined the colours of both brands.

Dan Dal Degan, chief executive officer of SpringCM at the time, says: “Instead of the [SpringCM] team feeling like the brand identity was going away, it was celebrated and integrated. It’s a very powerful way of demonstrating that a brand is great, and that [an acquiring organisation] wants to celebrate, integrate and leverage it.”

Understand employees’ concerns

Even in a successful merger between two compatible cultures, some employees will need support through the process.

“Everybody intellectually understands that things will be a little different, [but] intellectually understanding that in the first few days is very different to emotionally coming to that realisation when you’re in the game,” Dal Degan explains.

A significant organisational change will always have employees questioning their stability, and Dal Degan’s recommendation is to eliminate doubt wherever it is in the employer’s power to do so, leaving as little as possible to work out along the way.

“It’s a very human thing to be concerned with change as a potential threat to the status quo. Understanding the presence of that anxiety is important,” he explains.

Support mental wellbeing

Not all sources of uncertainty are within the grips of an organisation to control, however, and it is worth knowing how to look after employees when concerns arise.

Tristan Cleaver, managing consultant, international healthcare at Punter Southall Health and Protection, says: “It’s fair to say that at such a time as we’re in right now, with all of this uncertainty, stress and mental wellbeing is compromised with people.”

It is, therefore, important to promote existing and potentially under-utilised benefits such as employee assistance programmes (EAPs), as well as providing toolkits for managers around supporting psychological wellbeing, or training mental health first aiders.

Hicks adds that feelings of security and wellbeing can be preserved by continuing healthy everyday practices, such as recognition schemes, which might easily be forgotten or seen as extraneous in a time of crisis.

“There’s nothing more important, especially in times of uncertainty, than calling out [positive] actions and [showing] how much the [organisation] appreciates the individual or team efforts around rallying together, solving a problem,” he explains. “It comes back to ingraining this as part of the day-to-day operations, whether it’s tough times or not.”

Find the communication balance

Communicating negative messages to employees, while not ideal, will at least make it clear that the organisation is willing to engage. The alternative, of allowing space for unfounded rumours, or risking employees discovering bad news via external sources such as the news, is ultimately more damaging.

“A lot of this is about having good internal communications within the business, which relies on briefing managers well and managers briefing their teams well,” explains Bird. “[They] want to hear the good and the bad. If loyal employees hear that things are struggling, they’re a little bit more willing to go the extra mile and do their bit.”

Nevertheless, there are still limits to the extent to which an organisation should communicate, if it wants to avoid exacerbating employees’ confusion.

“It’s very important to not talk about hypothetical situations that are unlikely to happen, because that could lead to stress,” says Cleaver.

Nearing Brexit

The ultimate example of an uncertain situation, in which hypothesis and rumour-mongering abound, is that of Brexit.

A survey of 152 senior HR and finance professionals, undertaken by Howden Employee Benefits at a seminar on 6 February 2019, found that only 12% of employers have been regularly communicating with their employees about Brexit, and 45% have yet to issue any updates whatsoever.

For many in the latter group, this is due to a lack of understanding; however, Cleaver states that this is not a strong enough excuse.

“I would suggest [providing] reassurance that [the employer] is going to be with them, help them get through this,” he explains. “This is really key, because any employer wants to avoid poor mental health, and [this can be helped with] just a few kind words or just taking someone aside and having a chat and offering a bit of support.”

Allen concludes: “Brexit will potentially affect so many aspects of people’s lives, and work is where we all come together on a common ground. So, if the workplace can be really proactive and communicate as much as [possible] with employees about these uncertain areas, it can be a real force for good.”

Jane Crosby: Change in the workplace and how to avoid conflict