CAREFUL COMMUNICATIONS TRAINING FOR ALL EMPLOYEES
Companies of all sizes from all industries regularly prioritise ensuring that their external-facing executives who interface with public stakeholders understand the art and science of communication. Because the statements made by these employees are more likely intended to be received as statements representative of the company’s knowledge, ensuring that these statements are accurate and informed is a necessary decision. But what about internal communications among employees? Should companies provide similar training to employees who lack formal authority to speak on their behalf?
Informal communications from employees of all ranks deserve similar attention, even when made to an exclusively internal audience. If the company finds itself faced with a lawsuit, these employees’ communications, if deemed relevant, may ultimately be made as ‘public’ as statements of the chief operating officer to a government official. The accuracy and completeness of internal drafts of a Q3 earnings PowerPoint presentation may be just as important in litigation as the actual statements made by the executive to those shareholders at that meeting. Both have the potential to impact liability.
Industries are still constructing what a ‘post-pandemic future’ will look like, but, according to McKinsey & Company in its report ‘What employees are saying about the future of remote work’, there is no denying that the majority of organisations plan to continue allowing remote work to some extent. Though oral communication has survived in a limited fashion through videoconferencing software, the fact remains that many employees are reducing more of their thoughts to writing as a result of the pandemic.
Jan-Mar 2022 issue
Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum