Sharing bad news, employee podcasts, jobs
Insider Comms for internal comms
đłď¸âđ Happy Pride Month!
Delivering Bad News
Tech companies are being routed in the stock market. Pandemic darlings and over-valued ânext best thingsâ are up against significant headwinds, most notably customers trimming spending because of inflation. CEOs are attributing revenue declines to general uncertainty in the market due to âmacro-economic conditions,â which include everything from climate change to the war in Ukraine.
As a consequence, many tech companies are laying off workersâNetflix, Bolt, PayPal, Vroom, Robinhood, GoPuff, Peloton, and on and on.
Recently Snap's CEO Evan Spiegel sent a memo to his ~5,660 employees letting them know why the company is slowing down hiring. The memo succeeds because a) itâs short and to the point, b) Spiegel uses statistics to back up the positive news, and c) the news isnât that great, so he keeps his language measured.
Contrast Spiegelâs approach to that of Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who buries the bad news five paragraphs deep into his memo to employees, and then ends the note with jarring cheerleading language (in all caps).
Read the Snap memo and my critique (Mister Editorial)
Read the Uber memo and my critique (Mister Editorial)
Pinterestâs CCO LeMia Jenkins Thompson has advice for communicators who need to deliver bad news. In an interview with Protocol, she says:
Iâve had a lot of crisis experience working in the gaming industry, working in the retail space. I think the thing that people are craving during bad news is: How does this affect me, and what is the simplest way you can say it? I think sometimes when companies are delivering bad news, they try to make it seem like good news, and I think being as direct as you can, like: This is not great, but this is why weâre doing it. As communicators, being as transparent as possible and as simple as possible is always the best impact.
đ Remember: Employees on the receiving end of bad news probably arenât millionaire executives. Youâre dealing with peopleâs livelihoods. Respect that and use the right tone and language when delivering bad company news.
Internal Comms Catch-up
đ¤ How to Organize More Successful All-hands (Lattice)
(Missing from the above article is the need to measure the effort. You canât fix what you donât measureâŚ)
đş Vimeo has new layouts for live events (Vimeo)
đ¸ Staffbaseâs IC salary survey is now open (Staffbase)
đ 3 Reasons Communication Teams Don't Document Workflows (But Should!) (Brilliant Ink)
Amazon Studios - Lead, Internal Communications (Culver City)
Citrix - Employee Comms Manager (Remote, U.S.A.)
HM.Clause - Sr. Internal Communications Specialist (Davis, CA, hybrid)
đ The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century is now on the Mister Editorial workplace fiction bookshelf.
Employee Podcast Insights
Thinking about starting an employee podcast? Experienced and enthusiastic audio communicators Jamie Bell (Workshop) and Zane Ewton (The Villages) spoke about âthe non-intimidating approach to internal podcasts,â highlighting:
Pros and cons of employee podcasts
When itâs a good idea (or not) to start a podcast
Examples of employee podcasts
Formats and logistics
What you need to start your podcast (tomorrow)
Measuring success
Watch the replay, access the slide deck, and much more here.
Pair with Aniisu Vergheseâs conversation with Zane on the same topic.
đ§ Speaking of podcasts, here are two episodes I recently listened to and found to be worth the time.
Should You Send That Message in a DM or a Group Channel? (Work Check, by Atlassian)
A bit over-produced, but still engaging.
How to Moderate Talks, Panels, Meetings, and More (Virtual and Beyond) (a16z, by Andreessen Horowitz)
After I finished I re-started and listened again. Bookmark this one!
Have a great weekend!
Connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter | Mister Editorial archive | editorshaun@gmail.com
Disclaimer: Besides running Mister Editorial, I work in employee comms at Splunk. The views in this newsletter are my own.