Everyone was doing what they could, but some employers had the ability to do better than they did, and in that, they missed the opportunity to promote their brand as employers, not necessarily of choice, but employers of, ok, let’s say character and decency.
Let’s take the tone of our message to staff that we were going to shut down and salaries would be affected. Some employers called a staff meeting to present scenarios in a face to face format before the lockdown, so that questions could be answered and solutions proposed as a team. Other employers sent a brief email which would be received only by those with email access at work (in some organisations support staff still have no email access), notifying them of the lockdown and what management had resolved regarding salaries. No staff consultation. Other employers only talked to the individuals they are closest to in the office, who in turn also shared it as privileged information with a select few, so that information about such critical issues trickled through the team from one favoured member to another.
