Communicating about avian flu

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Communicating about avian flu

Q: We need to create a communication plan to talk to employees about avian flu. Can anyone share advice on communicating about this issue?
A: We've just completed what I think is a successful communications campaign for staff on the topic of avian flu. Our organization operates across more than 100 countries with a complement of staff (both expats and locals) in all these countries. We had to come up with a preparedness plan to ensure both the safety of our staff and continuity of business operations.

Our organization may have a higher level of awareness around the avian flu as we'll be called on to provide advice to governments on how to handle potential outbreaks. Nevertheless, there was anxiety among our staff and a need for organizationwide information.
We used a variety of channels to communicate ongoing work on the development of our preparedness plan. This included:

- periodic messages from our leadership emphasizing that the organization was working on developing plans and that staff safety was foremost;

- online interviews (both print and audio) with those leading the work on specific areas;a comprehensive website with our internal policies and action plans, references to outside resources, a running list of all the communications to date, and a list of constantly updated Q&As with ability for staff to submit questions;

- a comprehensive memo from the head of HR outlining the very specific steps which will kick into action if an epidemic progresses; and

- a town hall with all staff (streamed and available online) with a panel of six participants (HR, our health people, security, IT) to go over the plans and respond to further questions.

Judging from a quick survey we did, staff feel informed and confident in the actions the organization has taken thus far. Of course, there are many questions we can't answer until an outbreak actually happens, but for now, this is no longer the burning issue it was just a few weeks ago.

Michele EganSenior Communications OfficerThe World Bank Group
For more on how the World Bank prepares for crisis management, see the February/March 2005 issue of Strategic Communication Management.

Blogged on 1:52 AM by Upay

|

~~~