COVID-19: People-First Leadership

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented uncertainty to companies large and small in mid-March 2020.  I’ll never forget being with clients at dinner when the NBA stopped a game in progress and announced that play was suspended until further notice.  It was surreal and unthinkable that we had just informed employees they could work from home if they chose and by the middle of the next week, a statewide mandate to work from home was put in place.  

As CEO and founder of PureSpectrum with nearly 60 employees around the world, I had more than a handful of restless nights worrying about how badly this would impact our team.  The thought of displacing employees in the midst of the pandemic when their prospects for employment would be challenging concerned me gravely.  Additionally, we’ve worked hard to attract and retain our talent over the past few years and didn’t want to lose our investment in people.  Even though the situation seemed to be in full-blown panic mode, the leadership of the company began working on a plan that would maintain all employees at 100% pay during the crisis, and they would be the first to know.  

Decision-Makers

There are two types of decision-makers: internal and external.  Internal decision-makers don’t seek others’ opinions on their decisions and just roll with their gut, while external decision-makers seek other opinions during their process.  Firmly in the external camp, I started reaching out to as many CEOs as possible to compare notes and strategies.  It didn’t matter if they were a current client or supplier; my goal was to find out what they were hearing from their customers and how they were planning to navigate the uncertain waters.  After dozens of conversations, I had a solid foundation of what our partners were forecasting and it was obvious that for at least one or two quarters, the demand for survey research would be suppressed until the uncertainty had lifted.  

The Worst-Case Scenario

Using that information, we created a worst-case budget scenario with lowered revenue expectations and reductions in spending across every eligible category.  We froze all hiring, reduced or removed all non-employee related salary costs, and prepared for no bonus achievement to assess the viability of retaining every employee.  Finally, we had to model the potential for delayed or non-payments from clients and balance that with maintaining our current payment commitments to our panel partners.  Despite tremendous uncertainty, we felt confident enough in the stress-tested scenario and to communicate with the company.  

We knew that our employees were scared and anxious about their jobs. News and rumors of layoffs were steadily flowing on LinkedIn, text messages, and calls.  Our goal was to give the team comfort and remove the anxiety as quickly as possible by bringing them into the tent on our strategy.  We prioritized their mental well being above all and were fully transparent with the entire team.    

The Plan

We explained that the bonus pool would be funded dollar-for-dollar by exceeding the new expectations and that the best way to impact their bonus was to remain focused on their responsibilities.  We also detailed how we would deal with the scenario if we were below the revised forecast and described what the process would look like so they wouldn’t be surprised in the future.  We explained that we would hold confidential one-on-one meetings with all employees asking them how much they could afford to reduce their salary without causing financial stress in their life, but we, fortunately, have not had to resort to this.  We made it clear that we expected that each person would have a unique situation.  Some employees already had spouses that had been laid off while some were more financially sound. So long as the aggregate savings would create the required cost-cutting, we wouldn’t need to implement across the board cuts or resort to selective reductions in staff.  We never promised that we wouldn’t require reductions in force or reduction in salaries, but we gave them the blueprint for what the process would look like.

What We Considered:

• How to minimally impact our employees financially
• Nurturing a stable and safe environment during an unstable time
• Maintaining high-quality service for our customers
• Keeping commitments to our panel partners

What We Did:

• We stress-tested various scenarios to ensure we were choosing the best route for our team
• Established a significantly lower budget to keep our team intact
• Developed online-first methods of communication, advertising, and sales 
• Took into consideration the potential reduction in demand for market research
• Communicated at a company and personal level with every team member
• Prepared for the worst-case scenario: the potential for case-by-case salary reductions for our staff

The Outcome of Applying a People-First Strategy

The past three months since the onset of the pandemic have presented challenges and learning that I’ll use forever.  I hope that none of us ever have to manage through another scenario like this again, but if I do, I’ll use this communication strategy in my playbook.  I can say without a doubt that the best move we made was to speak openly and honestly with the employees and give them security during a very uncertain and anxious time.  I had multiple employees call me to simply say thanks for the honesty and transparency, and in return, they could do their jobs without fear and uncertainty.  

This crisis forced us to rethink what truly mattered to us. Topline revenue and new technology developments that occupied the forefront of our minds for so long suddenly mattered less and instead, keeping food on the table for families around the world became the top priority. 

Our People-First strategy prioritized our employee’s well-being. When that shift in mindset clicked, it made the right decisions seem that much more clear: all non-salary spending was going to need to be cut.

We understand that during unprecedented times, leadership has to make hard decisions. Many colleagues, partners, and friends were impacted by this pandemic. Even the worst seems to be behind us, the industry and overall economy are not out of the woods yet. However, we feel confident in the strategy and principles that guided us through the initial shock and will continue to put our people first as we navigate this ongoing pandemic. We hope everyone recovers and finds strength through this time.