AUTHENTICVOICE

If you craft an authentic, inclusive, empathetic, and respectful message, your employees will naturally want to promote your response. It will make them proud.

In other words, having your internal statement become external while staying true to your voice should be an unofficial goal.

While everyone hopes they won’t need to implement their crisis communications strategy often, we have learned over the past couple of years that these events are unfortunately inevitable. It’s better to have a plan and not need it than to scramble to create a plan amid a crisis. Each message we craft allows us better to find our company’s voice and our own.

Continued from page 29

Remember, your employees are human beings with complex and complicated lives outside of work. If you respond with empathy and err on the side of inclusivity, you can’t go wrong.

Annemarie Mcpherson Spears

Has your agency struggled to make a hire? If so, you're in good company. Finding and screening job candidates was the No. 1 issue facing independent agencies in 2022, according to the 2022 Agency Universe Study retaining its position as the top challenge from 2020.

It may be tempting to blame the Great Resignation and put hiring goals on hold until a recession increases unemployment and a rush of qualified candidates swamp your job posting like rabid fans at a red-carpet premiere. But those days may be gone for good.

“I've had a lot of conversations with agency owners, and they asked me, 'When are the jobseekers going to come back?'" says Claudia St. John, president of Affinity HR Group, a Big “I" Hires partner. “Folks are waiting for the labor market to soften, but all indicators show that this market is going to continue to be tight and tighten more for the next 10 years."