Be Conscious of your Brand while Making Tough Business Decisions

While there has been a lot of discussion around purpose driven brands over the last few years, in these trying times it has been refreshing to see a number of leading brands take the high road in how they treat employees with empathy and compassion while making the hard decisions to furlough or lay off employees.  

While branding and brand building is often looked at as an external facing function to influence prospects and potential customers outside the company, the importance of the internal employee base is often overlooked.  In the best of times departing employees are not nurtured as brand advocates and in trying times this need only increases.  Therefore it is imperative that organizations thoughtfully and actively communicate layoffs with empathy and compassion to transform could-be disgruntled employees into brand advocates and loyalists.  This is especially crucial as individuals have a powerful voice to share their positive (or negative) experiences -- via social channels, which carries the benefit of amplifying positive sentiment and showcasing that the former employer’s thoughtful approaches are indicative of the brand's promise, heart and soul.  As brand marketers ask the age old question of ‘if your brand was a person what type of person would it be?’ empathy and compassion would be two essential qualities that personify the type of brands or people we all want to embrace and have in our lives.  Two brands in particular seemed to have successfully navigated balancing unfortunate business challenges and retaining or even elevating their brand in the eyes of employees and outside audiences — Airbnb and IBM.

Airbnb made the choice to lay off 2,000 employees -- reportedly 25% of its staff -- due to the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on the travel industry.  While leaders often talk a good game, Brian Chesky and the Airbnb team were transparent with their decision making process and went the extra mile to deliver severance packages which included healthcare (see email to employees here).  The email outlines specific actions and resources to help those affected by the layoffs find new jobs with an overall tone of humility and empathy, demonstrating that the company has heart and remorse. This is all one can ask of an employer: “treat me like a real person, not a number”.  These conscious actions by Airbnb have translated into my LinkedIn feed being filled with former Airbnb employees singing the praises of the organization and expressing gratitude for their time there.  These ex-Airbnb’ers are now brand advocates who are sharing the good will and deeds of the organization with the world -- which is more powerful and authentic than any media buy could deliver.  While I am sure many employees are bitter, overall it seems that Airbnb’s actions shifted their status away from potential villainization to instead being rewarded for compassion and empathy. 

News that IBM has begun layoffs has also unfortunately been reported.  Again, this news led immediately to a blow-up on social media networks and inundated LinkedIn feeds.  Not in a million years would Arvind Krishna as IBM’s CEO or James Whitehurst as its new president have envisioned their tenure starting at the already struggling industry incumbent.  However, it seems that Big Blue has moved beyond purpose and showed its heart in the way they communicated the layoffs and pledged to maintain medical benefits for employees who lost their jobs amid the current coronavirus pandemic.  LinkedIn posts of appreciation and thankfulness for their time at IBM has been proliferating the social sphere.  IBM, like Airbnb, illustrates that a conscious choice to take the high road with empathy and compassion can transform (in this case pre-empt) an army of adversaries and critics into a posse of advocates. 

As the effects of this pandemic continue to evolve, organizations have the opportunity to drive business and operational choices that reinforce their brand message and values.  By being intentional about how tough choices are communicated and the ways in which both internal and external stakeholders receive these messages has a real effect on perception in the marketplace.  What tomorrow brings remains foggy, however we will come out of this stronger -- albeit different -- as we all redefine the new normal and determine what sticks or what is lost. How brands act in this time of need will impact how they are embraced or discarded post pandemic.