When a personal crisis strikes, even employees with the best work-life boundaries can find themselves struggling to stay afloat amidst the storm they’re experiencing. And at some point in your career, you’ll likely be called to support a team member through these murky waters.

Be it a death in the family, severe illness, miscarriage, medical diagnosis, or other event, when things go awry in an employee’s personal life, how you and your organization respond can make a big difference in that individual’s (as well as observers’) employee experience.

Having supported my husband through a cancer diagnosis, reoccurrence, and corresponding treatment twice in the last three years, I’m all too familiar with this. With the benefit of hindsight, there are a few things I’ve learned that can help organizations in supporting their employees through a personal crisis.

1) Synthesize and share benefits information. While your organization may offer a host of benefits that could support an employee through a difficult time, combing through a benefits site to locate or better understand the offering requires the mental capacity that most won’t have in the middle of a life-altering event or diagnosis.

Managers can simplify this process by connecting with HR representatives to understand what benefits are available and most helpful to the employee’s specific situation. Doing this will help engage the right business partner(s) and make an already daunting process seem less overwhelming to the impacted employee.

As you relay options for leave, emotional well-being or mental health support, fertility benefits, employee advocacy programs, etc., take some of the work off the impacted employee’s shoulders by addressing head-on what they’re eligible for, what is needed to use a relevant benefit, and who is their point-of-contact for each benefit.

Particularly for those who are on short- or long-term leave, ensure that you – and the team member – know what documentation requirements exist and communicate any known deadlines for end of coverage, paperwork submissions, etc. to minimize added stress during the actual leave period.

2) Let the impacted employee dictate how much of their situation is shared. I’ve personally found being transparent with team members about my situation as the best approach to ensuring business continuity despite periods of increased absence from work or need for additional flexibility. However, that should not be the expectation of all employees going through a tough time.

If you’re the employee’s manager and they’ve shed light on what’s happening, ask them explicitly when – if at all – it’s appropriate to share what’s going on with other colleagues and/or clients, and what level of detail they’re comfortable with you sharing.

When in doubt, err on the side of caution and stick to “[NAME] is [OUT OFFICE UNTIL WHEN, WORKING A DIFFERENT SCHEDULE FOR THIS TIME PERIOD, ETC.] due to personal circumstances.” and do not budge if probed for more information without explicit permission.

3) Show your humanity. Whether you know details of a teammate’s circumstances or not, small acts of support and kindness go a long way. We spend so much of our lives with our co-workers. If a teammate’s situation is known, silence can cause them to question the work community that they’re investing so much of their time and effort into.

A few of the most memorable human-centric moments I’ve experienced were:

• Managers who remembered big appointment dates and sent encouraging texts ahead of those.
• Teammates who took on extra tasks, calls or assignments without grumbling and often at the drop of a hat when a new “bad news” call or appointment popped up.
• Teammates who sent “thinking of you” cards, texts and emails – I know your time is valuable, so the thought does count.
• Teammates who supported our family with contributions to fundraisers, meal trains, gas and travel money, etc.
• Co-workers who asked how things were going instead of assuming I didn’t want to talk about it.

4) Support a slower or flexible re-entry period. For employees who have been on leave or working a sporadic schedule, don’t expect them to be back to 100% on their first day – or week – back to regularly scheduled programming.

As a manager, ensure their workload is still distributed for the first week (or more) of re-entry. If appropriate and assuming the requests have been handled, assure them they don’t need to address the overwhelming amount of unread emails they probably have in their inbox.

Respect that life has likely drastically changed for your teammate and give them the space to process that transformation however needed.

At the end of the day, empathetic leadership and giving grace can go a long way. Balancing work and life is always hard, but when tragedy strikes, priorities will likely skew toward “life.” At a time when more employees are asking for their whole self to be prioritized by their employer, how you respond and support them through a personal crisis can have a major impact on their morale, engagement and perception of your organization as a whole.

The semiconductor industry is back in the spotlight with the Senate and House passage of the bi-partisan “Chips and Science Act,” focused largely on driving domestic production of semiconductor chips. This is in response to recent events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine, which have created major issues in both chip production and the broader semiconductor supply chain. The chips in question are used in a wide variety of products – including motor vehicles, cellphones, medical equipment and military weapons – so shortages have caused price hikes and disruptions in countless connected industries. Communications professionals for semiconductor companies and related industries should pay close attention as these efforts to bolster high-tech manufacturing will begin to drive a steady news cycle.

What is the Chips and Science Act?

The Chips and Science Act is primarily a way to directly pay semiconductor companies for setting up semiconductor fabrication plants – or “fabs” – and making future investments in the U.S. It sets aside around $50 billion for semiconductor companies with $39 billion to build, expand or modernize domestic facilities, and $11 billion for research and development. Another $2 billion will help fund other areas of the semiconductor industry – education, defense and future innovation. In addition to the money set aside immediately following its passing, the act contains an added bonus – investment tax credit for manufacturing.

Is the Chips and Science Act Necessary?

Proponents see the Chips and Science Act as critical given the impact of the current global semiconductor chip shortage on numerous industries ranging from appliances to automotive – many produced in the U.S. Put simply, a stronger U.S. capacity for production could shield the affected companies from other interruptions and possibly spur innovation through close collaboration. At the same time, this could also help to reverse the U.S.’ declining role in semiconductor manufacturing, which has fallen from nearly 40% in 1990 to 12% today, according to a recent report from the Semiconductor Industry Association.

At the same time, there are some who believe that the semiconductor industry has recovered from the dearth of available chips at the pandemic’s height and demand will continue to fall, especially outside of the U.S. According to Gartner, for example, a recession may also further decrease the need for semiconductors, should consumers curtail spending on the devices they power, especially mobile phones.

What do Communicators Need to Consider Before Joining the Chip Conversation?

This development presents opportunities and potential pitfalls that need to be considered when seeking to participate in this news cycle.

On the one hand, attempts to jumpstart manufacturing of any sort will create jobs – high-paying ones in particular – and this is traditionally well-received by the media and U.S. public. Public relations professionals can tap into an array of outlets for such attention – from press where future factories may be located to regional when announcing elected officials’ support for such opportunities in their respective districts. There’s also the opportunity to go further and speak to how the new professionals working at these sites will contribute to tax bases, possibly establishing businesses to support what’s being done there, and more. And, when it comes to the businesses that move in or are established, they, too, can see a halo effect as they draw attention to working with local schools or assisting with a factory being environmentally conscious. In short, there’s something PR-able well before ground is even broken.

And yet, there’s also an obvious need to be cautious with regard to media engagement at this time. The semiconductor industry has experienced price increases as demand outstripped supply, so there’s some notable concern about those receiving these subsidies and incentives given the profits it has made possible. It’s important to be transparent about how the funds would be used – when, where and whom they would benefit as well as how quickly. There was intense lobbying by international companies without a domestic base to their name that has led to concerns about the value of this investment if it’s going to large and established manufacturers who may ultimately not commit to transferring production here. With the passage, it’s time to start speaking to how building here was always the plan and be seen as a partner.

Beyond labor and real estate, there will be a ripple effect of opportunities in other verticals connected to resources the government feels are needed to support the semiconductor industry. There will be research coming from educational institutions, the supply chain itself will be examined, and new sources for critical minerals will have to be identified. And, diversity in hiring will be aided at a number of institutions. Borne of the pandemic, the act sets a new direction for high tech in the U.S. – the creation of multiple “Silicon Valleys” – and a new set of news cycles.

The FCA’s Consumer Duty will help ensure that retail financial services firms’ promises match their actions. Firms that don’t behave and communicate authentically will face ever-increasing reputational challenges. Financial services firms’ marketing is full of phrases like ‘great customer service’ and ‘competitive interest rates’. But when I phone my car insurer the call wait time […]

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