Crises rarely come with advance warning. They can begin with a critical media inquiry, an incident inside the company, a social media post that suddenly gains traction, or information that was never supposed to become public in the first place. And then things have to move quickly. What happened? What can we say? Who needs to be informed? In situations like these, attention almost automatically turns outward. Media inquiries need responses, statements need to be coordinated, and customers, business partners, and other key stakeholders need to be informed. Employees are not always at the top of the list. But that is exactly where they should be. They are not simply recipients of an internal email sent at some point during the day. They are directly affected by what is happening inside the company. And they have a legitimate interest in understanding how their employer is handling a difficult situation.
What happens internally rarely stays internal.
Separating internal and external communications may make organizational sense. In practice, however, the distinction is no longer so clear-cut. Employees talk to family and friends, former colleagues, customers, and business partners. They are active on LinkedIn or share their views on employer review platforms. And, of course, people will ask them questions when their company suddenly makes headlines. That does not automatically make them corporate ambassadors expected to repeat approved talking points in their private lives. But they should be able to understand what their company is doing and why. If the public narrative does not match what people inside the company are experiencing, that disconnect is unlikely to remain hidden for long. This is one reason internal communications are always part of reputation management.
Saying nothing is rarely a good option.
Especially during a crisis, employees want to know what is happening and what the situation could mean for the company and potentially for them personally. At the outset, not all the information will usually be available. That is normal. It becomes a problem when this uncertainty leads to no communication at all. People then develop their own explanations, rumors begin to circulate, and external media coverage can quickly become employees’ primary source of information about their own company.
There is also no need to have an immediate answer to every question. Often, the first step is simply to put the current situation in context: This is what we know. This is what we are still working on. This is when we will provide another update. Transparency does not mean disclosing everything. It means handling responsibly both what can already be communicated and what remains unresolved.
Employees shouldn’t have to get company news from the media
One of the most problematic scenarios is still the familiar one: The company has already issued its statement, journalists are receiving answers, the announcement is on the website — and employees know nothing about it.
Of course, it is not always possible to avoid a situation where a company must react publicly first. This is precisely why internal and external communication must be planned together from the outset. It should be clear who will be informed when, what employees need to know as soon as a public statement is released, and whom they can contact with their questions. This is not just about appreciation. Different levels of information quickly lead to different perceptions of a situation both inside and outside the company. This makes further communication unnecessarily difficult.
Employee questions can reveal a lot
Internal communications are not just about distributing information. Listening is at least as important. Employee feedback often reveals very quickly where an argument or explanation is not yet working. If several people ask the same question or do not understand an explanation, it is worth taking a closer look. Perhaps the message is not quite as clear as it seemed after the fifth round of internal review by the communications team. This is valuable for external communications as well. Employees know their company well. They know which explanations are plausible and where inconsistencies exist. Especially in difficult situations, that knowledge should not be underestimated.
Direct managers need answers, too
Direct managers play an important role. For many employees, they are the first point of contact when uncertainty arises. That makes it particularly problematic when managers themselves know no more than their teams. An email to all employees from senior management is therefore not enough. Managers need to be briefed early and understand what they can say, which questions remain unanswered, and where they can obtain additional information themselves. This does not require complicated tools. An up-to-date Q&A, brief updates, and direct access to the communications team are often entirely sufficient. What matters is that responsibilities, approval processes, and internal channels have been clarified in advance. Once a crisis is underway, there is usually no time to work these things out.
Employees are not second-tier stakeholders
Crisis communications rightly devote significant attention to external stakeholders. The media, customers, business partners, policymakers, and investors can have a substantial influence on how a crisis develops. But employees need to be part of that assessment as well.
That does not mean internal communications should ensure that everyone approves of every decision. That would be neither realistic nor its purpose.
Employees should, however, know what is happening, be able to understand their company’s position, and not feel that they are the last to be informed about important developments. Anyone preparing for crisis communications should therefore not treat internal communications as an additional component to address once all external communications are in place. They need to be part of the process from the beginning. Ultimately, the principle is simple: If a company wants to communicate credibly with external audiences in a difficult situation, it should not forget the people inside the organization.