Communicate to employees
Hearing the word merger can be terrifying for employees.
Employees from both PNC and National City were nervous about what the future held, so Geiger tried to ease concern by immediately communicating the information she knew and painting the bigger picture for the staff.
“If you’re going to be in the banking business, this is the best place to be,” was the message Geiger tried to convey.
By rallying employees from the start around the goal of building a blended, much stronger company, it generated camaraderie.
It may be obvious, but you have to be as open and honest as possible with your communication. To get her message out, Geiger relied on town-hall meetings, regular e-m
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ls and communication with leaders who were then directed to cascade the information through the organization. It was a collaborative effort that presented one message from multiple avenues.
“There is merit in having, from time to time, everybody together, if you can do that,” Geiger says. “We do that through town-hall meetings. We bring people together and express exactly where we are and where we intend to go, so there’s no guessing.”
It’s important that communication doesn’t end after the first announcement. You won’t be able to answer every question immediately, which will cause some uncertainty to linger with your employees.
“There’s a tendency when there’s large mergers that there’s activity early on about the task at hand, and that’s very important,” Geiger says. “But really that’s just a foundation to prepare what the organization has to look toward in continuing to recreate themselves.”
Crucial elements throughout the process are scheduling regular communication and updating employees with information as soon as it is available. Your employees not only need clear direction throughout the process to concentrate on the task at hand but to convey the proper message to your customers.
For example, PNC announced that those working in the PNC and National City branches would not find themselves unemployed.
“To have good customers, you have to have great employees,” Geiger says. “And to have great employees, you have to give them confidence.”