02 July 2009
Watson Wyatt keeps communication "intense, consistent and continuous" following merger announcement
Kathryn Yates, Global Practice Director, Communication, Watson Wyatt describes how the company was informed of the merger with Towers Watson & Co.
As reported earlier this week on the Hub, Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt are joining forces to form Towers Watson & Co, the biggest professional services company in the world, employing 14,000 people.
Kathryn Yates, Global Practice Director, Communication at Watson Wyatt, says careful timing of the internal and external communication was a key priority of the integration team in the build-up to the announcement.
Yates says a group of 200 senior leaders (including herself) and key client account managers were told late on Friday June 26th that they were to be available for a two-hour web conference call for an urgent message on the morning of Sunday June 28th. It was on this call that the CEO, John Haley, announced the news, explained what was happening, and shared the strategic rationale behind the decision.
Simultaneously, Towers Perrin’s CEO, Mark Mactas was leading a call with his company’s key leaders, sharing similar messages. Fifteen minutes after the conference calls started, a press release was sent out at the same time as an all-employee email announcing the news to the rest of the organization.
To reach those that might not check their emails at the weekend, the people on the web conference started making calls to their direct reports immediately.
“The timing of the web conference, press release and internal announcement was based on the advice of the two firms’ securities lawyers. Also, to reach those that might not check their emails at the weekend, the people on the web conference started making calls to their direct reports immediately. In my case everyone I reached had read the email,” says Yates.
As is often the case, there were a few employees who found out about the merger through external sources. “I got an IM (instant message) from a communication associate immediately following my email to the team. She said she'd heard about the merger on Facebook and immediately went to her Watson Wyatt email to learn more.”
A communication toolkit for all
There was a comprehensive pack prepared and distributed to all leaders to provide guidance on what actions to take in order to deal with employee expectations and reactions. The pack includes the following:
An FAQ document: This went to all leaders and employees. The objective for this was to ensure clear and consistent messaging and to reinforce the details of the integration,” says Yates. This FAQ document also included an email address for the integration team, who, according to Yates, are very quick to respond. “I wanted to send an email to my practice and post a blog, but I had to get this approved by the integration team. They responded very quickly and within two hours my messages started to roll out.”
Guidelines on what’s permissible/prohibited:This document explains the importance of confidentiality and says that it’s fine for employees to reach out to people they know, on a social basis, however the company has been prohibited from discussing anything surrounding planning and integration of both companies.
A document for key client account managers: By 6pm all key clients had to be reached and informed. This document helped account managers explain the decision.
A document for all office leaders: This offered key facts and messages to conduct Q&As, town hall sessions and webcasts for office-based and remote teams.
Guidance for people managers on how to manage change: This included advice on using the most effective channels, reference to the change curve and other resources.
All the information, reactions and questions gathered from the town hall sessions and conference calls with employees are being fed back to the integration team. This is to ensure they can continue the communication and provide the requested information where possible, as well as monitor reactions and act accordingly.
One of the messages was a “thank you” to all employees for their efforts during a difficult year.
The merger was announced just as the financial year ended. One of the messages was a “thank you” to all employees for their efforts during a challenging year.
Using a mix of formal and informal channels
Yates describes the communication around the merger as “intense, consistent and continuous”. As for her own channel preferences, Yates sent a formal email out to her direct reports and colleagues, and then complemented this with a more informal, personal post on her blog, which has been running for three years and is well known at Watson Wyatt.
"I blogged about how exciting this opportunity is for all of us, and gave my personal thoughts on the change and how I was dealing with it.
“Injecting a bit of humor can be very engaging, as proved by the amount of responses I received to my comment on using shoe shopping as a form of therapy to deal with the changes! Colleagues began to share their own ideas on light-hearted ways to deal with any potential stress caused by the news.”
Acknowledging uncertainty
Watson Wyatt has said that there will be 5-6 months of business as usual but that the objective is to save $80 million over a two to three year period. Redundancies will occur but no one is sure as to who and how many. So how is Watson Wyatt dealing with the inevitable anxiety that employees feel about the security of their jobs?
It’s about acknowledging the uncertainty, and also focusing on things that can be controlled rather than the things that can’t.
“I like to follow the idea of naming the elephant in the room,” says Yates. “It’s about acknowledging the uncertainty, and also focusing on things that can be controlled rather than the things that can’t.” The company is encouraging people to ask questions and share their thoughts and opinions. “We can’t provide all the answers, because there’s so much that’s still being decided, however it’s important that employees feel comfortable with asking the questions.”
CEO visibility
CEO visibility is key at a time of major corporate change. Yates says that both Haley and Mactas are on the road, traveling to London and New York and holding meetings in key business locations. While neither CEO has yet tweeted his thoughts on the merger, Yates tells us that Watson Wyatt makes good use of Yammer – a closed social network for companies – as an informal way for employees to share thoughts and opinions.
The next few months will be crucial for both companies, not least from a communication standpoint. Effective communication will help to retain top talent and prevent low morale and even resignations during the uncertainty. For Yates, the challenge is to keep information flowing both ways while helping associates remain focused on our clients. “It's a delicate balance,” she says.
Have your say
What do you think of Watson Wyatt's change communication plan? Was there anything more that could have been done? What would you have done differently and what should the next steps be?
Recommended resources:
Guiding principles during a merger
Three brands become one: How Abbey managed communication and integration
TOP TIPS: Helping employees adapt to change
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