How to respond when a workplace crisis hits

Crises in the workplace are increasing, and the best thing organizations can do is prepare in advance for when they come. It might be sexual harassment, or discrimination, or workplace misconduct, or violence. Each crisis is different, but there are a variety of common elements to a successful response.

This is the counsel of Erin Folk, a workplace investigator and consultant based in Regina, Saskatchewan, in a recent virtual presentation to Ragan’s Crisis Leadership Network entitled “From Workplace Allegations to Workplace Investigations: The Importance of a Deft Hand with Communications and Investigations to Avoid A Workplace Crisis.”

Erin Folk

Everyone deserves a respectful workplace, Folk emphasizes, and as communications leaders we all do our best to consistently deliver on that promise. But we also understand that there are many variables and that conflict exists in organizations because humans are humans, and that strategies will fail in some situations.