A public incident can put an employer’s culture, values and brand under intense scrutiny. Two experts unpack how HR can respond quickly, communicate with different stakeholders and rebuild trust and the employer brand over time.

An organisation’s employer brand can be shaped as much by how it responds to difficult moments as by the values it promotes during stable times. 

A recent controversy in the sporting world shows how quickly a high-profile incident can put employer brand under scrutiny.

Following a post-match gathering at a Melbourne hotel earlier this month, five AFL players were suspended for the remainder of the season after breaching their club’s behavioural standards. 

The situation became much more serious when police began investigating an alleged sexual assault connected to the gathering. No charges have been laid yet.

The fallout has extended beyond the players themselves, with sponsors distancing themselves and supporters questioning the culture and values of the organisation.

The case highlights the many challenges employers face when a public incident puts their culture, values and leadership under the microscope.

“The first thing to recognise with reputation, which comes under most pressure during a scandal, is that it’s a perception and not entirely fact – and that’s quite a hard thing to come to terms with,” says Will Harvey, Professor of Leadership and Director of the Sustainable Value Creation Institute at Melbourne Business School.

“Negative news sells much more than neutral or positive news. So you’re going to get an awful lot of noise, much of which might be accurate – but, particularly when we bring in social media platforms, there will be a lot that is fabrication, misinformation [or] disinformation.”

Recognising that, it’s important to have a clear structure for responding so the organisation can avoid letting the story take on a life of its own, he says.

So, what can employers do to protect and rebuild their employer brand – both internally with their current workforce and externally with prospective employees/stakeholders – when a public incident jeopardises their reputation? 

“A major pitfall is just not saying anything. Another is going straight into defensive posturing and not coming to terms with the severity of the situation.” – Will Harvey, Professor of Leadership and Director of the Sustainable Value Creation Institute.

A four-step process for responding to a public scandal

In the aftermath of a public scandal, employers have to balance the need to respond promptly with the need to respond thoughtfully, says Harvey. 

“The problem with the law of public opinion, and the speed with which news transfers, is that you do need to act quite quickly,” he says. “A major pitfall is not saying anything. Another is going straight into defensive posturing and not coming to terms with the severity of the situation.”

Particularly when the incident in question involves sensitive issues, a carefully structured approach helps employers balance speed, sensitivity and accuracy.

Below, Harvey unpacks a staged process for responding to and recovering from a reputational crisis.

1. The first 24-48 hours: Get your bearings

According to Harvey, the priority at this stage should be establishing the hard facts. While this is also true for communication professionals looking after external messaging, the same approach applies to internal communications.

“If you’ve got the wrong facts, or you’re behind the curve, then you’re just going to be constantly responding [reactively] to allegations, media commentary, politicians, business people, influencers making comments – so you need to really get on the front foot.”

While organisations should avoid commenting in detail before they understand the facts, he advises against staying silent. A simple early statement to employees acknowledging the incident and stating that the matter is being investigated can help prevent a communications vacuum.

2. When the story is gaining momentum: Set the tone

At this stage, the organisation needs to establish a clear narrative around what’s known, what’s being investigated and what action is being taken.

This is where internal alignment becomes particularly important, says Harvey.

“You need the wider executive team and the whole board to be on [the same page] in terms of how you respond to that challenge,” he says. “Sometimes you might even bring in an external expert, depending upon the severity of the situation.”

Organisations should also be deliberate about what information is shared with employees and how it is framed.

“You would have to assume that the moment you communicated with employees, especially once you get beyond a certain size, any of that information could leak externally,” says Harvey.

3. While the organisation is under scrutiny: Turn words into action

When an organisation is under intense scrutiny, even well-intentioned responses can sometimes be dismissed as insincere or performative. 

Employers can combat this by showing stakeholders that the issue is being taken seriously, rather than simply telling them.

“It has to go beyond words and one-off events,” he says. “Making a statement or doing an interview [is one thing], but what you want to convey is that those words are being backed up by actual action.”

He gives the example of Starbucks’ response to an incident in 2018 where two black men were unjustly arrested at one of its Philadelphia stores. Following public statements apologising for the incident, the company closed thousands of US stores to conduct racial-bias training.

“Some might say, “Oh, well, that’s just a PR stunt,’” says Harvey. “But it’s still showing that they’re taking it seriously from a people side and [are invested] in doing that. It’s also saying that, culturally, we’re recognising that this was more than just a one-off incident.”

4. Long-term recovery: Rebuild through consistency

Once the immediate crisis has passed, organisations need to embed what they’ve learned into their longer-term decisions and behaviour.

“People will laser in on the negative. You’ve got to work really hard on [demonstrating] positive behaviours over time, and eventually, that’s how you rebuild or rehabilitate your reputation.”

Values can be a powerful tool for rebuilding trust – but only when they are visible in the organisation’s actions, rather than simply repeated in its communications.

If there is a significant disconnect between stated values and actual behaviour, organisations may also need to review or reset their values.

“Often, organisations realise that, actually, our values and our purpose are not relevant to what we do today, or they’re not fit for purpose in relation to wider business, regulatory, societal expectations. That doesn’t help you in a crisis,” says Harvey.

“[Employees] don’t want to find out through the media or other people… so make sure the [messaging] goes out to employees at least as early as it goes to the media.” – Katharina Wolf, Associate Professor in the School of Management and Marketing at Curtin University

Tailoring messaging to different stakeholders 

A public scandal requires employers to communicate carefully with multiple stakeholders – employees, the media, investors, customers and more. But that doesn’t mean sending everyone the same message.

According to Katharina Wolf, Associate Professor in the School of Management and Marketing at Curtin University, the key is to adapt messaging to the needs of different audiences without losing sight of your organisation’s core values.

“The ultimate focus should always be going back to your values and [asking], as an employer brand and as a brand overall, what do we stand for? What do we say we’re all about? Are we about integrity? Are we about inclusion? Are we about empowerment? Whatever it might be, any response should automatically align with that,” she says.

From there, the focus should shift to understanding what each audience needs from the organisation.

1. Employees

While organisations may be tempted to prioritise sponsors, investors or the media during a crisis, Wolf argues employees should be front of mind. 

“They’re going to be quizzed right, left, and centre. They need support, and they want to know their employer is doing the right thing by them,” she says. “They don’t want to find out through the media or other people… so make sure the [messaging] goes out to employees at least as early as it goes to the media.”

At a minimum, employees need to understand what has happened, what processes are underway to address it, what they can and cannot discuss publicly and where they can go for support.

That support can play a much more powerful role than employers might think, says Wolf. Employees can play a powerful role in rebuilding reputation if their own experience of the organisation gives them reason to defend it.

2. Media

While this is usually the domain or your communications team, it’s still highly valuable for HR to feed into these comms – at the very least to ensure alignment with the information being shared with employees, to Wolf’s point above.

Wolf says organisations should resist the temptation to stay silent or dismiss requests for comment from the media.

“If you don’t give them anything, if you don’t make yourself available, the media will go somewhere else to fill those headlines… If you leave that void, someone will fill it.”

Establishing positive working relationships with media stakeholders can be a useful investment before a crisis happens, she says. 

“[Not only] will they come straight to you, but they’ll also [likely] give you the benefit of the doubt if you’ve done the right thing in the past.”

3. Consumers and the general public

For consumers and the wider public, the challenge is to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation without being seen as defensive or insincere.

“A good statement requires a sense of honesty. Don’t try to tightly polish it and make everything sound fantastic,” says Wolf.

Wolf says stakeholders are often more interested in how an organisation responds when something goes wrong than in seeing it present itself as flawless. Taking accountability and demonstrating that the issue is being addressed can help rebuild trust.

That authenticity can also matter to prospective employees, particularly younger workers who increasingly look for alignment between their own values and those of their employer.

Ultimately, protecting employer brand after a public incident is not about finding the perfect message. It’s about ensuring communication is consistent with the organisation’s values, and that its actions give stakeholders a genuine reason to believe it.

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