The study INTERNAL CRISIS COMMUNICATION IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC outlines:
- which internal crisis communication strategies have been adopted by Italian companies during the emergency
- how the working experience of employees has been
The study is based on interviews, focus groups and a survey with internal communication managers and a survey with employees.
It reports data about:
- strategies, objectives, content, tools, features, difficulties, informal communication, roles of top and line managers and internal communication managers, and future evolution of internal communication
- practices and initiatives to support employee engagement and their outcomes
The study offers a focus on remote working reporting data about its impact on working life, resources available, enablers and benefits.
Findings show whether internal crisis communication strategies have been mostly oriented to advocacy, perched in company interests, or to accommodation, to protect internal stakeholders.
It has been carried out by the Working Group 2018-2020 and 2020-2022 @Centre for Employee Relations and Communication (CERC) operating at Università IULM.

CERC Centre for Employee Relations and Communication has the purpose of developing and spreading communication and organizational relations culture. It carries out research, dissemination, training and consultancy projects on topics related to employee relations and communication. It is supported by a scientific committee which ensures its connection with the main international centers of excellence in this field. It houses the Working Group Employee Communication.

WG_EC Working Group Employee Communication is dedicated to a two-year special research project in partnership with a group of companies. It carries out a research project on an agreed topic. Partner companies and Università IULM researchers meet regularly during the year for updates on the results of the research project and to delve into topics of interest for the WG_EC. The meetings are topic-focused and run in a peer to peer context.

employee.communication@iulm.it