The majority of IR professionals say their company has updated its crisis management plan in light of the Covid-19 outbreak, according to new research from IR Magazine.
At companies with a formal plan in place, seven out of 10 say the playbook has been updated with the pandemic’s challenges in mind.
The results are drawn from IR Magazine’s Crisis Communications report, which is based on a global survey of more than 250 IR professionals.
Mega-cap companies are the most likely to have adapted their crisis plan (81 percent have done so) while small caps are the least likely (64 percent).
Regionally, 77 percent of Asian companies have made changes to their plan, compared with 71 percent in North America and just 55 percent in Europe.
In the research, IROs comment that many plans were updated to include pandemics for the first time. More specific revisions focused on topics that have been thrust into the spotlight by Covid-19, like employee wellbeing and remote working.
‘We have strengthened the plan to cover pandemics, such as safety of employees and supply chain management,’ says a respondent from a large-cap healthcare company in Asia.
‘The scope of the crisis plan has increased, and more scenarios have been added,’ notes an IRO from a European large cap.
The report highlights that it is still not completely standard practice to even have a formal crisis plan. Of all the respondents, 76 percent say they have an official plan in place, while 11 percent say they don’t and 13 percent are unsure.
To find out more about the research, please click here.
