Poor Crisis Comms Go Viral — Here’s How to Get It Right

When a natural disaster strikes, a public issue ignites, or a polarizing controversy shakes the foundation of your organization, employees turn to their HR department with urgent questions and heavy hearts. Will my job be safe? Should I still come to the office? How will we respond to the world watching us?

In moments of uncertainty, HR leadership’s words become an employee’s anchor. Your organization must be prepared to provide more than answers. You’ll need to offer clarity, reassurance, and leadership because crisis communications are more than strategic; they’re a lifeline. 

Scott Tillema, a retired SWAT hostage negotiator and corporate trainer with the Negotiations Collective, has helped organizations worldwide navigate high-pressure conversations. In a recent episode of SHRM's Honest HR podcast, he discussed crisis management and shared key insights on how to communicate effectively when tensions are high. “Difficult conversations for me come down to four big principles: understanding, timing, delivery, and respect,” Tillema said. 

Effective crisis communication demands both strategic clarity and emotional discipline. That space between pressure and response is where great crisis leadership begins.

Lessons from the Headlines

“Building trust and credibility doesn’t happen quickly. It’s something we demonstrate over time through our behavior, attitude, and words,” Tillema said. But that trust can be undone in seconds when crisis communications go viral. These real-world examples show how quickly reputations can unravel and what HR leaders should watch out for.

United Airlines: Messaging Turbulence

On April 9, 2017, United Airlines forcibly removed passenger Dr. David Dao from an overbooked flight. Passengers recorded the incident, and within hours, videos showing a bloodied and semi-conscious Dao were posted online. The footage was shared 87,000 times and viewed 6.8 million times in under 24 hours, according to the Institute of Strategic Risk Management (ISRM).   

The next day, United’s CEO sparked backlash with a public statement referring to the forced removal as an effort to “re-accommodate” the passenger. But the message that caused the most outrage wasn’t meant for the public.  

The CEO sent an internal email defending United staff and placing blame on the passengers. That message leaked almost immediately, triggering further outrage and earning criticism from global media. Social media tracked over 426,000 related tweets that day alone, with 1.4 billion impressions.   

On Tuesday, April 11, the company made another public statement apologizing to Dao, customers, and their personnel, but the damage had been done. United lost $1.4 billion in market value. The lesson is clear: internal communication can quickly become external communication, and it has costly consequences when done poorly. If you wouldn’t be comfortable seeing your response go viral, it’s time to rewrite it.

The Secret That Cost Victoria’s Secret

This year, Victoria’s Secret faced backlash for vague, delayed messaging after a major disruption took its website and some customer service functions offline. The company detected a “security incident” on May 24 but didn’t shut down its e-commerce site until May 26, during the critical Memorial Day shopping weekend.

Customers had already begun reporting issues online, and the lack of timely, transparent updates on social media fueled speculation of a cyberattack. It wasn’t until June 3 that the company publicly acknowledged the incident. In the end, Victoria’s Secret stock fell by 4%. The lesson: silence and ambiguity invite reputational damage. 

8 Tips for Communicating with Employees During a Crisis

Here are eight crisis communication tips seasoned experts shared with SHRM previously, designed to help HR teams keep employees informed during a crisis and avoid mistakes that make headlines. 

1. Be proactive. 
   Don’t wait until you’re in the middle of a crisis to start thinking about how you’ll communicate. “We think of crises as acute, and that’s accurate. But it’s normal to have crises, so you should always be prepared for them,” said Jeanne Achille, president and CEO of The Devon Group in Red Bank, N.J. Build a plan now that outlines scenarios, messaging channels, and leadership responsibilities.
2. Build a cross-functional crisis team. 
   Bring together communications, operations, IT, and legal — and make sure HR has a seat at the table. “HR should be embedded in that team,” said Ivan Thompson, vice president for HR and CHRO at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Everyone should know their role, who signs off on messaging, and how to escalate urgent updates.
3. Acknowledge, don’t suppress, employee voices. 
   Blocking social media or shutting down internal dialogue usually backfires. “Thanks to social media, what an employee says is heard by a lot of people. Give them the information and the confidence to address it with their communities,” said Shel Holtz, principal of Holtz Communication + Technology in San Francisco. 
4. Balance speed with accuracy. 
   Act fast but only say what you know. If you’re still gathering facts, be honest: Achille advised having a standby statement, such as, “We’re looking at the situation, and we’ll be back in touch shortly.” 
5. Train and test regularly. 
   Run simulated drills; give managers pre-drafted templates; survey employees after crises to find communication gaps and refine your process. Holtz said HR departments should simulate crises to test communication procedures at least quarterly.
6. Use layered communication methods. 
   Don’t count on a single email blast. “HR needs to be intimately connected with the best ways to get in touch with its employees,” Achille said. “Not everyone is sitting in front of a computer all day long.” Time is of the essence in crises, so push messages through multiple channels such as email, text, internal platforms, and mobile apps to ensure they reach everyone in time.
7. Enable two-way communication. 
   A lot of the focus in crisis communication is the organization getting information out to employees, but “good employee communication is two-way,” Holtz said. That means having the right channels in place for dialogue and building trust and psychological safety that makes employees feel comfortable using them.
8. Communicate the post-crisis recovery plan. 
   The impact of a crisis lingers. Whether employees experienced disruption, stress, or uncertainty, they need a sense of closure, and continued communication plays a critical role in delivering it. “Once a crisis is over, we need employees to come back in a positive, willing way to work,” Thompson said. Post-crisis messaging should outline next steps, reinforce stability, and invite employee feedback to improve future responses.
   

Crisis Communication as Risk Management

When communication falters during high-stakes moments such as natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and public controversies, so does employee confidence. And in today’s environment, there’s little room for error. Crisis messaging done right can build trust by design, minimize disruption, and reinforce your organization’s credibility under pressure. 

When HR leaders treat crisis communication as a long-term trust-building effort, even high-pressure moments can become powerful demonstrations of organizational integrity and care.

Strengthen your crisis messaging with SHRM’s Communicating with Credability Seminar.