Announcement Communication Pack

A coordinated set of announcement drafts — all-staff, affected team, retained team, customers, suppliers and media — sequenced to land in the right order.

When to use it

Once consultation is about to open. Sequence matters more than polish: nobody should hear this from outside the business first.

Announcing a restructure: sequence beats polish

Announcement day sets the tone for everything that follows. The most common failure is not the wording — it is the order. Somebody hears it from a supplier, a customer or LinkedIn before their manager reaches them, and trust is gone before the consultation has started.

The sequence

Executive and managers first, then affected employees, then the wider organisation, then external stakeholders, all within a tight window on the same day. The pack maps who tells whom, in what order, with timings and named owners, plus contingency wording in case the news leaks early.

What the announcement should say

Why the change is proposed, what is proposed, who is affected, what happens next and when, and where to get support. It should be explicit that these are proposals subject to consultation, and it should not contain a single number nobody can explain.

Channels

Live where possible, written immediately afterwards. People retain very little from the live session, so the written version carries the detail — and gives those absent, on leave or on shift the same information at the same time.

The days after

Announcements are the beginning of a rhythm, not a single event. Set the weekly cadence up front: when updates will come, from whom, and where questions are answered. Run the Employee Questions and FAQ Tracker from day one, and brief managers first with the Line Manager Briefing Pack.

Saying what support exists

If outplacement or career transition support is being provided, say so at announcement rather than at exit. It changes how the whole process is read. Our approach sets out what that support looks like in practice.