Untitled Document

Employee Information site plays
important role during pandemic

When the “stay-at-home” order was first issued by Gov. Little back in March, employees were understandably confused and worried about what was happening with their jobs and the workplace they’d called home, many of them for decades. Information was coming at them fast and furious from many different sources. Not all of it was accurate or timely.

To solve that problem and bridge that information gap, the Office of Communication (OC) went into high gear, living in a Crisis Communication mode for the next month. For the next 20 consecutive business days, the OC staff researched, collected, organized and drafted crucial notices on important coronavirus topics as the information became available, posted it to an employee website , and then sent an all-employee email to let our co-workers know about the latest news.

Communication Manager Vince Trimboli drove the site’s content and provided the vision for the portal, while Pauline Davis quickly assimilated information (often from multiple sources) and provided timely posts to the site. The OC’s communication professionals from across the department and divisions sought out, gathered, edited and crafted messages around the latest ever-changing information, then distributed it each afternoon to ITD employees.

“We did so every day during the early stages of the pandemic in Idaho, when there were often more questions than answers, and I think that helped to quell a lot of fear and help employees deal with and prepare as the situation rapidly evolved,” Public Information Officer Reed Hollinshead said.

The site received nearly 18,500 unique page views by employees during that pivotal month.By comparison, only DMV generated more visits during that time.

Employees repeatedly said that they were incredibly grateful to know the department’s response to the situation and the department’s commitment to their safety and security.

“ITD’s response showed why it was so important to filter out the extraneous stuff and provide workers with the information pertinent to their own safety and that of their families, without giving quarter to rumors or innuendo,” Hollinshead explained.