Fresh Business Thinking cover Igniyte’s research: Workers blame managers for PR crises

Online business resource Fresh Business Thinking has covered Igniyte’s research into how prepared UK companies are should a PR crisis hit. Their article outlines the key findings from our research conducted in February 2016.

Here at Igniyte we, commissioned research into the views of over 500 managers within eight different sectors into PR crises with the aim of discovering whether UK companies were prepared to handle a crisis should one strike.

Our research found that an astonishingly low percentage (17%) of managers stated that a crisis management plan was not in place within their company, whilst 24% of managers declared that, although their company held a crisis strategy, it was not fully understood by them.

At the other end of the spectrum, it was found that (of the companies involved in our research) over one in five (20%) stated that their company had a crisis management plan that all employees were aware of.

A sector breakdown highlighted managers within the public sector as the least confident when it came to their company’s ability to prevent a PR crisis as 16% of managers within the sector admitted that they were not well prepared for a PR crisis.

With regards to dealing with a PR crisis, we found that holding a well-structured crisis management plan – which can be easily implemented – is the most effective way to handle communications problems. Consistency is something that needs to be applied throughout in addition to ensuring all staff are aware of the company’s strategy.

Take a look at our blog here for some more statistics and information surrounding our research.