Reducing Anxiety Through Workplace Communication During COVID-19: Who,What,When,and How

Abstract

Organizational communication is particularly important during times of uncertainty and turmoil, such as the first few weeks of COVID-19 in the United States. This paper explores the who, what, when, and how of organizational communication during this time, looking at how these factors affected satisfaction with communication and anxiety among a sample of working adults. Through path analysis the paper suggests that having the direct manager communicate, communicating personal messages of support, communicating daily, and communicating via text media are related to higher levels of satisfaction with communication, and in turn with lower levels of anxiety. Individual traits of the employee are also discussed, including the need for affiliation as a moderator on the relationship between communication satisfaction and anxiety. Finally, suggestions are presented regarding how organizations can best leverage communication in novel and uncertain situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.