Last week the Marketing and Communications (MARCOM) Committee hosted its first dinner of 2013.
“In today’s political climate where huge issues like sequestration, fiscal cliffs, continuing resolutions and budget cuts continue to impact the government contracting industry, it’s critical for communications and marketing executives to have a BFF in government relations,” stated Eileen Cassidy Rivera, a marketing and communications consultant and co-Chair of the WashingtonExec MARCOM group.
The dinner discussion turned to how companies should prepare employees for potential deep federal defense spending cuts and elimination of contract awards. Member input included sending out a 1-pager compiling the most up-to-date information on what is happening in Congress, and giving employees notification on what would happen if a contract was eliminated (example: employees would receive 30 days of paid work). Another executive suggested that executives should populate critical information regarding the direction of the company, such as that the company plans to invest in more cybersecurity tools, less in defense, more in big data analytics, so that employees can better market themselves accordingly.
General consensus in the room was that it is critical for employers to empower employees in these uncertain times, with one Marketing executive using the example of granting direct access to the company’s executive team for staff to air concerns. The 2013 WashingtonExec MARCOM Committee Leaders are Alan Hill (Serco), Sheila Blackwell (Decision Sciences) and Eileen Cassidy Rivera.
