Key Messages For Employees During Mergers

🔑 Talent Retention in M&A: A Strategic Imperative In the high-stakes of mergers and acquisitions, retaining key talent—especially client-facing professionals, leadership, and operational experts—is paramount. McKinsey & Company’s research offers a clear roadmap for doing it right. 1. Move Faster Than Comfortable Acquirers who move with speed to identify, engage, and retain top talent often outperform peers.” High performers are most vulnerable immediately after announcement — delay creates risk. Winning strategies identify and extend offers to key individuals within 30 to 60 days of deal announcement. 2. Communicate Thoughtfully and Frequently Frequent, authentic communication is crucial. Top companies communicate what is happening, but also why — including the deal rationale, what it means for employees personally, and how it benefits clients. Leaders should leverage “message maps” to ensure alignment across every touchpoint. 3. Define the Future State Early Lack of clarity around leadership roles is a top driver of post-deal attrition.” Successful acquirers articulate the leadership structure, client service model, technology platform, and operational frameworks early—ideally within the first 60 days—to create stability and trust. 4. Quickly Select and Transition Platforms A “clear platform strategy” accelerates employee buy-in. Advisors and operational teams want to know: What systems will we use? How soon? What support will be provided? Identifying the future-state technology, operational platforms, and client service tools—and setting a defined transition timeline—reduces friction, keeps clients engaged, and gives top talent confidence that the firm is investing in their success. 5. Align Incentives with the New Vision Financial incentives must be “personalized and meaningful” — balancing short-term retention bonuses with long-term opportunities like equity, expanded roles, or career advancement pathways. Address both financial advisors’ and operational leaders’ motivations to align with the firm’s evolving strategy. 6. Prioritize Culture Integration Cultural issues are “the silent killers of M&A success.” Early efforts to define the new culture—identifying where each side must flex or blend—are key to preventing fractures. Culture workshops, surveys, and leadership modeling behaviors help reinforce integration. 7. Don’t Let Regulatory Timelines Dictate Integration Begin planning for integration before signing, not after regulatory approvals. Waiting can create dangerous inertia. Talent plans, platform transition processes, and client communication strategies should be developed and partially implemented right away. ⸻ Key Takeaway: Move faster than feels natural. Communicate consistently and personally. Define the future clearly. And most importantly — treat your human capital with the same urgency and precision you give to financial capital. For a deeper look at these insights, the full McKinsey article is here:

Every time I write up an org-wide communication related to major changes, I consistently apply the lessons that I learned from Annie Christiansen and Kathy Gowell during my time working with them at MuleSoft/Salesforce. Spending most of my early and middle career in more technical roles, my communication style had a tendency lean towards the technical (and wordy). Annie and Kathy did an amazing job helping me step back and reframe my communications to be focused, prioritize the crucial information first, and apply empathy (we're not all engineers in the tech world). I've templated, to a large degree, the key messaging points I picked up from them • What's happening? (𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵) • What does this mean for me? (𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥? 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰?)  • Why is this happening? (𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵!) • I still have questions, where should I bring them to? (𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘴, 𝘦𝘵𝘤) These four stanzas are present in nearly 99% of my major comms. They work when updating the staff about major security threats (such as vishing/smishing campaigns), changes to org-wide systems (such SSO/MFA improvements), and so much more. Most importantly, bring empathy to all comms. Try, as best as you can, to put yourself on the receiving end of the communication you're sending and challenge yourself with the question "is the information framed in a way that I and my peers would feel informed & engaged if we were the recipients"

As we continue to focus on EVP during M&A, let’s talk about FAQs. Utilizing a comprehensive FAQ document is an excellent way to address employee concerns while reinforcing your Employer Value Proposition (EVP). Empathy is key. Put yourself in the shoes of people who are joining through acquisition and ask, “What do I need to know?". This will probably result in a few clear categories, outlined below 1. Job Security and Stability: Reassure employees about their personal job security. If some people aren’t coming over, acknowledge this reality and be respectful. While your primary audience is the people who are joining, they will notice how you treat their coworkers. 2. Benefits and Compensation: Highlight any changes or enhancements to benefits and compensation that align with the EVP. 3. Career Development Opportunities: Discuss new opportunities for growth and development within the merged organization. 4. Company Culture and Values: Emphasize the shared values and cultural aspects that will be upheld post-M&A. Once it's written, share the FAQ via email, intranet, and town hall meetings. Ensure the FAQ is easily accessible to all employees at any time. Encourage employees to submit additional questions or concerns. Host Q&A sessions or forums where employees can discuss the FAQ and get real-time answers. Continuously update the FAQ document as new questions arise and more information becomes available. Using an FAQ to communicate your EVP during M&A is a great way to build and maintain trust. By addressing employee concerns and reinforcing the company’s values, benefits, and opportunities, you can support your team through the transition. How do you use your FAQs to communicate EVP?