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8 minbeginner

Write Employee Communications and Announcements

Draft all-staff announcements, change communications, and sensitive HR messages that land the right way — honest, clear, and appropriately human.

The situation

You need to communicate a change — a policy update, an org change, a benefit change, or a sensitive message. The communication needs to be honest and clear without creating unnecessary anxiety.

After this guide you will have a communication that says what needs to be said, anticipates the questions employees will have, and does not sound like it was written by a committee.

What you walk away with

01

A draft communication ready to send in under 15 minutes

02

A version that is honest about the change and its impact

03

Anticipates the top 2-3 questions employees will have

The difference one prompt makes

Don't

write an email announcing that we are changing our parental leave policy

Do this

Write an all-staff email announcing that we are changing our parental leave policy. The change: we are increasing primary carer leave from 12 to 20 weeks, fully paid, effective September 1st. Secondary carer leave stays at 2 weeks. Anyone currently pregnant or on leave gets the new policy automatically. The likely employee questions are: does this apply to adoptive parents (yes), does it affect secondary carer leave (no), and is there a catch (genuinely no, this is just a budget decision we finally made room for). Tone: warm and direct. No "we are delighted to announce" openings. Lead with the change and what it means for people, not with the company's process for making the decision. Under 200 words.

The likely employee questions and the honest "is there a catch" answer are what makes the communication land. Without them, Claude writes the press-release version, not the one people will actually read.

1

Before writing, answer three questions

Give Claude the answers to these before asking for the communication draft.

  1. What exactly is changing? State the specific, concrete change — not "we are evolving our approach" but "the PTO policy changes from X to Y."
  2. What are the top 2-3 questions employees will have, and what are the honest answers?
  3. What is the tone calibration: formal (a restructure) vs. warm (a benefits improvement) vs. matter-of-fact (a systems migration)?
2

Use the all-staff communication template

This template works for any company-wide or team communication.

Prompt
Write a announcing . The change in plain language: What employees are likely to wonder or worry about: - - - Tone: Length: Do not start with "I am pleased to announce" or any variant. Lead with what is changing and what it means for the reader.

Click a violet field and type your own details, then copy.

3

Handle sensitive messages separately

For difficult communications — a redundancy, a departure, a serious incident — give Claude more context about what you cannot say and what you must.

Prompt
Write a . What I can say: What I cannot say: What employees will be feeling: The message should be honest about the difficulty of the situation without being maudlin. Include: what happened, why, what support is available, what happens next, and how to ask questions. Avoid passive voice and avoid euphemisms like "let go" or "transition." Use only the facts I have given: do not promise there will be no further cuts, and do not invent dates, meetings or commitments. Put where I need to fill something in. Have HR or legal review it before it goes out.

Click a violet field and type your own details, then copy.

What's next?

Start over: Write a job description

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