Artisan Canvas

Evolution of a Crisis Response—Part 3: Communication

This is part 3 in a series discussing Artisan Partners’ response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Read part 1 here and part 2 here.

With our associates around the world working from home, one of the next challenges was ensuring they were all talking effectively under unusual circumstances. From a business standpoint, it doesn’t really matter if everyone is working remotely if they’re unable to maintain their standard practices and actually get their jobs done efficiently and well. Communication is paramount during periods of uncertainty—not only with and among our associates, but also with our clients and shareholders.

So how does work-from-home life currently look for Artisan associates? In a nutshell: highly digital. Applications like Symphony—a secure tool that allows our associates to chat, share files, meet and collaborate wherever they are—has been a game-changer. As has Zoom—which not only helps with work communication and collaboration but has been a big morale-booster, too, providing visible connection among our isolated employees. Crises often highlight the importance of human connection. Our technology tools have helped keep our Artisan family connected and on task.

Proof we’re amply communicating is in the numbers: Symphony messages among our associates jumped from 5,000 on a typical day to some 15,000 daily. Zoom calls have jumped, too. We recently had a day with 212 Zoom meetings and a total of 895 total meeting attendees. For perspective, that’s almost double the size of our workforce.

We also realize now more than ever is the time for visible leadership. So we have increased our internal communication between our senior firm leaders and our associates—via periodic update calls, e-mails and other notifications. As I’ve said before, our people come first. Communicating with them a clear, rational and caring plan to promote their own and their families’ safety and stability is critical now. Accordingly, we launched a Pandemic Preparedness online resource center for our employees—which provides information from relevant government agencies and authorities; from our health insurance provider; on working from home and effectively utilizing available technology; on ensuring we are still vigilant about potential information security threats; and, importantly, on preventing, identifying and treating COVID-19. We also have a 24/7 Human Capital support line which our associates from around the world can call in the event of any emergency.

Naturally, we’ve increased the frequency with which we communicate with clients and shareholders, too, providing periodic updates on our business, a detailed overview of our business continuity plans and viewpoints from our investment teams. Potentially the biggest shift in our communication efforts is the very website on which you’re reading this post: Artisan Canvas, our blog. In addition to viewpoints and perspectives from our investment teams, Artisan Canvas will allow us to share timely economics- and markets-related insights and perspectives, as well as commentary from firm leadership on trends and developments we are seeing in the asset management industry.

We will undoubtedly need to remain nimble in our efforts to maintain communication among all of our stakeholders—from our associates to our clients and shareholders—but our progress thus far on this front lends us conviction in our ongoing ability to respond effectively. Crises typically bring people together; if a business has the right culture, it should be well-positioned to thrive. While we anticipate the current environment requiring everyone to work remotely will persist for some time, we are pleased with our ability to operate so far at a high level.