Some of our potential AMG Alerts employee notification customers have expressed that, as a matter of policy, they feel it is not necessary to issue “all clear” alerts indicating the resolution of a situation. This may be due to an effort to save a few dollars, or to not “bother” people.
Our view is that in most cases, it needs to be done, but certainly not always.
If the notification indicates a situation where a disruption is occurring and will continue until an all clear is issued, make sure you do it. A common one is an IT system failure. If the “ASCE System” is down, make sure you issue an all clear when it’s back up because otherwise employees will be either not doing their work on an otherwise functional system, or pinging the system constantly to see if it is back up. This is a waste of resources that generally far exceeds the cost of a broadcast message.
Another common situation is safety related – bomb scares, intruders, etc. You need to call the situation clear otherwise it is too disruptive to the organization.
Weather alerts are a mixed bag. It is generally not necessary to issue an all clear because employees can judge when the situation has passed. Some companies might feel that there is some legal liability incurred by telling employees that there is no remaining danger with something as unpredictable as weather. In tornado alley, for example, the sirens go off to alert you to danger, but they don’t tell you that everything is safe again. This sets a precedent in these areas.
The exception to that is, again, when the warning results in a disruption. If there is a policy in place where construction workers leave a work site when they receive a high wind warning, you have to let them know when, per your policy, it is safe to return. If a tornado warning causes employees to retreat to a safe area where they can no longer assess the weather situation on their own, you’ll need to help them with that.
Other, more mundane notifications generally don’t require an all clear. If the power is out in a commercial real estate situation, for example, you may or may not issue an all clear depending on what you believe your tenants to be doing as a result. Just like parking lot repaving or air conditioner repair, it is usually obvious when then situation is resolved.