Since the economic downturn began, only about one-third of the study participants have communicated to employees about how the economy is affecting their pay and benefits – the things that affect employees most personally. And only 14 percent are explaining the terms of the new employment deal. It is encouraging, however, that half of the companies plan to communicate with workers about the impact of the downturn on the business, going forward. Additionally, we found considerable differences in the goals of downturn-related communication among the world regions and among the areas of the organization that lead the communication effort.