If you are considering streamlining your business here’s seven top tips for you to follow.
Establish an objective plan
Firstly, outplacement should be seen as a last resort so before any decisions are made review and re-evaluate your business plans and objectives and document what staffing resources and skills sets you require. Liaise with employees or unions to Identify other approaches, you may find that utilising existing staffing resources in a different way may remove or reduce the need for redundancies.
Identify your talent
If you need to make positions redundant identify the areas of your business that are core to your businesses success. Identify talented employees and retain their service, even if this leads to redeployment. Remember, you company must still retain the ability react proactively to opportunities that appear. An affordable but flexible workforce should be of paramount importance.
Clarify your legal obligations
Review your selection and employment contracts to ensure they are objective and non-discriminatory to protect your organisation from unfair dismissal claims. Make sure employees are made redundant because their job is no longer needed as opposed to other reasons such as personality, conduct, poor performance, or a disability. Consult with HR and legal professionals to ensure your redundancy plan is in compliance with employment law.
Offer a proactive outplacement service
Make resources available to support the affected employees by engaging the services of an experienced outplacement service
provider. Proactive outplacement services assist affected employees with determining their skills/strengths, writing CVs, sourcing new career opportunities, networking and interviewing. Offering such support communicates a powerful message to the affected employees and those that you want to keep – caring for your people.
Communicate honestly, consistently and personally
Keep in mind that it is much safer to over-communicate than under-communicate but stick to the facts and be prepared to explain consistently why certain decisions have been made. Always try to communicate redundancies in person but have a written brief and have
prepared answers to potential questions. Conduct individual meetings with affected employees, including their manager and a HR staff member. Keep the meeting short and to the point, focusing on the fact that the termination is due to business reasons, it’s easy to become personally involved in a redundancy. Communicate the reason for the redundancy, the process undertaken, the timetables and goals for the future.
Train and support your managers
Telling an employee that their job has been made redundant is very difficult. Make sure managers are appropriately trained and can articulate the reason for the redundancy; they often are your first and last line of defence for dispelling rumours. Ensure your managers are compassionate and can treat employees with dignity and respect. Prepare them for the variety of reactions and emotions they will encounter and to answer basic questions regarding redundancy payment, benefits, notice periods, outplacement support, and exact next steps.
Engage and retain your remaining employees
The aftermath of a redundancy can be riddled with declining morale, productivity and loyalty among those remaining. You can prevent such declines by taking some proactive steps. Communicate clearly and honestly why the redundancies were necessary and let them know how their jobs will be affected, i.e. changing responsibilities, workloads, redeployments and training. Reassure them that their jobs are secure (assuming that is the case), or at a minimum that you will continually communicate any upcoming changes. Be positive about the future of the company.
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