Redundancy happens all the time in business, but that is no reason to think that it is familiar or easy for either your managers or your employees. One of the ways to make it easier for everyone is to have a plan which you can stick to and which will help you to cover all of the bases.
How to plan redundancies with compassion
My top tips for your planning are as follows:
Ensure that redundancy is absolutely necessary and you have explored all the alternatives.
- Make sure your process and procedures are fair, transparent, consistent and properly implemented.
- Create – and regularly update – a communications plan to ensure consistency
- Make sure your way of selecting which employees to make redundant is fair and transparent and easily explained.
- Make sure the consultation is long enough, answers all the employees’ questions and is ongoing. Prepare properly and make sure there is plenty of time and no distractions.
- Ensure they have the chance to apply for other roles you have available. Give them time off to look for alternative jobs. Provide references.
- Make sure the employee is the focus of the consultation.
- Provide any help you can (introductions to other employment opportunities, training, cv writing, references, financial advice, counselling) but don’t promise things you can’t deliver.
- Make sure the payments are calculated properly and paid on time. Mistakes and delays in payments do not make someone feel valued.
- Look after yourself. Have a safe place and or person where you can let off steam and deal with your own emotions.
- Make sure you support those who remain behind after redundancies. Explain things to them in full and make sure they feel valued and not vulnerable.
What needs to be included in your redundancy plan?
A well-writtenplan, which has been consulted upon and shared with staff can help you to follow a fair process. As well as the important, more positive, impact this may have on your staff, it will help to avoid the risk of any legal claims.
So what should be in your plan? It should definitely include all of the alternatives which you have considered before deciding on making redundancies.
The plan should also contain the number of redundancies which you are considering and what areas of the business.
The plan should detail how you will keep staff informed throughout the process and what support is available to them. This must include anyone who is currently off work for any reason.
You will need to give some thought as to whether you will accept volunteers for redundancy and how you will decide whether or not they can be accommodated.
It is important to include a clear communications plan and ensure that this covers all potential stakeholders and who should be given what information, and when.
Your plan should also include details of how any selection will be made (ie, the selection criteria you intend to use).
A good plan would also include details of redundancy payment calculations and notice periods.
Additionally, the plan should cover how an employee can appeal if they think their selection was unfair or the process itself was unfair.
It is also helpful if you can include timeframes for the process, including time for collective and individual consultation, time for managers to do the selection process (if there is one).
Managing vacancies, contractors and temporary staff as part of your redundancy plan
Part of your planning should include how you will manage vacant positions and recruitment during the redundancy process. Your first instinct is probably to freeze all recruitment – and this might be the most pragmatic and popular stance to take. However, it may be unavoidable to keep approving job offers and recruitment plans, even in the light of forthcoming redundancies. If so, then you must be able to demonstrate a clear business case for continued recruitment and it must be transparent and easily explained to potentially redundant employees.
If you use contractors and temporary staff, then you will need to decide how the proposed redundancy will affect them. Sometimes, there is a sound economic business reason to keep your contractors or recruit new people, but you need to be able to explain that to people who are at risk of losing their jobs, in such a way that they can understand the reasoning. It can be a really inflammatory issue and it is something which you need to consider very carefully in your planning process.
Plan the help which you will offer to your redundant employees
While you are at the stage of planning your redundancy programme, you might want to consider what help you can offer to redundant employees. The very least that you must do in law is to give them some paid time off to help them with job hunting. However, there are many other things that you can also do for them and which might smooth the process.
Companies often offer something called outplacement. This is usually provided by a third party provider and it is a way to help employees facing redundancy to find other work or a career change or some training. This is something even a small employer can offer and it can make a huge difference for your redundant employees.
Other help which you might consider providing is some confidential counselling to help individuals and/or their families. Another option is some financial planning guidance which can be really useful.
Once you have decided what help and support you can provide, this should be included in your redundancy plan.
Your redundancy legacy
The way a redundancy is handled and the help which is offered to people will mark you out as a great employer. Remember that disgruntled employees may be quick to post stories of their poor treatment on social media. This can be incredibly damaging when it is time to recruit at a later date.
It is always encouraging to hear positive stories from employees who felt their employers really cared and handled their redundancy well. I often hear the horror stories, but sometimes I hear positive ones as well. You really want your company to be included on the positive side.
