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Oh God I am going to have to make some people redundant I know it

6 replies

suenonnydim · 07/05/2008 16:33

I have never done this before. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to make this less bad for the people who will be fired (no, thought not) and/or for those who will be left behind?

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Millarkie · 07/05/2008 16:41

How many people? Will they get a 'consultation' period?
Dh has been through redundancy twice - but both times he was made redundant at the same time as his team..and it was due to site closure rather than having to 'pick and choose' who stays and who goes.
Don't think there is an easy way - just be honest and make sure you do all the legal things (think there is advice on www.directgov )

suenonnydim · 07/05/2008 19:35

I think the HR team are ok and will keep me legal. I wondered if there are ways it can be humane - not the whole team goes.

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flowerybeanbag · 07/05/2008 19:44

sue don't have time now but will come back tomorrow with some tips

LittleMyDancing · 07/05/2008 19:45

You can't make it less bad than it is, but you can try not to make it worse.

The main thing is to be completely honest and open (as far as you legally can) with your workers. Don't conceal anything. Keep them informed about the whole process, even if they're not involved directly. There's nothing scarier than not knowing what's going on. You could try putting together a FAQ for everyone about what's going on, and making it available as soon as possible. And update it.

And provide a forum or a way they can ask questions about the process, even if it's just an email address. An anonymous box is good if you think some people might be too shy to speak up - you can answer the questions via the FAQ.

Let them know about financial settlements as soon as you can, so they can plan. You'd be surprised how many people will be quite happy to do something new!

And also...it's hard but don't get too emotionally involved. They rely on you to be a steady boss, sure and confident, and if you start getting wobbly and upset, it won't help them. Plus if you're keeping your job, they'll just resent it.

HTH

flowerybeanbag · 08/05/2008 10:30

Agree with everything littlemydancing says.

Couple of other points. It's unclear from your post whether it's just people in your team or a wider thing. All LMD's suggestions are good, but also crucial is consistency. Make sure you know whether there is an overall communications/management plan for the redundancies. Contribute suggestions to it if you can, but don't instigate your own plan outside of that if there are other teams that are affected that will be treated differently - that will negatively affect their situation. Be proactive and talk to HR about your suggestions, make sure it fits in with what's happening elsewhere.

Other suggestions

Make sure employees (all, not just those actually being made redundant) know where they can go for advice, assistance and support. This might be someone specific in HR, someone else in the organisation, you can also give outside phone numbers for support organisations if you think it's appropriate - don't know if your organisation uses an employee counselling line for example. Some point of contact often outside of their line management structure can be useful.

Make sure employees who are being made redundant know that they can take paid time off for interviews or job hunting. Offer them help with cvs if you can - HR obvious source for this but clearly check first before offering them and if they are not able to do it, you could. Help them draft responses to advertisements.

People who are left -

Will be anxious about job security - have individual meetings if possible to talk about their role going forward and reassure them.

Will be hugely critical of the redundancies if there is anything at all that is not handled perfectly and fairly. Make sure they get a full explanation of what's happened and know what policies/selection criteria were used.

Talk to them about why this was necessary, what changes are needed and why, and involve them in the 'moving on' process if possible.

suenonnydim · 08/05/2008 21:41

Thanks very much for the advice - much appreciated.

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