Hannah Webb People Consultant Ltd
With the latest changes announced in the autumn budget and generally turbulent times for organisations, we are seeing more and more reorganisations taking place – from departmental restructures to sadly, full business closures.
Here are my top tips if your organisation is considering needing to restructure.
Whilst restructuring isn’t nice, if it’s dealt with empathy and compassion, it ultimately leads to a better experience. Remember your ex/employees may continue to go on to be customers, and tell their friends about how well they were treated – ultimately this builds your ongoing brand.
I have two decades experience in HR with organisation in engineering, manufacturing, telecoms, retail and infrastructure. From building the strategy to executing the finer detail, I can support end to end, so if you’d like support with your next reorganisation or HR challenge please get in touch.
Plan carefully. Make sure you are clear on your legal obligations for example around consultation, reporting redundancies to the government and around statutory redundancy pay calculations. Source HR and/or legal expertise at an early stage to plan properly from the outset, which will be time and money well spent overall
Respect confidentiality at all stages. In the early stages before the changes are announced, do all you can to avoid rumour and speculation, be mindful of where the walls have ears! If sharing your screen on a Teams call, make sure all tabs are closed down, the list goes on…
Think about the subtleties. For example if you’re announcing a full closure of a business due to increased costs it may not be wise to hold the announcement at a luxury location like a 5 star hotel!
Don’t underestimate the toll that reorganising takes on people’s mindsets, your employees, reps, leaders, suppliers etc. Taking care of each other’s mental health is crucial at a time like this
a. If you’re in a safety critical place like a factory, you may need to plan for reduced running for a period of time
b. Check in on your key suppliers. The closing of your business may mean a huge financial hit on theirs
Pay attention to detail. If this isn’t your forte, delegate it to someone who is eagle-eyed. A spelling mistake on an announcement letter can lose credibility when you need it most. Similarly keep an eye on your language. If there is a proposal to close a business, it is a proposal until it’s been consulted on. Avoid saying this WILL happen because it could prejudice the consultation process
Don’t assume anything. For example one employee may be desperate to keep employed perhaps at a lower grade, but they value that continuity of service. Keep checking in on your employees throughout the process
Don’t overpromise in the consultation process. If you need to take something away and reflect on it then do that, rather than making a response in haste
Remember it is the role that’s redundant and not the person. Whilst it can feel personal, it should be remembered that the very best talent can be made redundant, and indeed the hope is they go on to get a great role somewhere else
Consider outplacement services like CV writing support and creating a job fair. Depending on your budget, and appetite to retain employees. In a full business closure your goal may be that people get a role elsewhere ASAP, whereas in a smaller restructure your key goal may be to retain people internally. Outsourcing the outplacement frees up people internally as it can be time-consuming, and may not be their expertise
Remember those employees who are remaining in the business – whether they now have bigger roles which absorb some of the activities from those departed; or perhaps they feel a loss or guilt over their friends who have left the business – it can be just as hard for them to rebuild and regain trust in the business
