When the organisation needs to restructure and potentially place roles at risk of redundancy there is a huge amount of pressure on the CPO and HR teams to ensure the business is protected whilst providing the least stressful and difficult process for the employees.
Working with the Senior Leadership Teams to agree what the new structures could look like, identifying those people whose roles are impacted, deciding what the best approach to take regarding pooling, matching, consultation, employee representative groups, the timing of any communications and providing a fair process for people to express their interest in new roles can take up so much of your time and be completely absorbing. Depending on the numbers impacted and the complexity of your organisation, it can feel like a never ending and thankless task.
And then there’s the ‘human factor’
You know that being placed at risk is one of the most stressful events of someone’s career, you’ve more than likely been made redundant, or been close to it, at some point in your own career. Despite what we know to be logical, there is always a sense that it is personal, that it is a rejection and, of course, we all respond differently and move through the change curve at different speeds and with different levels of damage to our financial, emotional, and physical health.
From ON DEATH AND DYING by Dr Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Copyright © 1969
You most likely work in HR because you want to do right by people, you want to make sure they are treated fairly, with dignity and respect, whilst maintaining the future viability of the organisation. Leading a restructuring programme can leave you feeling like the baddie, when you really want to be a goodie!
The people who are successful in securing roles in the new structure may feel bruised and battered by the experience. Often there is a need to put communications plans and training interventions in place to rebuild trust, provide clarity about the new vision and strategy, and find ways to build inclusion and connectedness in the new structure. It can take many months for the organisation to recover after a major restructure, and there can be plenty of fall out afterwards, including attrition, all of which will add to the Leaders workloads and stress.
But what about those who are made redundant? What does your organisation do to support them?
The people who are being let go have the potential to be ambassadors for your organisation, indeed they may go and work for your customers, suppliers, or competitors, or even come back to your organisation at some future point. Their perception of your company and the leadership team will be impacted by the way they are treated during this most stressful of times. So how do you make it as positive an experience as possible? In theory it’s quite straight-forward, but not always easy to do in practice and involves:
Treating people like adults (because they are adults). Sharing as much information as you can, as quickly as you can and genuinely consulting on opinions, ideas, and suggestions.
Making the process as simple and respectful as possible. If you can avoid making people jump through hoops, then do. A desktop matching exercise is quicker and kinder than forcing people to interview for roles and compete against each other. When designing your process try to keep it simple and kind.
Offering outplacement support. Not everyone will want it or use it but knowing that it is offered shows that the organisation has thought about the impact, has tried to mitigate it and genuinely wants to help people move forward. It can help you, as HR, signpost people to the available support and sleep better at night knowing that you have done all you can for them, despite the difficult circumstances.
Where possible, outplacement advice, or career transition support as it is also known, should be offered to leaving employees to maintain their morale and help them find alternative employment. This support provides practical advice and training, for example how to write an attention getting CV, or how to be confident interview, as well as emotional support around resilience, decision making and self-confidence.
The CIPD has a useful factsheet about Redundancy and recommends the use of outplacement support.
Redundancy | Factsheets | CIPD
Outplacement support and advice can be provided via:
- Your L&D and Talent Attraction teams, working together to build and deliver internal workshops and provide resources to help people work through the changes, develop their CVs and prepare for interviews.
- If you have large numbers, or people across many geographies, you could use a Talent Mobility Organisation, like Randstad, LHH or Right Management, who manage the delivery for you using their tried and tested approaches and networks of Career Coaches, CV Writers and online platforms.
- Or, if it is a small number of people, or if you want something a bit more bespoke, say for specialists or a senior level role, you could provide them with a 121-Career Transition Coach to guide them through the change at their own pace.
Outplacement support, whether provided in house, by a talent mobility organisation, or by a Career Transition Coach, will likely include the following:
- Exploration of what skills and experience the individual has, and what they want and need in the future, so that they can make informed decisions about what to do
next. - Development of a career transition plan, how to present their skills and experience in a CV, on Linked-in and in person. Building their ‘STAR Stories’ to showcase their experience and talents and being intentional with their personal brand.
- How to find relevant opportunities, whether via their network, adverts, agencies, or referrals, and making successful applications.
- Preparation for interviews, assessments, and presentations so that they receive the offers they want.
- Deciding and negotiating on an offer and getting ready to transition into the new role so that they land well.
There is a lot of work involved in implementing a restructure and supporting people through career transitions like this in a positive way. For Hr professionals it can be all consuming and exhausting. As you face into this, I hope that you have a good team around you that appreciate and support each other, making it all more do-able. And don’t forget to look after yourself too, you know the saying about putting your own oxygen mask on first before helping others.
If you think it would be helpful to have an objective, confidential, non-judgemental ally by your side as you work through this challenging time, or if you would appreciate some help designing and delivering a package of support, please get in touch and we can start a conversation.