What’s the best way to manage communication around redundancy?

In my last blog, I talked about how important it is for employers to be fair in how they deal with staff who are facing redundancy. Making someone compulsorily redundant is never a pleasant process, but it’s made an awful lot easier if you put in the effort to get it right.

At the time of writing, the end of the Government-backed furlough scheme is just 47 days away, leaving businesses who may be considering redundancies with limited time to put a fair and reasonable plan into place.

If you are thinking about restructuring as a result of the pandemic, or for any other reason, there are all sorts of things you’re required to do in order to stay within the law, and still more that constitute best practice, and my previous article outlines those as a broad summary.

However, the most important thing you can do is to be straight with the people who are directly affected and, if there’s more than one person at risk of losing their job, to make sure you treat everyone in exactly the same way.

Be straight with people.

There really is no way of sugar-coating the fact that someone may be about to lose their job and the security it brings, yet it doesn’t stop many employers from trying to soften the blow by going round the houses in the way they communicate.

Unless you have a stone for a heart, telling someone their role is at risk is horrible for everyone involved in the conversation.

It’s horrible for the employee because they’re suddenly faced with the possibility of losing their income (which obviously puts other areas of their life at risk). It’s horrible for you because the staff affected may be loyal and valued members of your team who’ve simply had the misfortune to be in a role that is now surplus to the business’ requirements.

It’s rare, though not impossible, for a redundancy process to come as a total surprise to staff. Most businesses get leaky in challenging times. But while you can’t assume knowledge on the part of your teams, it will pay you to approach things as directly as possible.

A conversation about someone’s redundancy is not the time for pussyfooting around and trying to lead into things gently. At this point you should be aiming for a direct message delivered with respect and empathy.

Where many managers make a mistake is in trying to give the employee the context for the decision they’re about to communicate in the (usually vain) hope that understanding the broader picture will somehow make things easier for that member of staff. It won’t.

A person who is about to be told their job is being made redundant does not, at that point, care at all about the challenges your business is facing. By effectively seeking to justify a difficult decision, you’re really just trying to make it easier for you to live with it – and the employee probably knows it.

The better strategy is to begin the conversation by explaining that a review of the business’s future operational requirements has identified that the role the individual is in is no longer required and it is therefore being made redundant.

Note the phrasing here. It is not a person being made redundant, it is the job they do or the role they’re in. It’s a small but vital distinction.

Be kind in how you deliver it and understand that for many people this may be devastating news to have to hear.

Once you’ve communicated it, you can then move on to the reasons for your decision, the process that will now take place and any options that may be available to them through redeployment.

But before you do any of that, just give them a moment or two to absorb what they’ve just heard.

Bear in mind, too, that human nature dictates that most people are likely to take news of a redundancy personally, even though the reasons for the decision that’s been taken are strategic and not related in any way to the person sitting opposite you.

For that reason, ensure the conversation you have is impersonal (another reason why talking about the role rather than the person in it will help you as an employer) and informed by business strategy.

The shock of receiving news of an impending redundancy is such that many employees forget to ask about the practicalities of what happens next, so make sure you’re fully up to speed on the process that follows and have an information pack that answers some of the immediate questions they may have.

These might include:

·         What is the redundancy process?

·         What is the next step?

·         What support is available from the company?

·         What are the timescales?

Done well, with careful planning and the right advice, managing communication around redundancy doesn’t need to be unnecessarily difficult.

The people directly affected may be upset and/or angry – and that’s natural, so be as understanding as possible – but they will find it much easier to come to terms with the process and engage positively with it if they feel their individual needs have been respected and taken into account.

If you’re considering making redundancies but aren’t sure of the best way to approach it, we’re on hand to support you and your business through the process. Get in touch today for an informal, no-obligation chat.