Making decisions that result in an employee losing their job is tough because most business owners are connected with their people on some level. When cuts have to be made, it can feel like you’ve failed and that you should have done something differently to avoid letting anyone go; that you’re a bad business person.
But redundancy is rarely the first option that you have considered. You’ve probably reviewed your overheads, suppliers, capped spending, borrowed money and perhaps even stopped paying yourself, and yet you’re still somehow the bad guy.
You may not have a HR person and you’re worried about the cost of getting one involved (because you need to save costs) and so you do the best you can with information from the Internet or the papers that you used last time you had to go through a redundancy process.
At the consultation meetings, the affected staff understandably fight their corner. They challenge why they are at risk; the process you are following; your scoring and whether you have properly considered other suitable alternatives. They tell you that they know a lawyer or ACAS, or their sister-in-law works in HR and you doubt every single step you take, convinced that you are going to get taken to a Tribunal. It’s stressful and depressing for you but you can’t share that because you have to focus on the emotions of those at risk of dismissal.
You worry about how you are going to pay the notice and redundancy payments (because contrary to what others think, you don’t have a bottomless pit of money). You also worry about how you are going to get the work done without the people you have made redundant; lifting morale amongst the staff that remain; and how the fact that you have made redundancies reflects on your business in your industry. Will your customers lose confidence in your viability?
And that’s why you have to do things properly and get the right advice before you even start the process. Brainstorm who should be involved in the process; your communication strategy; employee data; selection criteria; timescale; alternatives to redundancy; costs and prepare for those difficult conversations so you can move through it as painlessly as possible.
We’ve created a Guide for Employers on Handling Redundancy and you can get your free copy below.
You’re not on your own, even though it may feel that way.
