Leadership Lessons: Respectful Redundancy Conversations
Let’s be honest, most people feel anxious when it comes to communicating with an employee that their role has been made redundant.
You don’t need for the conversation to be perfect, in fact sometimes despite all the planning and preparation for whatever reason the conversation doesn’t turn out as expected e.g. the employee becomes emotional, you lose track of your script/speech and you forget to remind the employee about EAP.
I recently heard of an example of a long term employee’s role being made redundant. This employee works from home most of the time, however, lives in the same state as his manager and the head office. The employee was notified by email late on a Friday afternoon that their role had been made redundant. No meeting with the manager, no farewell or concern for the impacted employee. This employee was to finish immediately, IT access removed and that was it.
I was disappointed to hear of this example. At a minimum, the employee deserved an explanation and discussion and under some Awards a consultation process is required. Sure, they don’t have a human resources department, however, I would have expected the employee to be invited to the office for a meeting or via Zoom/Teams etc.
As you’d expect the employee was in shock and was disappointed that no-one at the organisation called them. Weeks later they are still reeling about the situation.
What can Leaders learn from this example?
Even if you are anxious or would prefer not to have the conversation with the employee, speak with your manager, human resources department or a trusted advisor about your concerns.
Plan and prepare for the meeting. Explain why the position has been made redundant, allow the employee to ask questions, the next steps and if appropriate to have a farewell.
Arrange the meeting in private space e.g. meeting room away from the team or if you cannot meet in person arrange a time for an online meeting.
Review the Award to ensure you are following consultation requirements, that it is a genuine redundancy and you are paying the correct entitlements.
Treat employees with respect and compassion throughout the process.
Put yourself in the impacted employee’s shoes. Consider how you would feel if you found out that your role had been made redundant via email.
Send an email confirming the conversation (not instead of).
Consider if you will offer outplacement services, to assist the employee to find another role.
Failing to manage these situations effectively, can damage your employer brand and retention of your current staff. Negative word of mouth can be powerful and despite this employee not taking action on the employer and instead focusing on moving forward, rather than dwelling on what’s happened, the employee may have reacted differently.
If you need support with changes in your organisation, please contact me to discuss.