When you decide to let go of a part of your workforce, you have many things to take into account. At the centre of these things are your employees and their future after they leave your organisation. This issue when accounted for, the importance of having a good HR team rises significantly. The HR wing of any organisation is directly responsible for the recruitment and dismissal of employees. It’s always better to have a job done by people who specialise in that specific field, but sometimes the best HR teams need support of some sort too.
How to support your HR team
When it’s that time of the business cycle when you have to deliver redundancies to your employees, one of the most immediate matters to be addressed is having a strong and effective HR team. They must be able to deliver redundancies and outplace the employees that are being let go, smoothly. It’s known that the HR offices are busy throughout the year. There’s no period in which one can say that the HR workload is infinitesimal. However, if there is a period when one can say that the HR workload is hefty, then surely it is the redundancy period. In this period, you need to support your HR team in the form of more time, resources, tools and most of all your advice.
Along with all the other employees, regardless of those being made redundant or not, the managers in your HR staff are your employees too. It’s important that the HR managers are supported and reminded of their own needs too. While looking after the needs of the other staff, managers can often forget that they too are likely to need some support to help them through the changes ahead. After all, redundancy comes when there is change and change has its effects on all parts of a corporation. HR officers should know where they will get the help they need. They should be prepared to make themselves adept for the changes ahead. This help can come from other mentors, fellow employees, senior management or the business owner themselves. Alternatively, HR teams can receive support during redundancies by utilising the specialist skills of outplacement service providers.
Delivering redundancies is a very hard job
It’s very difficult to tell a colleague that they are going to be laid off. In the process of breaking this bad news to so many employees, the managers need mental support along with those being laid off. Especially within smaller organisations where the HR team is more likely to know different staff members personally. The emotional burden of being the link between business goals, business needs and those directly affected by job cuts can be significant.
Further ways to help
There’s a simple walkthrough to support your HR team to deal with these problems. First of all, clear and transparent communication is pivotal. There should be a seamless conveyance of the message from the top office to each and every one of the employees. There should be a feeling of transparency. Thiswill make the HR staff feel like they are just the bridge between the executives and the employees. This will help the HR staff feel less emotionally strained. After all, it’s not their choice to keep the employees or not.
The HR team will need more time to handle all the tasks, from delivering the news to ensuring outplacements; consequently, they may have to work overtime. Some additional assistance for the HR team at this critical time will do very nicely. This can be a few extra hirings in the HR team or asking employees to share their workload. If professional outplacement providers have been utilised to help support your employees in their career transition, this services must also include support to your HR team. Outplacement providers can provide your HR teams with support throughout the redundancy process. Including initial meetings, appeals, communications to exit interviews.