Supporting Employees Through Redundancy is More Important Than Ever
Since the original publication of this article in January 2020, the outbreak and spread of coronavirus has affected the global world of work. This has resulted in an increasing number of people facing redundancy and needed more support than before. The virus has affected individuals, companies, and entire industries. Some companies and industries may never recover; others may have to reinvent themselves entirely.
An Increase in Redundancies Worldwide
As planning for strategic changes commence, many organisations will have to make difficult staffing decisions. British Airways recently announced 12,000 redundancies stating that it would take several years for air travel to return to pre-virus levels. There will be many more announcements of large-scale layoffs over the next few months as companies evolve to align with the change in consumer and business needs.
Technological Advances; The Ultimate Balance
The adoption of technological tools is occurring at rapid speed. In today’s fast-paced world, technological advances are developing simultaneously in different fields of work. One technology is coming onto the market after the other in fast succession. Whilst this has enabled many organisations to continue to run during multiple lockdowns and restrictions, it may also shed light on areas that would benefit from automation, or processes that need streamlining within businesses.
Before coronavirus, it was only a matter of months between a job vacancy opening in a company and the company not needing the service of a human anymore for that particular purpose. Automation and artificial intelligence were devouring thousands of jobs worldwide and this trend will most likely continue. Additionally, the world employment market also has to deal with the effects of Covid-19. Redundancy support for employees is increasing by the day.
Redundancy Support for Employees
Operating a redundancy support programme has many benefits to both employees and employers. Redundancy support can work in many ways. It may be career development, advising the employers, skill training for employees and transferring the employees facing redundancy to fields of work where they are still very useful. Such a programme may also help to prevent some redundancies in the first place. It can keep them from becoming unemployed by helping them to learn new skills that they will need to stay useful for the employer. Employees themselves should be on the watch for any potential dangers to their employment. If they see they are going to have trouble in the future, they need to seek career management advice and attain the latest skills to keep their job.
What are the Benefits of Providing Redundancy Support?
The most pronounced benefit of such a programme is for both the organisation, and the worker. If the organisation retrains an employee to retain them in the workforce, both sides win. This is because a current employee who has experience working with a particular organisation is usually better than a new one, who is yet to learn the dynamics of the workplace. If we look from the employee’s viewpoint, retaining a job through a redundancy wave will give them encouragement to work harder and will motivate them to keep training to keep along their old colleagues and their old job.
In case the employee is made redundant and can no longer hold a job at the company, career transition support can help them cope with the stress and help them find a job. It is always easier to find a new job when it is done with the help of professionals. In this case, the specialists who will help the employee through this period will have direct experience of working with those facing redundancy. They will know how they need to be treated, and what information they need to prepare them for the job hunt and a new role.
Sometimes, technology destroys a profession. Sometimes a person has to completely leave the job sector when all the skills they had acquired during their working period go useless. Moreover, sometimes we cannot predict the factors that will leave somebody redundant, such as has happened in 2020. Redundancy support helps them in their plans by providing advice and support when it is needed the most.
Employer Reputation
The coronavirus crisis has given HR teams the platform to bring their company values to life. Focusing more on the well-being of their employees than ever before in many cases. If carried out successfully, the reputation of that organisation as an employer would have increased. Providing the best outplacement services from those employees will only help to build upon the reputation. When the time comes to expand the business again, it will be easier to re-hire previous employees, and attract the best talent.