Do you know how to manage a redundancy process?
If your business is forced to reorganise, or loses a major source of business you may need to make employees redundant. Here we take a look at the steps to take to properly handle employees during a challenging redundancy scenario.
At risk meeting
Holding an ‘at risk’ meeting with affected employees will help demonstrate that any decision to dismiss an employee by reason of redundancy was fair and reasonable. There is no need for an employee representative to attend as this is an informal meeting. Every employee that might be affected needs to attend the ‘at risk’ meeting. The overall purpose of the ‘at risk’ meeting is to highlight the situation the company is facing and how it will impact on the employee.
Consultation meeting 1
All subsequent meetings are formal and the employee enjoys the right to bring a representative. You should highlight the selection process you have used to select employees for redundancy. This could be a ‘last in, first out’ policy or a skills matrix which identifies the skills which are required to continue the business. You must assess if there are any alternative roles within the organisation that employees could take up to avoid being made redundant. If employees submit suggestions which they think will save their jobs, you must at minimum investigate the effectiveness of any such ideas.
Consultation meeting 2
The second meeting is designed to provide feedback on the alternatives that your employees have highlighted. You should clearly set out the reasons as to why the employees’ suggestions are either viable or not viable from a business perspective. The second meeting also provides the affected employee with a further opportunity to offer alternative suggestions.
Formal notice meeting
All employees should be brought in separately and informed if they have been selected for redundancy or not. If employees have applied for other roles within your organisation, they should be informed of the outcome of their application. The amount of the employee redundancy payment together with any holiday and bonus pay should be communicated to the employee.
Take detailed minutes of all meetings
The guiding principle to remember in any redundancy situation is that it is the job that is made redundant and not the employee. You must ensure that the decision to make redundancies was fair and reasonable and that all meetings are documented. Always take minutes each step of the way.
Downsizing your business? Need some advice to check that you are complying with redundancy laws? Don’t ask yourself, ask us. Contact our expert employment law advisors 24 hours a day on 0818 923 923.
