The impact of the furlough scheme drawing to a close has caused many employers to consider restructuring. We explore five reasons why leaders should demonstrate compassion during any redundancies, and how it can benefit your business long term.
By compassion we don’t simply mean a level of empathy or altruism. All three are linked but compassion goes a step further. While empathy allows us to understand another’s perspective and their emotions, compassion can be seen as having the additional the desire to help.
So why might this be beneficial?
Reducing risk
If your approach incudes genuinely listening to and supporting the employee, this will be evident to them. They will feel that their consultation is sincere and meaningful, reducing fears that decisions have already been made prior to the process beginning. This will reduce the risk of expensive unfair dismissal claims following a redundancy.
Employer brand
Failing to engage in a meaningful way with employees undergoing redundancy consultation can lead to conflict and disputes. This animosity often spills over into the public domain, even without tribunal claims, and can damage the reputation of the employer. While you may be reducing your workforce now, there is likely to come a time when you are recruiting and employer brand is vital when it comes to attracting key talent. LinkedIn recently shared their research that candidates trust the company’s employees 3x more than the company to provide credible information on what it’s like to work there. So what your outgoing employees put into the public domain, for example on social media or sites like Glassdoor, will have a measurable impact. Don’t let your lack of compassion for outgoing employees affect your ability to bring on board new ones.
Employee engagement
Once redundancies have come in to effect, morale of remaining employees can give rise to feelings of ‘survivor’ guilt, loyalty towards lost colleagues, resentment towards management and fear of future job cuts. In addition, there are often resulting changes to team dynamics and workload. Compassion throughout any such process can earn trust, maintain engagement and reduce the likelihood of negative impacts through absenteeism or turnover not just in outgoing employees but in their remaining colleagues.
Consumer brand image
It’s becoming more and more apparent that your employer brand can affect your consumer brand – both are intrinsically linked. Consumer behaviour is heavily influenced by stories from employees on how they have been treated. Recent examples include BrewDog, with allegations of a toxic culture of fear, and Weatherspoon’s refusal to pay staff once the pubs closed as a result of the pandemic. Both in the national news and both seeing impacts on brand reputation. So treating outgoing employees with compassion is vital to maintaining consumer confidence.
Feel good
Research has shown that when we feel compassion, our heart rate slows down and parts of the brain linked feelings of pleasure light up, leading to lasting increases in happiness. This can make leading a difficult process just that a little more bearable.
So what might a compassionate process look like?
Here’s how
In addition to the steps of a consultation process, try to build in:
- Empathetic, sincere language that shows how much you care
- Details on why this is happening, what you did to avoid it and how you’ve made it as fair as possible
- Acknowledge past contributions made; this isn’t about part performance or personality
- Come prepared with levels of support you are able to offer
- Come prepared to signpost to relevant organisations employees can turn to for more help. Think about employee assistance programmes, counselling services, benefits and other relevant information
- Take time to understand each individual’s personal circumstances, what do they need which you can provide?
- Allow time for them to digest information and give feedback, suggestions or ask for help
- Listen fully to all ideas and suggestions
- Do whatever you can to help redeploy those at risk
- Ensure they fully understand their rights and options and there are open channels to discuss these on demand
- Allocate dedicated resources for outplacement or other career support such as CV writing or interview skills to help secure their next role
If you are considering a restructure and need help managing a redundancy process or providing support, get in touch today.