Restructures & Reorganisation

A number of factors could lead to you having to restructure your business and these might include financial reasons, customer demands, rapid growth, new IT systems, downsizing, outsourcing, selling your business, acquiring a business etc and the overarching benefit to the business could be, for example, increased competitiveness, operational improvements and increased efficiency. (click here for TUPE).

 

However, under most restructures or reorganisations there is usually some kind of change for your employees such as changes to job roles, reporting lines, responsibilities and changes to how work is done and work patterns – or even redundancy. An employer cannot make these kinds of changes without agreement and it is essential to engage in meaningful consultation with all staff affected by any proposed changes. Failure to do so could lead to, amongst others, a claim of constructive dismissal, where an employee states that they feel under duress to work to the new terms and conditions and feel compelled to leave.
 

Redundancy

Not the nicest part of managing a business but it is quite likely that at some stage you may need to consider reducing or realigning your workforce. As with any restructure, redundancies can have a huge effect on your business and, not only is it important to ‘get it right’ in terms of the legal processes, it is absolutely vital to get the people-relations part right too, both for outgoing and remaining staff.

 

Redundancy should not be used as an excuse to purely ‘get rid’ of an employee, rather consider using the Disciplinary or Capability process or, alternatively, a Settlement Agreement. Contact us to discuss your issue and we can advise on the most sensible route.

 

Redeployment

There is a misconception that a restructure or reorganisation automatically results in a redundancy situation but this doesn’t need to be the default position.  

 

Redeployment is placing a person in a role, or doing work, which they weren’t originally employed to do - It is typically used as an option rather than make a person redundant.

Redeployment can help businesses get the best out of employees, reigniting their passion for working in the business. When redeployment is done well, employees often experience the same excitement and passion for their new role that they had on their first day. It also helps to create a highly skilled and agile workforce that will adapt to future challenges or initiatives.

Redeployment has to be managed sensitively as it is highly emotive for the employee going through the process but, manage it right, and the benefits to the business can be significant.