Katherine Wiid, Career Management Coach, comments:
There’s a UK-wide surge of companies restructuring in order to prepare for Brexit, and reduce the potential damage. As companies are changing in preparation, they might realise that some of their staff are not changing at the same pace, leaving some employees behind. But rather than force these employees out, or make them redundant, the first step is to evaluate the value of long-term employees and their dedication to the business.
If one of your employees has been ‘left behind’ and you don’t feel they’re performing as well as they could be – the first instinct is to cut the slack. In a weak economy, your business can’t afford to be carrying dead weight.
But before you make redundancies, consider the impact that this will have on the employees left behind; poor morale, employees losing faith in you, reduced productivity rates… the list goes on. Instead of making redundancies, now is a good time to consider proactive retention practices.
Restructure rather than make redundancies.
Redundancies cost companies time, and money. They also often lead to the domino-effect – prompting other employees to hand in their notice. Before you look externally to fill these new roles, why not give your current employees the opportunity to grow and take on new responsibilities and challenges?
Recent reports have also revealed that there are increasingly fewer candidates applying for each role, making recruitment harder than ever (with two thirds of employers reporting that vacancies are hard to fill according to the latest Labour Market Outlook report from CIPD.) Now is not the time for UK companies to be losing their talent!
Upcycling talent.
Restructuring allows you to recalibrate - refine your company processes, revaluate your teams and ensure that everything is working as well as possible.
Instead of saying goodbye, think about where employees could have a new start and a chance to impress again. Do they have dormant talents that haven’t been used in years? Are they open to training opportunities in order to take on new responsibilities? Often these employees have become overly comfortable in their role, having done it day in day out for years. This dedication is valuable, and you won’t easily be able to replicate it in a new recruit so it’s important to focus on staff retention instead. Push your long-standing employees out of their comfort zone and challenge them. What would they like to be doing more of? What dormant talents have they got that could benefit your organisation and help it to ride the Brexit tsunami?
I work with lots of local companies who are in the process of restructuring, and one helpful tip is to step back. Take a look at the wider picture - observe your people and the jobs they are doing with fresh eyes.
This isn’t just in the company’s interest. Restructuring allows you to reevaluate – but also allows your employees to take a step back and consider what else they could be doing. If the restructured business is no longer making the most of that person’s skills, now is the chance to agree this and help them find a new opportunity that does. By doing this you are keeping your employees engaged whilst making them feel valued.
Support your employees.
With all this uncertainty over employment, wages, and the UK economy, it’s more important than ever to be offering support to your employees. Your team needs your reassurance! And outplacement support offers just that. As well as offering them a third-party ear to air their concerns to, you are giving them a chance to make a positive career choice be it within your organisation or encouraging them to make a fresh start.
Working with candidates allows me to see first hand what outplacement support can offer. Reassurance, re-motivation, a refreshed outlook…
“Working with Katherine as a Career Management Coach has been instrumental in correcting my career path, and has changed the way I present myself to others. I had to stop and think about my past and current performance, how others were seeing me and what mattered for my career. It can be hard and painful to do this on your own, and I found it very helpful to go through this process. I would highly recommend working with Katherine …..”
Outplacement is proven to increase staff retention rates, boost team morale, increase productivity levels and more. All of which should be music to decision makers’ ears during the current uncertain times…
If you would like to find out more about Career Management Coaching to retain your employees or Outplacement Support when they are leaving, get in touch with Katherine Wiid at Career Ambitions.