WITH the recent budget announcement for Northern Ireland still ringing in the ears of many, there is a dawning realisation that when the percentages are examined, or as our American cousins might say “do the math”, then cutting into staff numbers is the stark reality.
While some senior executives look at external risks associated with cuts including everything from equality impact assessments to judicial reviews, others will be more introspective and think staff first.
All senior executives know exactly that percentage cut means redundancies and so begins the process of the unpleasant (but legally necessary) choreography of the redundancy procedure, assuming one exists and has been tried and tested years before.
But before getting into the transactional A, B and Cs of redundancy (with an emphasis on Cs – see below) it is worth bearing in mind some of the core aspects of good practice around the sensitivities associated with the distasteful process of dismissing staff on grounds of redundancy.
:: Communication – Never assume staff have read the news or heard about the percentage cut and have worked it out for themselves.
:: Candour – This is a commodity in short supply as executives fear it may come back to bite them but, trite as it seems, honesty, and early honesty at that, is the best policy.
:: Consideration – The consideration of alternatives to redundancy must be an early starting point and this will involve difficult decisions perhaps about headcount freezes, impacts on agency staff, revoking job offers and so on.
Consultation – Engaging with trade unions and employee representatives early in order to be transparent and open in your approach to how the process is going to work.
:: Consistency – If you have a pre-existing redundancy procedure one of the key issues will be the consistent application of that procedure.
:: Corner stones – Consult in a “meaningful way”, make sure it is done “in good time”, walk representatives through the W5 (what, why when etc) ensuring that you address core matters such as alternatives to redundancy and associated timelines.
:: Core issues – Decisions around terminating employment (regardless of redundancy, non-renewal, misconduct etc) are predicated on core principles such as – procedural correctness and underpinning substantive fairness and an industrial tribunal will search these out at an early juncture.
:: Contemplation – Engage with representatives at the “options paper” stage when redundancies could be contemplated and not at the “proposing to dismiss” stage otherwise it becomes akin to a fait accompli.
:: Contention – Expect negative reactions and resistance because this is a matter of people’s livelihoods and is very likely to make existing industrial relations tensions worse with vigilant trade unions watching every move and decision that is made.
The cold irony of all of this is not lost on us whereupon on one hand we talk about difficulties in some sectors regarding recruitment yet in others it is about redundancy and from here the percentage pressure relates to staff levels whilst in others it relates to pay rises.
These are difficult times and relationships will get strained accordingly so it is incumbent upon those making decisions not to make a bad situation worse.
:: Mark McAllister is director of employment relations services at Labour Relations Agency NI
