Redundancies: Doing it Right - HR Business Consultants

Redundancies: Doing it Right - Covid19 and Its Fallout

Our client was a medium-sized company, with 22 employees. Unfortunately, as a result of a downturn in business resulting from the recent Covid-19 pandemic, the firm needed to reduce overheads, and thus with regret, redundancies were on the cards.

The Task: To Assess the Situation in Full, and Agree the Best Way Forwards

As highly experienced consultants, our team always works on full transparency, therefore we needed to see the full picture, and for our client to consider the following three scenarios. It was vital for the owners to recognise the full impact that specific changes would bring to the company, based on three distinct scenarios. Thus, we discussed and agreed that the following would “look like”:

Business continues at its current level
Business increases
Business declines

Based on each of these what-if outcomes, HR Business Consultants helped our client put practical plans in place, including a full headcount review. From this clearer overall picture, not least regarding their pipeline and forecast, the business was in a better position to create their 12-month strategy going forwards.

The Actions: Practical Solutions

We encouraged our client to consider alternatives to redundancy. These included reducing working hours or salaries; however, they were obliged to reject these as insufficient ways to reduce costs.

The review completed, and with no increase in business, our client’s employees engaged fully in the process.

We discovered that should they decide to halt a single project, rather than affect just one or two people, there would have been a considerable across-the-board effect for the whole team. As there were eight developers, a Quality Assurance specialist and a Head of Development on board, and given that the entire team worked on all current projects, this course of action would have had across-the-board, one-for-all results.

HR Business Consultants met the consultants, and then the developers to explain the situation, including full disclosure regarding potential redundancies. We outlined the process, and the steps that were planned:

Individual consultations
Agreement of redundancy selection criteria
Scoring and verification by another colleague, to verify the scoring
Announcement of scores
Informing those who scored the lowest, along with a discussion of the scores
The removal of the list of not at-risk individuals
Continuation of the consultation, and a review of alternatives, including sabbaticals, job shares and/or reduced hours

The Results

It became clear that it was necessary to make two developers and one consultant redundant, which took place. Two consultants came forward during the process, requesting to reduce their hours, resulting in one headcount being reduced – thus saving two consultants.

We successfully managed an amicable final result: the removal of two developers and two consultants due to the business downturn.

    
 
 
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   Christian Faversham 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. We have used HR Business Consultants for a few years now. Jane's work is invaluable and has helped us deal with a particularly difficult member of staff situation. Jane's experience was second to none all throughout, I can only dream that one day I might have a fraction of Jane's HR knowledge.
  
 
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   Coherence Digital 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. I came to HR Business Consultants to draw up an employment contract for a new Kickstarter as we have no HR resource. Jane was prompt and helpful with her advice and delivered exactly what we needed! I would not hesitate in using HR Consultants again for any HR related assistance.
  
 
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   Angela Ford 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. We have worked with Jane over the past year and found her to be very friendly,  quick and accurate with her advice. Jane is extremely professional and reliable for our HR requirements. We will continue using Jane and would highly recommend HR Business Consultants.
  
 
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   Josie Herbert 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Jane’s decades of experience, in-depth knowledge and genuine compassion shine through in every conversation. If you’re looking for an HR professional who’s able to pick up quickly and have the hard conversations with employees, while ensuring that your organisation complies with its legal obligations, then Jane comes highly recommended.
  
 
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   Mark Ellul 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Having Jane at the end of the phone is invaluable for our business. She goes above and beyond to provide support and solutions for all our HR questions and issues. She has recently completed a full Contract review for us efficiently and cost effectively, thus enabling us to roll out new documentation exactly when it was needed. I would not hesitate in recommending HR Business Consultants to all.
  
 
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   Anthony Goold 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. I met Jane at a networking meeting over 3 years ago and I’m so glad I did.
She’s so patient, understanding and fair, for both employer and employees. Jane is also incredibly honest and I know that if I get the thumbs up from her, I have done it right.

I’ve found her easy to talk to, available and she always seems to have the answer. Jane is always happy to get involved too. I have a great team and I think they get value from Jane’s ability to communicate clearly and impartially. They all know they are taken seriously.

Jane revamped our HR manuals when we outsourced our HR to her to include a lot of new legislation and knowing it’s all up to date helps me sleep at night.

If you’re looking for a straight forward, common sense approach to HR, give Jane a call.
  
 
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   Charlotte Bateup 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. I have know Jane for several years now and the advice and help I have received has always been fantastic. Jane is professional yet personable and provides information in a clear and relatable way thats makes some of the HR challenges much easier to overcome. I would recommend HR Business Consultants with confidence knowing Jane will always give 100% to every client.
  
 
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   Guildford RFC 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. HR Business Consultants offer a great bespoke HR service.  I had relatively small HR issue - however nothing was too much trouble and they were able to help me to get to a sensible, practical solution.
I would throughly recommend them, if you have any HR issues whether just a one off issue or on-going support to support your business.