Informing employees that their role is to be made redundant is never a pleasant task, not only for the employee but also for the individual having to break such news. Having recently participated in a live Q&A session that focused predominantly on public sector redundancies, many of the participants stated how difficult they were finding it to communicate bad news.

Stress, isolation and loneliness are common feelings expressed by those who find themselves in such a position. Just as individuals directly impacted by redundancy require support, it is equally important to ensure those making employees redundant have adequate support during this difficult time. One way to lessen the impact is to ensure due consideration is given to the overall process (including the consultation process), the key steps of which are outlined below:

1.  Planning and Preparation – This is crucial. Whatever business rational sits behind the decision, line managers need to know and fully understand the reasons for any termination. Criteria for selecting who leaves must be fair and non-discriminatory. Aside from legal reasons, this will help whoever delivers the message to explain the reasons for the decision confidently, clearly and concisely.

2.  Training – Running a termination meeting is extremely stressful. As such, the meeting needs to be conducted in a professional manner, so preparation is key. All paperwork should be prepared in advance and line managers should know beforehand precisely what they are going to say. It’s also worth trying to prejudge how an employee will react; thinking through the possible reactions and difficult questions will help you to remain in control and respond appropriately.

3.  Termination Meeting – This should be conducted in a neutral place, preferably somewhere where you will not be interrupted. It is common practice for the line manager and appropriate HR person to be present together. The employee may also wish to have someone present for moral support. This is a legal entitlement.

4.  Timing – Be fair to the individual by choosing a day or time that will provide enough space for them to absorb and adjust to the news before leaving the premises. If several individuals are affected at the same time, check that all relevant employees can be present and resolve how to deal with any absentees. As far as possible, avoid holding the meeting at lunchtimes, the end of the day, Friday afternoons or significant dates such as birthdays, anniversaries or just before holidays.

5.  Documentation – A personally addressed letter, checked by your legal advisors, that clearly sets out the reason for the termination, the effective date of the termination of contract of employment and the date of departure, should be handed to the employee at the meeting. The letter should also include financial details such as pay in lieu of notice, outstanding salary, accrued holiday pay, any bonus or SAYE considerations, as well as information about how and when the separation payment will be made and any information about the provision of outplacement services.

6.  Next Meeting – Do not assume that the individual hears much of what’s said after they have been told that they have lost their job. It’s important to plan a time and place for further discussion, perhaps a day or two later when thoughts have become clearer.

7.  Internal & External Communication – Providing coherent information is an important way of communicating positive messages about how redundancies have been handled. It also helps to quash the rumours that will inevitably circulate. Communicate news to immediate colleagues, associated departmental heads and any other people who need to know as soon as possible.

Making individuals redundant is never a pleasant experience and for those who are experiencing it for the very first, it is certainly a stressful and somewhat draining experience that often requires line managers to put aside their personal feelings. Having a well prepared mapped out process will help to ensure that employees are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve, hopefully reducing some of the stress often associated with such a difficult task.

When talking to clients about conducting a search, we often find that 90% of the challenge is in finding individuals who will best fit their cultural atmosphere. Many clients find this very surprising. Let’s look at the importance of this.

Unless there is a very highly specific skill set involved in the role, there should be plenty of potential candidates who are functionally qualified for the role. What you need to decide is how those potential people will fit into your team or organization. Are they going to add value to the general team environment or are they going to add disruption? Maybe some change and disruption is what you need.

This is where a good executive search partner really adds value over other recruitment methods. If your supplier has taken the time to get to know both you and your business, they should be able to look at a potential candidate in an interview and make an informed judgment call as to whether this is the right opportunity for them culturally and whether they are right for the opportunity.

Getting an individual who can integrate quickly into the environment and become an effective team player is worth more than any GPA or MBA. We are not suggesting here that you should hire clones. You want diversity both in backgrounds and attitudes, but you want similar values. I was reminded of this during a recent return visit to a hotel where I was sitting at the bar chatting to someone who had not been there before. She asked me why so many of the guests were repeat guests who come year after year. My simple answer was that, whilst we all come from different backgrounds – from lorry drivers to high court judges – we all have very similar views on what we want out of a hotel, which is why we all liked it and came back to it and spent time with each other.

Build your team dynamic carefully with individuals who have similar ethical and moral values. Just because someone is the best in the marketplace with a particular skill, it does not mean that they are the best person for you.

There are a variety of tools available to you to help assess this if you are not comfortable relying on your own experience. Psychometric is one useful tool that will highlight these issues, but is only valuable if you have already tested the rest of the team, including yourself. Another method is to come up with a set of standard questions that every potential candidate is asked.

The easiest way however, is to engage with a search provider who really understands your culture and values – who can read between the lines on a job specification and is able to tell you what is important about the potential candidate. Generally these relationships take time to build, but they are well worth the investment and will make your life easier in the end.

Some are born great and others have greatness thrust upon them. In privately-owned businesses, leadership is often passed down from one generation to the next, as parents groom their children to take the reins after they retire. Sometimes, though, it’s not such an obvious choice and founders find they have no natural successor waiting to step into their shoes.

Some of the world’s best-known businesses remain in private hands, with international reach to rival that of leading listed companies, significant brand equity or valuable intellectual property. For the generation that built them, succession planning can be a thorny and emotive issue. A charismatic leader who has made the company in his or her own image can be a hard act to follow, but their legacy and achievements have to be safeguarded.

In public companies too, nobody is irreplaceable but there will always be key roles where the baton needs to be passed smoothly into secure, capable hands; as well as those which require skill sets that are rare and difficult to find. Often, the internal talent pool provides able candidates – but even where talent has been incubated, it’s not always ready when you need it.

Businesses planning for smooth succession can benefit enormously from consideration of external talent. Rather than gambling the future by thrusting greatness on an individual who is not a perfect fit for the top job, preparing in advance to bring in the right talent can be in the best interests of the company and all its existing stakeholders. Looking round the market can also help the board to develop a better idea of leadership skills available in the market, against which to consider their other options. Even if the choice is made to keep succession in the family or select from home-grown talent, there may be an opportunity to plan for a broader recruitment need and support the incoming leader with additional commercial, financial, operational or other expertise to complement their strengths and enhance the management profile of the business.

In the current climate, no business can afford to be introspective. Listed and entrepreneur-led companies can equally benefit from surveying alternative talent before making pivotal appointments.

Redundancy is often a difficult experience for the employees involved. Financial pressures, feelings of failure and betrayal are commonplace. With the right support and advice these sentiments can lessen and to a degree disappear as people find new employment. However, for some individuals, the experience of being made redundant has a longer-term impact on their ability to build strong relationships with future employers, whether they are conscious of it or not.

Penna conducted a research project into the longer-term effects that being made redundant has on one’s future career motivations, relationships with future employers and whether it impacts the various generations differently. The findings proved to be extremely interesting, particularly at a time when organisations face twin dilemmas – managing organisational change as well as maintaining the loyalty and motivation of key talent.

Unsurprisingly, the area most significantly impacted by redundancy is the psychological contract between employer and employee. The contract between the former employer and the employee is often completely destroyed. This has obvious implications for the organisation that is making someone redundant, but also has consequences for the recruiting company, as employees are more guarded and less trusting.

Loyalty is similarly affected. Self-protectionism increases as individuals switch from being loyal and committed to their employer to being loyal to themselves. High engagement levels that were founded on trust and loyalty decline as employees develop a more transactional interaction with their employer.

Paradoxically, unlike the psychological contract and loyalty, personal motivation appears relatively unaffected by redundancy. In fact our research findings demonstrated that individuals were actually “more likely” or “as likely” to be as motivated as they were before, with very few people making a correlation between redundancy and motivation – positive news for the recruiting organisation.

Redundancy affects people in different ways. However, age can be a significant factor in the degree to which people are affected. From our research, those in “mid” career are more likely to be adversely affected by redundancy, whilst older and younger workers took a more pragmatic view.

Generation Y were shown to be more resilient when faced with redundancy. This is a reflection of the way they approach their careers – pursuing actions that enhance their skills and increase their employability, and fully expecting to work for several companies over their working life. Whilst they may not welcome redundancy, their outlook indicates that they accept it as being part and parcel of working life and are therefore more adept at dealing with it in a more positive way. This makes it possible for the psychological contract with their new company to be rebuilt quicker.

At the other end of the age spectrum are the baby boomers, who – despite potentially being more cynical to certain aspects of the career deal (such as loyalty and trust) – appeared to accept the changing nature of the employment contract.

Taken as a whole, our findings show that an employee’s personal experience of redundancy can have longer-term implications for future employers. There are two learning points we can take from this – providing departing employees with support to help them transition out of the organisation and into new roles will help to address issues of distrust, as employees feel that they have not been betrayed. For those organisations that employ these individuals, think about what measures you can take. Career management programmes will rebuild the psychological contract between employer and employee much more quickly and will demonstrate that you are an organisation that values its people. To adapt an oft-used phrase “Look after your employees’ careers and they’ll look after their employers’ interests”.