In its
latest monthly survey, the British Chamber of Commerce revealed a continuing threat to the labour market, with more than half of the firms surveyed considering or certain to make redundancies in the next 6 months.
Only a few days beforehand, the BCC posted
an article suggesting businesses are putting off redundancies (the report referred to was mentioned in
a previous post), for fear of being sued; the biggest fear among business owners was the lack of available funds for payouts.
The appropriate action for any business facing even the possible need for redundancies should be to plan for this now. Whether any funding concerns relate to the inability to pay for redundancies or deal with a subsequent claim for unfair dismissal, ignoring the realistic needs of the business will not help its long-term future.
Dealing with preliminary matters now – such as getting staff reps in place & discussing with them the prospects for the company – will certainly ensure staff know where they stand, and this could help identify alternatives to redundancy that improve the company’s performance or finances, and may avoid some need for staff cuts.
In those cases where redundancies become a necessity, having dealt with some matters in advance will also ensure the process can be quicker, and the benefits for the business will be realised sooner.
Useful sources for general advice on redundancies include Personnel Today’s “
Managing redundancies: trade secrets”, RMS International’s “
5 Phases of Good Redundancy Management”, Employment Law Clinic’s
commentary on redundancies, or for more detailed guides, see the CIPD
Redundancy factsheet, or the ACAS guide “
Redundancy handling”.
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51% of businesses at least considering redundancies in next 6 months
