Redundancy Advice & Support
Making redundancies can be tough on anyone. Many of our clients have said it’s one of the hardest thing they had to do in their careers.
That’s why having the right advice and support on how to meet your legal requirements, and best assist your employees through the process to minimise stress on both parties is so essential.
There are a maze of legal obligations, best practice and emotions that go along with the process and PeopleStart are experts in the field, both in supporting the employer, and the employee, having helped our clients transition more than 1000 employees into new employment following redundancy in just the last couple of years.
If you’d like an initial free consultation or advice on redundancy so we can assess your situation, please reach out to us and we can point you in the right direction.
From there, if you’d like further assistance with any matters our specialist outsourced HR consultants can provide simple, practical guidelines and advice on how to walk through the process, following best practice that reduces risk to the business, whilst reducing stress on the employee.
We can also provide advice on how to maintain your company imagine and staff morale during this time.
We offer practical advice such as:
- Redundancy – Where do I start? What is a genuine redundancy and what do I need to do?
- Which employees are entitled to redundancy?
- What are my legal obligations?
- What do I need to pay?
- How do I approach the employees to let them know what is happening?
- How do I best deliver the message and what should I say?
- How can I assist my exiting employees to minimise the negative effect of redundancy?
- How do I maintain productivity with the remaining staff?
- Are there alternatives to redundancy? What are they?
PeopleStart are available to provide over the phone advice, or onsite support prior to and during the redundancy meeting as preferred.
Due to our years of experience, we’ve compiled a basic “How To” Instructional booklet on the redundancy process which is particularly useful for small business. This is available for free as part of our consultation service.
Redundancy Guideline
Our outsourced HR team will step you through the process of redundancy and in understanding both your legal obligations and how to best support your employee.
We’ve outlined some basic steps on the redundancy process for you below, to give you an overview of how things will usually progress.
The basic steps you must undertake
- Before making the final decision consult with the employee and let them know their position is being considered for redundancy, outlining the reasons why. At this meeting you should offer a support person
- Consider whether there is another role within the business which the person might have relevant skills for, or could be trained to undertake
- Work out the redundancy entitlements owed to the employee
- Have a second meeting with the employee informing them of either termination by redundancy, or any other roles which may be available within the business
- If there are other roles, give them a time period to consider this outlining the role requirements and pay and confirming the time by which they will need to make their decision. Inform them of their redundancy entitlements including if you will offer outplacement (read more about outplacement below)
- If a redundancy, advise the employee of whether you request them to work out their notice and when their final day is. It’s always good to consider a nice send off.
- If they accept a new role, offer them the formal employment by way of an employment contract or change of conditions letter. Include a formal start date.
Please consult us or seek other expert advice before undertaking these steps.
Redundancy entitlements include
- Termination notice period (based on length of service and age, either at NES or often there are more generous provisions within the EA or employment contract)
- Any outstanding leave entitlements including long service and annual leave
- Redundancy pay (based on the NES and length of service)
Small businesses, under 15 people are not required to pay redundancy in most circumstances, but the other standard termination payments would apply.
What is outplacement
Outplacement is a support service provided by some organizations to help former employees transition to new jobs, this is typically following a redundancy but can also be following termination re poor job fit or performance issues etc. A consultancy firm (such as our sister company Get Hired) usually provides the outplacement services which are paid for by the former employer and are achieved usually through practical advice, training materials and workshops. This includes assistance with resumes, job applications, interview training, career transition advice and other counselling.
What are the benefits of outplacement support?
- Reduces stress on managers during a time of difficulty
- Reassures remaining employees of your good intentions and prevents a drop in morale, motivation and productivity
- Provides support, confidence and clear direction for exiting employees
- Reduces risk of tribunals for unfair dismissal
- Continues to promote you as an employer of choice
Research shows that outplacement services can significantly reduce the time employees spend looking for new employment, up to 60% faster in fact.
Talk to us about our cost-effective Outplacement Services which drastically reduces the time your exiting employees will spend looking for work, and also helps your company maintain productivity & image during a restructure.
Or download a brochure outlining it here
It can reduce claims of unfair dismissal, employee grievance and support them into new employment up to
We urge our clients to consider this option wherever possible. You can find out more about outplacement by asking one of our consultants, or talking to our sister company at Get Hired.
Need People, Let’s Start
Our professional consultants have extensive industry experience and available to chat anytime. Reach out and we’ll happily answer your questions.
