When you are a business owner, you have many things that you need to worry about and juggle, and often employees are not aware of the challenges you face. It can be a daunting prospect when the business, for whatever reason, needs to let people go and make them redundant.
Making redundancies is not pleasant, and if this is something your company is facing, you need to ensure that you do everything correctly. Failing to do so can create more problems for your business, so you will want to try and avoid some of the common mistakes listed below when companies make employees redundant.
Make Sure You Seek Legal Advice
Before speaking to your employees about redundancies, you will first want to seek advice on redundancy law for employers, and there are many places you can get this. Ensure you get legal advice before looking at making redundancies, and you may find there are other options, and it can also save you from making potentially expensive mistakes. Making decisions before knowing all your options can be an expensive mistake so it is something you want to avoid doing.
Talking With Your Employees
You will also need to ensure that you talk to your employees about the potential of redundancies within the company. You need to make sure you speak to everyone in the company, and not only those in the office, so if you have remote workers or people based in the office temporarily, you will need to talk to them.
Taking A Last In First Out Approach
Traditionally it was always seen as fair when the last person to join the company was the first to be made redundant, but those times have gone. You need to avoid this way of thinking and look at the redundancies strategically, making the best decision for your business, no matter if it is a hard choice. Making the last person to join the company redundant could see you being taken to a tribunal, so you will want to avoid doing it.
Using Furlough Pay To Calculate Redundancy Pay
Your employees are entitled to compensation when you make them redundant through no fault of their own. However, you need to ensure that when you are calculating their redundancy package, it is based on their full salary. If you have had employees away on furlough on a reduced wage, using this figure to calculate the redundancy you will pay can lead to legal problems if they take you to a tribunal.
Hiding Assessment Scores From Employees
When you are going through the redundancy process, you will assess all workers at risk of losing their jobs and score them accordingly. However, you will need to ensure that you share employees’ scores with them and show them the breakpoint that would save their position and other scores within the pool to see where they fit. Although you will want to ensure the different scores you share with the employee are anonymous.
When your business is struggling and redundancies are looming, seek professional advice about redundancies and help ensure you do not make the problem worse by burying your head in the sand.