Labor & Employment Law

Restructuring Survivors - the Oft Forgotten Group

By Michael Fitzgibbon

Here's a topic that I've done quite a bit of research and thinking on (I have a file folder full of material for a paper that I have yet to write - I have many such folders).  I saw a post over at Management-Issues entitled Don't Forget the Redundancy Survivors. 

In any event, companies, especially today, must remain "nimble" and that, often denotes, the highly disruptive decision to "restructure".  Oh, such a simple word, with such significant consequences - to the organization but, of course, to the workforce. 

Who stays (i.e. the "survivors") and who goes (the "terminated") is a critical decision in the success of any restructuring.  Getting this right is absolutely critical to the viability of the new corporate model/structure and considerable attention should, and generally is, paid at this stage.

The next stage is to develop a strategy for dealing with those "displaced" (a polite way of saying "terminated") by reason of the restructuring.  This will involve, among other things, determining an appropriate severance package and the components that will go into that, such as, compensation, benefits, reference letters, outplacement counseling among others.  Where the restructuring involves many employees being terminated, a "flexible" formula of some sort may be devised as a guide.  Then, the logistics of communicating the decision are also considered at this stage - this is the who, how, when and where. 

The decisions are communicated, the people leave and life goes on, right?

Well, yes, a new day will dawn, but the organization requires "people" to conduct the business.  Without people the organization is, well, nothing. 

So have you given any thought to dealing with the "survivors"?  These are people who, for varying lengths of time, have worked shoulder to shoulder with the people who have been terminated.  This is a time of great uncertainty and stress when, more than ever, the organization requires that people are "pulling on the oars" and have bought into the new direction, as difficult as this may be when your best friend is no longer on the team. 

What specific plans do you have in place, in advance, to motivate people to commit to the job at hand when they are, often, not involved in the decisions, may feel powerless, confused and uncertain?  This will involve developing a communication strategy but also have in place means for dealing with the uncertainty.

Every restructuring is different, and there are no "off the shelf" solutions here.   What is important is that you know your workforce far better than anyone, and should objectively assess anything you decide to do when dealing with them and not overlook this exceedingly important group when planning the reorganization.

Full post as published by Thoughts from a Management Lawyer on May 14, 2008 (boomark / email).