What To Do When Dismissals Aaffect Your Staffs' Morale

What To Do When Dismissals Aaffect Your Staffs' Morale

The recesssion has raised concerns in managers, that are often voiced on management training courses, on how to deal effectively when redundancy is in the air. The experience of managing redundancies is never easy. Even experienced managers struggle because dismissals damage morale in the whole company, leaving their mark on the employees who remain in their jobs. Slumps in output and productivity are frequent after redundancies are announced. So just when the managment needs everyone to be working as efficiently as possible, morale and productivity fall. This negative effect can even be seen in teams not affected directly by the redundancies and means that every manager in the organisation needs to manage not only of those being made redundant, but also those who have escaped redundancy.So just how can you manage this challenge well? The reaction of the remaining staff to redundancies is dependent on two questions:1. Are the redundancies felt to be justified and fair?

2. What changes in working conditions do the redundancies entail?The following guidelines will help you manage when redundancies are impending:Inform your staff. When the rumour of impending redundancies grows stronger, the staff develop an understandable hunger for information:Who will be affected? When will the dismissals be announced? Will there be a second and a third wave of dismissals? What criteria are being applied? Which departments will primarily be affected? And above all, to what extent can one trust the management and their statements?This situation requires the manager to inform their staff as fully as possible! The company policy so regularly used, that of secrecy, simply leads to speculation and paralysis of your team.Offer help. The economic livelihood of those affected is directly threatened whilst those remaining are indirectly threatened. The manager should inform staff what is being done for those made redundant. This could include information on redundancy pay, transition pay and out-placement counselling.Treat those made redundant and those who had a "narrow escape" with both respect and with dignity. Here the critical thing is not only what you say but how and when and where you say it to staff. The more openness and fairness the company displays, the more motivated the remaining staff will be when they survive the dismissals.Open your door. Offer your staff the chance to have a talk with you at the critical time of dismissals. Even if you disagree with your management's line, don't withdraw from your staff. Whilst you may not owe this to your company you do owe it to the staff you manage.Choose a dignified ceremony for those affected and the remaining staff. It is easier to cope with the major turning points in your life if these points are accompanied by formal ceremonies, the sociologists tell us. Send off staff in such a way that they are not just left with negative feelings! Employees who are not being made redundant should be given the opportunity to look at the changed situation and to discuss these changes in meetings that are called specifically to do this. Using tact and sensitivity, let a staff memeber chair these meetings.Involve the remaining staff in the reorganisation. If the redundancies took place a while ago, it will be necessary to adapt the organisation of the company in general, and of the affected teams in particular, to the new framework conditions. You should ask your team for ideas on how the work can be done more efficiently with fewer people. Dismissals are beyond the control of your staff, but by involving them in the reorganisation you give some control back to them.The work load should be adjusted to the new staffing level. It makes no sense to reduce the number of employees but not identify and reduce the avoidable workload. A UK organisation, for example, after a period of redundancies decreased the number of written reports by 25% and reduced the time takn for annual budgeting discussions to six weeks from the original three months.Improve the quality of work for the remaining staff. Giving people more scope for taking the initiative will help your team be prepared to achieve more, for example by making the work more varied, interesting and challenging. Involve employees in decisions, promote teamwork and delegate supervisory tasks too. Management training may be required at this stage to support those taking on supervisory roles.Point out the new opportunities. A well thought out staff reduction programme always goes hand in hand with major reorganisation plans. Just after dismissals the belief often spreads that 'there's nothing here any more anyway'! Counteract this gloom-mongering with the following measures:Setting targets, quite consciously, that are achievable because they are not too ambitious is a good thing to do. You can strengthen the self-confidence of your staff members by giving them even a small sense of achievement.Highlight successes with commendations and bonuses. Most people learn fastest when they can see the positive results of others' work.Explain new career opportunities. Nothing motivates people more than the principle of 'hope'. Offer different bonus systems from before, create new incentives and show your team how they can achieve these. Management training and coaching their staff will certainly help, as these actions demonstrate managements' commitment to the future.

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