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Announcing Redundancies

Announcing redundancies and managing communications

Sadly, making redundancies can be a necessary and unavoidable part of owning or managing a business. This is particularly the case at the moment given the huge challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic. These decisions are never easy ones to make, and managing the fallout can be extremely challenging. 

If your business has found itself in this difficult situation then the worst thing you can do is stay quiet. Very early on in the process (as early as you possibly can), you should think carefully about how to manage the news of redundancy. This includes managing appropriate announcements to the media, staff themselves and other key stakeholders in your business such as investors and customers. It’s also crucial for these announcements to be made in the right order, to be courteous to employees and to avoid creating any additional bad press.

At Alder, we offer several specialist crisis management services to businesses, business owners, CEOs, directors and board members, including:

Media Handling Advice

We will explain how journalists typically approach a redundancy story and guide you on how best to respond.

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Communications

We will bring consistency to your communications to avoid confusion and give clarity to those impacted by providing statements, Q&As and lines to take.

Social Media Monitoring

We can monitor social media to keep on top of breaking stories, meaning you can take swift action and sensibly adjust your announcement scheduling if necessary.

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Stakeholder Management

There are many parties impacted by a redundancy announcement. We will manage the diverse needs of your stakeholders for the duration needed.

Virtual Press Office

We can set up a rapid-response press office to act as a firewall between you and the media during this challenging time.

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Media Training

We can offer a range of media training to key public-facing individuals in your business to effectively prepare them to both enhance and protect your business’s reputation. This includes training for face-to-face interviews and broadcast media, as well as ‘down the line’ training designed to hone your skills during telephone interviews.

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Crisis Planning & Training

Planning will help you and key members of your team prepare for the significant demands that will be expected of them. This includes media training for key spokespeople who will be able to appropriately deliver your messaging.

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Managing Redundancy in the Context of Organisational Change

Redundancies are typically one aspect of wider organisational change that is required in order to protect the business or streamline its operations. It’s important to remember this context, as this can help to manage the communications, but ultimately as soon as redundancies are due to be announced, it’s time to start thinking about the individuals affected.

Within any business, it’s likely that the prospect of redundancies will need to be made discreetly within a number of departments in the first instance – such as your HR department. However any communication can be the source of a leak, and we are continuously seeing the negative impact an information leak or redundancy rumour can have on a business.

It’s not uncommon to turn on the news or open a newspaper to read a report of ‘suspected’ or ‘anticipated’ redundancies to be announced by a business. In fact, it’s all too common to see a filmed employee commenting on ‘only finding out on the news’ that they would be made redundant or that their job was at risk, and that they had not heard from the company in question whatsoever.

This is exactly why it is so important to manage these announcements and have a clear plan in place to ensure that they are effectively communicated at all levels. Ultimately, this can mitigate the risk of additional reputational damage but importantly, help you to deliver the news of redundancy in a respectful and courteous way to those affected.

Here to help.

Our clients rely on us to manage a wide range of sensitive issues. For a free, no obligation conversation please phone us on 020 7692 5675 or fill the form and we will get back to you as soon as possible.






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