The more eagle-eyed readers of HR Zone may have seen reports of a recent story about the closure of a department store in Hexham where the management apparently set off the fire alarm to get staff together to inform them of the store closure. This week Quentin takes a look at group dismissals and considers how they might be handled.
Reading this story I have to confess to a pang of sympathy for both the staff and management of the organisation. According to press reports the business, a well known department store, has to close as a result of its administrators having taken the decision that unless a buyer came forward it was not viable to continue operations. The senior management decided the best way to communicate this was to set off the fire alarm, get the staff together in the car park, and then give the closure announcement, which was also effectively notice of their redundancy.
The story is reminiscent of the sad tale of The Accident Group back in 2003 when staff were effectively informed of the firms demise, and their own redundancy, by text message. What doubtlessly made that situation worse was that apparently the directors, many of whom were subsequently disqualified by the DTI from serving as directors, had known for a number of months that the business should probably not be trading.
But what can be done in situations like this? There are a number of conflicting requirements. Employees need to be treated like people and deserve to not only be treated in accordance with the law, but also with dignity and respect. Management quiet rightly want to be ones to communicate this information consistently and accurately. There may well be external stakeholders and legal constraints, such as Stock Exchange rules, that also need to be taken into account. So how should these all be balanced?
Announcing redundancies is not easy, I have been involved in such exercises in a variety of situations and I haven’t yet come across a good manager who does not want to handle it in the best way possible (the less good managers seem to take every opportunity to avoid their responsibilities!). Managers who face up to their responsibilities will want to see staff face to face wherever possible and ensure that staff hear the news directly from them. This is where electronic communications, while bringing many benefits, often cause difficulties. An announcement made in one part of the country is known within seconds elsewhere, the rumour machine also works overtime and if announcements are not carefully coordinated then staff may end up not hearing the news from their manager.
To me the overriding objective is that staff hear the news of redundancy directly from their manager, or a company official, anything else and they will have been treated less well than they deserve. It’s never easy to organise, and arranging a meeting will certainly raise a number of questions, but surely it can be done – if there is a will. In the Hexham example they may have been some prior consultation, I don’t know, but if the car park was the first that staff knew about the situation then surely they could have done better. The Accident Group was a different situation, and it was good to see the DTI viewed it that way as well!
So what is your experience of group announcements? When have you been proud of the way an organisation has handled announcements well? What have you seen that makes you ashamed to have been working in HR? Let’s have your experiences!
Quentin Colborn is an independent HR consultant based in Essex who works with organisations to review their approach to employment relations and internal communications. Quentin can be contacted on 01376 571360 or via Quentin@qcpeople.co.uk
