Choices, choices
Many employees often suspect they have been unfairly placed in the “departure lounge” when their company decides to restructure. Sometimes it is obvious there has been unfairness, or discrimination, in the process. On other occasions it’s much harder to prove even if suspected and the recent case of Dabson v David Cover & Sons Ltd doesn’t help employees much. On the other hand, employers will be relieved.
Tomorrow I am chairing the SBK Legal and Strategic Guide to Workforce Restructuring. It’s an all day conference with some very interesting speakers and covering a wide range of topics. Click here for details.
There will be presentations on how to vary contracts of employment, how to adjust pensions, a review of the government’s planned employment law review, how to maintain a positive working relationship with Unions, as well as a session on “Realising redundancy savings: abiding by the rules to avoid a later backlash”. The law on redundancy and procedure is particularly interesting to me and I will be especially looking forward to that session..
Ok, imagine the scenario. You’re told on Friday morning at 9.35 a.m to go to the 7th floor and meet Siobhan, your HR generalist. Only HR live on the 7th floor, not real people. You go into a meeting room with her and there is Charles, your line manager or maybe Fiona, who is really quite senior in HR but not usually seen during the hours of daylight. You’re handed a lengthy letter and told that your role is at risk of redundancy. What do you do?
Answer: try and get as much information out of Siobhan and Charles/Fiona as you can. What to ask?