Redundancy consultation
Discussion
Well it's finally hit the company I work for now - redundancies.
They're being very civil about it; halting hirings in other parts of the (multinational) company so any of the redundant personnel get priority, good severance packages etc, but it's still a worrying time for everyone.
Anyway, my whole department has been selected and whilst I'm not that worried for myself as I'm a manager and can easily move over to another department, I'm worried about the lads under me. The letter that went out to everyone lists points for discussion, (meeting targets, working with other departments etc), and states that they can take a work colleague with them to the meeting. My questions are:
They're being very civil about it; halting hirings in other parts of the (multinational) company so any of the redundant personnel get priority, good severance packages etc, but it's still a worrying time for everyone.
Anyway, my whole department has been selected and whilst I'm not that worried for myself as I'm a manager and can easily move over to another department, I'm worried about the lads under me. The letter that went out to everyone lists points for discussion, (meeting targets, working with other departments etc), and states that they can take a work colleague with them to the meeting. My questions are:
- Can I, as their manager, attend the meeting with them as the stated colleague? I'm in a good position to back up their work record and the person doing the interview will be from HR so not au fait with our work methods.
- If their manager, (me), can attend, does it make any difference that I am also in the redundancy pool?
I do not see why you would not be able to attend the individual meetings as a colleague, providing you are not going to be working with the panel carrying out the consultation.
However, as the consultation period is to highlight who is to stay and who is to go, if you attend one, you therefore could be asked to attend all by each individual. This will put you in the position of having to choose to offer support or not to the strongest and also weakest staff members working under you, as that is what may be discussed following the meetings (colleague A tells colleague B that you really supported them, then in colleague B's meeting, you just go through the motions). Do you feel happy being in that position? It could potentially make a stressful period even more so.
However, as the consultation period is to highlight who is to stay and who is to go, if you attend one, you therefore could be asked to attend all by each individual. This will put you in the position of having to choose to offer support or not to the strongest and also weakest staff members working under you, as that is what may be discussed following the meetings (colleague A tells colleague B that you really supported them, then in colleague B's meeting, you just go through the motions). Do you feel happy being in that position? It could potentially make a stressful period even more so.
fergywales said:
I do not see why you would not be able to attend the individual meetings as a colleague, providing you are not going to be working with the panel carrying out the consultation.
However, as the consultation period is to highlight who is to stay and who is to go, if you attend one, you therefore could be asked to attend all by each individual. This will put you in the position of having to choose to offer support or not to the strongest and also weakest staff members working under you, as that is what may be discussed following the meetings (colleague A tells colleague B that you really supported them, then in colleague B's meeting, you just go through the motions). Do you feel happy being in that position? It could potentially make a stressful period even more so.
I must admit that I did wonder about that. However I hand-picked my team and am genuinely happy with all of them. Some of the people under them I'm not so happy with, but they are in a different pool. I understand that I am going to lose at least one of my guys, (potentially even I could be made redundant, however unlikely), and I just want to give them every chance.However, as the consultation period is to highlight who is to stay and who is to go, if you attend one, you therefore could be asked to attend all by each individual. This will put you in the position of having to choose to offer support or not to the strongest and also weakest staff members working under you, as that is what may be discussed following the meetings (colleague A tells colleague B that you really supported them, then in colleague B's meeting, you just go through the motions). Do you feel happy being in that position? It could potentially make a stressful period even more so.
Something else that may be relevant is that I've just had a telephone call with a colleague in the same position, (his team is also under threat of redundancy), and he was querying whether we would be allowed an input during the meeting, or whether we would just be there to listen and not comment.
I won't be involved with the panel carrying out the consultation.
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