Making An Employee Redundant
Written by Ada Lai
If this happens, you must not only follow a fair redundancy dismissal procedure, but also keep the affected employees - informed.
You should take reasonable steps to avoid compulsory redundancies by considering alternatives, such as:
- seeking applicants for voluntary redundancy and/or early retirement
- seeking applications from existing staff to work flexibly
- laying off casual or contract staff - provided that they are not fixed-term or part-time employees
- recruitment restrictions
- reducing or banning overtime
- filling vacancies with existing employees
- retraining employees and then moving them to other parts of the business
- short-time working or temporary lay-offs
- Consulting with employees can help businesses avoid making redundancies. Employees may have different insights into the way the business operates and can offer alternative solutions.
Effective planning can lead to better job security for employees and it can avoid short-term solutions not suited to the long-term needs of your business.
How to help redundant employees
People who have worked for many years in the same job or workplace can find redundancy a traumatic experience - even if they have received a redundancy payment above the legal minimum.
Where possible, you should try to find ways of helping employees come to terms with their situation. The practical and financial help you offer will of course depend on the size of your business and the seniority of any employee being made redundant.
