What does a good redundancy process look like?

Redundancies are never pleasant situations to deal with, but they’re sometimes necessary within any business. If you have a challenging redundancy situation to manage and need to select some staff to leave the business, then it's important to have a clear process from start to finish.

There's no 'one size fits all' for every redundancy situation, but here is my standard suggested plan to follow in situations where the total number of redundancies is less than 20.

1. Identify reduction in headcount needed

2. Decide on selection pool(s)

3. Inform employees at risk

4. Choose selection criteria

5. Consultations – round 1 (discuss selection criteria & any ways to avoid redundancy)

6. Carry out selection exercise

7. Consultations – round 2 (discuss selection scores & consider any alternate employment)

8. Finalise selections

9. Consultations – round 3 (inform employees of dismissals / alternate employment where needed)

10. Notice periods and redundancy payments