what senior leaders are talking about in the organization, in addition
to any immediate change.”
Communication, of course, goes both ways. Avedon points out
the importance of regular pulse checks to find out what’s really going
on.
“Find out how employees are feeling, what their needs are, how
their expectations are hanging, and how things are shifting for
them,” said Avedon. “In times of uncertainty, we need to be able to
do what we call ‘continuous listening.’ This is not necessarily asking
questions about engagement, but asking questions around change
readiness, and getting a sense of how employees are feeling, and
whether they have the information they need.”
It’s a chance for HR to see what they’re doing right, and what
might be getting in the way of better engagement.
RETENTION IS THE BEST DEFENSE
Better communication and better engagement are linked to improved
retention, and retention is a key concern during a downturn.
“It’s not the low performers you tend to lose in a bad market,”
said Newton. “It’s your top talent – the ones you rely most heavily
upon.”
They’re more marketable, says Newton, and better networked.
While losing them is always damaging, in tough times it’s even
worse.
“What often happens is that when a company downsizes, for
example, it may take an engineering department with two or three
employees down to one or two,” said Newton. “They need high-potential
candidates in those roles because you’re going to be relying
on them more than ever. To lose one is really meaningful to your
business because they’ve been pulling the weight of more than
one person.”
LAYOFFS, COMPANY AMBASSADORS AND
SOCIAL MEDIA
Tough economic times often mean downsizing becomes inevitable.
In today’s social media era, and with the popularity of sites like
Glassdoor.com, how an organization handles layoffs can become a
critical make-or-break moment for the brand.
Today, potential candidates, clients and partners can spend five
minutes online and gather all sorts of insider intelligence from
current and former employees.
“There’s a whole host of perception issues and risks that evolve
from sites like Glassdoor.com,” said Girimonte. “Layoff decisions
and actions handled poorly can leak to these sites and then to whoknows
where, and that can impact business. HR needs to make
sure management is aware of those risks, and to ensure they’re following
an orderly sequence of steps so they’re not making major
mistakes and causing more damage.”
Downsized employees will be – one way or another – spokespeople
for the business. They might wind up working for
competitors or partners, or down the road they might become employees
again.
“Stick to your company’s core values when you’re going through
downsizing,” said Girimonte. “Treat people how you’d want to be
treated. If you follow that guideline, then you should be in good
shape.”
Having a thorough game plan that supports the outgoing employees
can help smooth out the transition.
“I had the unfortunate experience of managing the effect of the
2008 downturn for a very large organization,” said Khan, who set
up a thorough change management plan that included details for
managers identifying what to say and how to behave, as well as
comprehensive outplacement services for downsized employees.
feature
“HR IS THE PRIMARY
COMMUNICATION CHANNEL
FOR KEEPING EMPLOYEES
INFORMED AND ENSURING
MORALE AND PRODUCTIVITY
IN THE ORGANIZATION
DON’T GO DOWN.”
– BADAR KHAN
26 ❚ JULY 2017 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
