Neil and Margery hosted our most recent webinar on 16 th March 2021 with restructuring forming the topic of conversation.
An area where Gravitate HR have a wealth of experience in supporting clients across all sectors, the team felt this would be a useful session for business owners/managers at the point of having to carry out some restructuring or at the stage of considering some changes to their
business.
The session looked at key steps and milestones for any organisation going through a restructure, from inception through to completion and highlighted the key considerations which an organisation must take to ensure they carry out a robust and compliant process.
This included identifying the different triggers which might lead a business to have to look at restructuring and would ultimately determine the ‘business case’ for proposing restructure.
Triggers may include:
External Triggers | Internal Triggers |
Change to Market/Marketplace | Employee turnover/loss of skills |
Change in regulation/law | Changes to Line Management or skillsets required |
Loss of income | Changes to Governance requirements |
Ultimately, it was identified as being critical that an organisation was clear on its business case for proposing to restructure before it begins communicating and consulting with staff.
The next key stage was that of planning. Margery and Neil highlighted the importance of spending time planning out what the proposed changes would be and identifying who was affected and how they were affected. A communication plan should also be identified for how different groups would be informed, when they would be informed and so on.
After planning comes implementation and the communication and consultation exercise. This was identified as an area where organisation can consistently underestimate what is required of them from a best practice and legal perspective, which can create risk.
Lastly, the session touched on conclusions and outcomes of a restructuring process and the different considerations around selection processes and how to properly document final decisions.
Overall, it was noted that restructuring is rarely straightforward and will often have wider ranging implications for an organisation that simply making changes to structure or reductions to staff numbers. Expert advice and guidance should always be sought where it isn’t available in-house and Gravitate HR are always happy to hear from potential new clients considering restructuring.