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Insights and thought leadership on redundancy and outplacement
Outplacement and Redundancy Blogs
As HR leaders supporting employees through redundancy, you know how vital the right guidance can be. Our collection of outplacement and redundancy blogs offer practical insights, expert advice and compassionate perspectives to help you navigate the complexities of redundancy with confidence – while ensuring your people remain the focus and feel supported every step of the way.
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- Redundancy emotions
When HR leaders are managing redundancy process, there is often a strong focus on compliance, scoring, documentation and timelines. Those things matter. But as Aime Ayrehart explained on the Redundancy Matters podcast, that focus all too often can remove the humanity from the process.
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- Redundancy emotions
Redundancy is more than a process - it can feel like grief. Understanding this helps HR leaders better support employees through the emotional impact of job loss.
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- Uncategorised
Returning to work after maternity leave is often talked about as a moment - a date in the diary when someone comes back into the business. But the reality is much more complex than that.
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- Redundancy emotions
Redundancy is never easy. But when it involves someone who is pregnant or on maternity leave, the situation becomes even more sensitive and complex.
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- Outplacement support, Redundancy emotions
Financial wellbeing during redundancy has a direct impact on employee mental health. HR teams can make a meaningful difference by signposting support and creating safe conversations - without giving financial advice.
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- Outplacement support
Even without outplacement, HR teams can support employees through redundancy with practical, in-house support and clear boundaries.
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- Redundancy consultation
Restructuring puts HR under pressure to make fair, defensible decisions quickly. Drawing on insights from Gill Wetherill, this blog explores the HR role in restructuring and why accurate people data and good workforce planning are essential to supporting people well during redundancy and restructuring.
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- Redundancy consultation
Managing redundancies is never easy. Even when you’ve been through the process many times before, it can still feel pressured, complex and emotionally charged. And because redundancy impacts people’s livelihoods, confidence and sense of security, small missteps can quickly have a much bigger impact than you expect.
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- Redundancy consultation
As HR professionals, we know that the final redundancy meeting can feel like one of the most challenging moments in the entire redundancy process. It’s the point where everything becomes real for the individual and where preparation, compassion and clarity matter more than ever.
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- Redundancy emotions
When organisations face major change - whether that’s a restructure, a new system or a redundancy programme - it’s easy to slip into process mode. Timelines, consultation meetings and communications plans can take over. But as Dr Susanne Evans, author of Change Stories, reminds us, real change happens through people and the way we talk to them.
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- Outplacement support, Redundancy emotions
When redundancy and menopause collide, the impact on women can be profound. In a recent Redundancy Matters podcast, executive coach and menopause consultant Angela Wilkins-Green shared her insights into how organisations can better support women navigating these two major life transitions - often at the same time.
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- Redundancy consultation, Redundancy emotions
When it comes to managing redundancies, few people have seen more - or learned more - than Pete Colby, Director and Chief Mediator at Pragmatism UK. With decades of HR experience across British Steel, the food industry and Rolls Royce, Pete has been on every side of the redundancy table.
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- Outplacement support
When Eleanor Tweddell was made redundant from a job she loved at Vodafone, she didn't expect it to transform how she understood change. Eight years on, she's a coach, author and change consultant who's learned something most of us in HR are getting wrong.
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- Redundancy consultation, Redundancy emotions
Collective consultation is never straightforward. There are the legal requirements to navigate, multiple stakeholders to manage and throughout it all, real people whose lives are being impacted. After 20 years in senior HR roles, including leading transformation work involving numerous collective consultations, Niki Corbishley from Noo Coaching knows this landscape well.
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- Outplacement support, Redundancy emotions
When redundancies are planned, there's often an assumption that applying the same process to everyone automatically makes it fair. But as Victoria Dale, founder of Inclusion 365, explains, creating a truly fair redundancy process requires much more intentional planning and consideration of how different groups might be affected.
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- Outplacement support, Redundancy emotions
"Oh, don't worry about so-and-so, they'll just retire." It's a phrase that comes up time and again when HR professionals are managing redundancies. The assumption is simple: older employees won't need support because retirement is somehow the easy option.
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- Redundancy consultation
When it comes to handling redundancies, there's perhaps no more challenging aspect of business leadership. As one anonymous CEO with over 30 years of experience recently shared, "The day you find the process of redundancy easy is the day you should stop doing it."
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- Redundancy consultation
When employment lawyer Dan Smith reflects on 15 years of redundancy and employment law, one pattern emerges repeatedly: "The single biggest cause of tangible legal risk I see is managerial capability." As a legal director at People Law, Dan has witnessed the full spectrum of redundancy processes - from those that protect both employers and employees, to those that end up in costly employment tribunal proceedings.
When Lorna Moles reflects on her 20 years of HR experience, one thing stands out: "I've always said that communication is the main theme running throughout my planning for any redundancy process." As the founder of Farrell HR and former corporate HR leader, Lorna has managed everything from single role deletions to large-scale collective consultations and she's learned that getting the redundancy communication strategy right can make all the difference.
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- Redundancy consultation, Redundancy emotions
Redundancy isn't just about processes. It's about people, their families and their futures. As a line manager, you're often the constant presence your team turns to during one of the most vulnerable times in their working lives.
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- Redundancy consultation, Redundancy emotions
When the dust settles after a redundancy programme, there's often a collective sigh of relief from HR teams. The legal compliance has been managed, the process has been fair and those leaving have been supported through their transition. But what about the people who remain?
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- Planning for redundancies
These meetings are probably one of the hardest things a line manager will have to do in their career. They're essentially having to tell good people, some of whom they will have worked with for a long time, that they potentially no longer have a future in the organisation and that their livelihood is at risk. Some of these people will be friends inside and outside of work.
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- Outplacement support
Outplacement support is expensive and exclusive; or at least that’s what many senior leaders think. Yet outplacement services can offer advice and guidance to anyone in your business. And, done well, they can have unexpected benefits for your company’s reputation, engagement and performance. All you need to do is get your senior team to buy-in to the idea.
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- Redundancy consultation, Redundancy emotions
Whether you’re doing your first redundancy or your hundredth, people’s emotions are unpredictable. And as HR professionals, you navigate those emotions multiple times. For the individuals placed at risk, the managers you’re supporting and for yourself. Yet, often, too much energy is focused on the process and very little time is given to managing the emotional effects of redundancy. Even though, effectively supporting these for everyone can be the difference between a successful programme and a disaster.
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- Redundancy emotions
I've been on both sides of the redundancy table. I've experienced it twice myself and I've also managed redundancy processes as an HR professional. Through all of this, one thing has become clear to me: the difference that empathy - or indeed the lack of it - can make is enormous.
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- Redundancy emotions
I remember both my redundancies very vividly. I also remember those people that I had to make redundant. What strikes me most is how redundancy isn't just about losing a job. It's identity, security, self-worth. It's deeply personal and can remain with people for a very long time.
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- Planning for redundancies
When I first faced the prospect of managing redundancies, I quickly learned that knowing how to prepare for redundancy properly isn't just helpful - it's absolutely essential. Having been on both sides of the redundancy table throughout my career, I can tell you that your redundancy plan will make or break how smoothly the entire process unfolds.
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- Redundancy emotions
When managing redundancies, it's easy to get caught up in the procedural aspects - the legal requirements, the timelines, the documentation. But behind every redundancy process are real people with real experiences. And their redundancy stories hold invaluable lessons for HR professionals who want to lead with compassion and dignity.
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- Redundancy emotions
Putting compassion at the heart of managing redundancies can transform how messages are received and how individuals feel about the process. When HR professionals prioritise humanity alongside procedure, they create experiences that honour dignity while navigating difficult business decisions.
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- Redundancy emotions
Every redundancy is deeply human, touching lives, families and entire organisations. As HR professionals, we're often so focused on the procedural aspects of redundancy management that we can lose sight of what matters most: the people behind each and every redundancy.