What is redeployment of employees?

Redeployment is when a company seeks to find current employees another position within the company thereby avoiding redundancy.  The employer will establish transferrable skills within each employee and then liaise with the recruiting manager within another part of the business to establish a case for redeployment of people.  The risk associated with redeployment is that an alternative position cannot be found and the employer needs to resort to redundancy

Redeployment of surplus staff

Surplus staff in an area of the business can occur from time to time.  Companies such as engineering and construction companies work on long-term projects.  When these projects come to an end, staff are redeployed to other projects.  If there is a downturn in business or a change in the type of projects being acquired, it often proves challenging for the employer to redeploy surplus staff.

Employment law redundancy and redeployment

Employment law is very strict in regards to what employers can and cannot do regarding redeployment and redundancy.  It is important for employers to take legal advice at the time.  Asking surplus staff to relocate abroad or at the other end of the country is unlikely to be deemed a reasonable offer of redeployment.  The cost of wide scale redundancy can also be a substantial cost and certainly something that most companies would prefer to avoid.  Deployment of staff can, therefore, work in the best interests of both the employee and the employer.  However, employment law is in place to protect both parties in the case of a situation which is deemed unfair or illegal.

Most large employers will have published polices and procedures with regards to redeployment.  For example the LSE (London School of Economics) offers its employees the following:

http://www.lse.ac.uk/intranet/staff/humanResources/Redeployment/Redeployment-Policy-and-Procedure.aspx

They clearly state that whenever there is a surplus of staff within any department of the University that they will seek to offer redeployment in a fair and effective manner.  It clearly has a policy in which it wants to avoid making someone redundant if there is a suitable position elsewhere within the company that the employee can perform.  The LSE states that it is openly committed to recruiting, developing and wherever possible retaining high quality employees.  However, it also accepts that this isn’t always possible.

Acceptable alternative employment – redundancy & redeployment

When a role in the company is no longer required or there is a surplus of staff to perform a particular activity, the employer is faced with redeploying staff or making them redundant.  However, the question for the employees affected is whether redundancy or redeployment is the best choice for them.  Career Consultants, as a leading outplacement company, helps members of staff to shorten the timeframe between leaving one job and starting another.  It focuses on using tried and tested personal marketing techniques that very quickly indeed gain a positive response from prospective employers.  If the employee is assisted and aware of the different techniques that can be used to find new employment, taking redundancy rather than redeployment may be the best decision for their career.  The speed in which an employee can gain new employment is only one factor to consider though.  If, for instance, they have been employed for some considerable time with their current employer they will may have benefitted from other considerations such as pension, increased holiday entitlement and bonuses.  Suitable redeployment, depending on what is involved, may be the more sensible option.  Each individual case is likely to be different and needs to be considered very carefully indeed.

If you are facing a dilemma regarding redeployment or redundancy, feel free to get on contact with us.

Outplacement support redundancy

If the decision is redundancy and redeployment within the company is not an option or not a suitable option, most respected employers offer their staff redundancy support.  This is often called outplacement or career transition services.  Respected outplacement companies such as Career Consultants offer individuals a wide range of services including career management and career coaching as well as job hunting advice.  Many employees choose to view redundancy as an opportunity to begin something they may not have tried before such as running their own business.

Many companies, these days, offer staff a redundancy package; let the employees choose which company they would like to work with.  A fixed redundancy package that usually starts around £1000 per employee, can offer the affected member of staff the much needed advice and support that they require at, what is usually, a difficult time.  Many companies prefer to give individuals choice as to who they use rather than using the same company for everyone affected, as the individual can then choose who they relate to and feel would best help them at this time.  Redundancy packages are tax free and normally paid for directly by the employer.  It is commonplace these days for support to be offered remotely via Skype, email and phone as it is quicker and far more convenient for those individuals affected.

What is outplacement support?

At Career Consultants, we focus on the overall goal.  The goal and the timeframe of outplacement may be different for different individuals.  If someone’s goal is to find another suitable position as fast as possible, we focus on delivering the greatest number of possible opportunities in the shortest timeframe.  We, therefore, focus on improving the quality of an individual’s digital marketing documents namely CV, covering letter and LinkedIn profile.  If the individual is seeking to make a career change of some kind including a move into self-employment, we develop a suitable outplacement package to meet their needs.

Outplacement is, therefore, never standard as it was in the past.  There is a wide array of different options for individuals to consider if they are made redundant and a quality outplacement service considers these very carefully indeed.