It is all too easy for a business to look at the bottom line and say if we make x number of people redundant it will sort out all our problems and puts the business in a better financial place.

But is this really the right long-term option?

A lot of businesses that made people redundant at the start of the furlough process are now regretting making this decision.

Your employees are your most valuable asset, so if you restructure and remove a trained productive skill base you may regret it in the future when business returns to normal.

Ultimately, you could find yourself with skills or labour gaps you cannot readily replace or fill which will then impact negatively on the businesses bottom line.

Before starting a redundancy process give consideration to:

1.      Pay freezes

Freezing all staff pay is an easy way to keep wage costs static and help budget and ride out a difficult year.

2.      Ask your employees to take a pay cut

What many companies don’t realise is they can ask employees to take a pay cut if they can demonstrate that the alternative would result in redundancies. Asking all your employees to take a 5 % pay cut could help save enough to eliminate the need to make redundancies.

Such pay cuts could be on a temporary or permanent basis dependent on the company’s financial position.

Before considering asking employees to take a pay cut, formal HR advice should be taken to limit any future claims for constructive dismissal or unlawful deduction of wages.

3.      Short term or flexible working

Reducing the total number of paid hours worked each week would again make a big difference, and even give your business greater flexibility.

Following these unprecedented times, many employees may now welcome the option to work more flexibly or work shorter hours each week. Ask your employees if they are interested in changing their work patterns or number of working hours each week.

Consider are you better having 3 part time workers rather than 1 or 2 full time workers Does it give your business greater flexibility to meet your current and future customer’s needs?

4.      Reduce pension contributions

As an employer you have to make a minimum pension contribution of 3%, but many employers make much higher contributions.

Consider suspending additional pensions contributions over and above the statutory minimum for a period of time.

5.      Sabbaticals

Allow your employees to have a fixed term career break on a paid, reduced pay or unpaid basis.

6.      Secondments to other companies

If your employees have a unique skill based that you need to retain but cannot currently afford, look into secondments to other companies with contractual obligation and/or a cash incentive for the employee to return when needed.

7.      Compulsory annual leave

Making your employees take accrued/carried forward annual leave may give you the buffer needed for the business/market place to pick back.

8.      Staff redeployment

Moving staff from quieter areas of the business to cover elsewhere within the business, can not only save redundancies, but will also give your business greater flexibility by giving you a multi skilled workforce.

9.       Restructuring is a golden opportunity to plan for the future

Rather than looking at the possibilities of redundancies/restructuring as a negative, look at it as a golden opportunity to take an in depth look at the actual current and future needs of the business, and what workforce plans need to be put in place to aid this.