New Year New You

January 16, 2018

It is often said that employees reflect on their future over Christmas, and that leads to a rise in resignations in the new year.

Equally, the Christmas break (for those who still enjoy a Christmas close down) is an opportunity for an employer to re-invent how the business will operate with a view to a fresh start. It is therefore timely to provide a refresher on how to implement changes that will have an impact on a person’s employment.

In this regard, it seems that what should be fairly simple has been made complex by different and sometimes conflicting opinions about procedure. However, what the Employment Relations Act requires is fairly straightforward: if you are proposing to make a decision that will have an impact on an employee’s employment (by putting it at risk, adding conditions to it, or ending it), the employee has the right to have their say before that decision is made.

What this means is that an employee should be offered the information that will be relied on in making the decision (and this is an ongoing obligation so if more information comes to light, it should also be given to the employee), and a reasonable chance to add their perspective to the issue at hand.

So, if you are looking to rearrange the workforce, and that might mean redundancies or job changes, you should tell affected staff that you have this idea, and what information you have that supports your thinking about the proposal. Then, staff get the chance to respond with their ideas/criticisms/suggestions, following which you can decide on the new structure.

Both employer and employee have an obligation of good faith, which requires you to be “open, honest constructive and communicative” – so rather than an us/them approach, a project/planning approach should be taken. Very often, employers actually learn things from a good consultation process.

Once the decision about structure is made, it may be necessary to talk to employees again, this time on a more concrete basis, about the changes that will happen to their job.

Throughout this process, employees are entitled to support – they may choose to get this from a lawyer, advocate, union or friend, and you should tell them of this right.

The most important part, is to involve employees meaningfully. That means that the best time to start consulting is before the decisions are set in stone. A good advisor can help you manage the process and ensure that everyone is treated fairly.