Recognising the true value of redeployment

Is it time to rethink your approach to redeployment ?

The words ‘change’ or ‘transformation’ incite fear within the workplace. They are seen as bywords for downsizing or removing ‘dead wood’. Having a strong redeployment strategy in place ensures the change process will be a positive experience.  This benefits the organisation in a number of ways.

Change is an inevitable part of running a business. Organisations adapt and evolve to remain competitive, productive and meet strategic objectives. This change means reshaping the workforce to support these needs by removing obsolete, or creating new roles as the business develops.

Retaining talent, key skills and knowledge is vital.  Businesses must ensure that employees can adapt to the organisation during periods of transformation.

Making people redundant is expensive.  According to the CIPD the average cost of making one person redundant is £16,375.  this is before considering the expensive costs of losing the skills and knowledge of departing people and hiring in new people and training increase.

Redeployment isn’t just about saving money.  It protects the employer brand during times of uncertainty and assists with retaining key talent and maintaining morale.  This ensures productivity does not suffer, creating a highly skilled workforce who are ready to adapt to future challenges.

The right approach?

Redeployment is more than creating new roles and making them available to your staff. To take full advantage of redeployment, invest time and resources to support your employees during periods of change. Any period of transition is unsettling. If roles are at risk, individuals have low self confidence and are often unable to see how their skills can translate to new roles. The process needs to be handled sensitively and should be viewed as a collaborative effort, not just a transfer of skills from one area to another.

Supporting your employees through the process

Your employees need to be supported during organisational change.  This will help them to engage fully with the process. To retain the key skills you need to move forward, you need to help employees understand their values, skills and options.

When individuals hear the news that their role is no longer required, there will be a period of disbelief, shock or anger.  They will feel uncertain of their future within the organisation. A clearly thought out redeployment strategy will support employees from the outset.  This mitigates any potential risk of losing key talent as change is announced.

Your next step is to make sure jobs are available for remaining employees.  These should have clearly articulated role requirements and people specifications. This gives equal and fair opportunities for employees to review and consider. If employees are left to their own devices at this stage, they may feel overwhelmed at the prospect of finding a new, relevant role.  They might find it difficult to recognise how their experience and skills translate into a new role within the business.

Skill Support

Employees benefit from support to identify and articulate transferable skills, knowledge and experience.  This will help them build their CV and apply for internal vacancies. Support shouldn’t stop at this point. Providing guidance at the interview stage increases the success of the redeployment programme. This includes coaching employees to present themselves, their experience and transferable skills effectively in person.

Positive redeployment support ensures negative communications will be stopped. Your employer brand will be protected and staff commitment boosted. There will be a significant reduction in cost as you avoid redundancy and recruitment costs, benefiting from retaining key talent.  Redeployment allows your organisation to focus on moving forward in a stronger position than before.

Is it time to rethink your approach? If you would like to learn more about our Redeployment programmes – please get in touch

Renovo is one of the UK’s leading providers of outplacement and career transition support. We work with both organisations and individuals to support all their career transition requirements. If you would like to understand how Renovo can help you please call 0800 612 2011 or email info@renovo.co.uk