What P&O did wrong

Written by Carolyne Wahlen

There’s one employment law story dominating the headlines this week, and it’s P&O’s decision to sack 800 staff with zero notice.

And in case you’re wondering what P&O did wrong, it’s NOT the fact that they made a business decision that they needed to let all of those staff members go – P&O have likely struggled as much as anyone during the last two years, and it’s no surprise they’re having to turn to redundancy to keep going.

So what’s the problem?

Simple, a complete failure to follow a proper process – they seem to have just told everyone, with no warning, “You are redundant”.

A lot of the businesses we speak to feel that this is the “best way” to deal with a situation like this, akin to “ripping the plaster off”, as if getting it done quickly is best for all parties.

They’re wrong.

It might be best for THEM, in the short term, but it’s quite clearly NOT best for the employees, who have zero time to adjust to the new reality and suddenly lose their livelihood in one fell swoop.

And in case you’re wondering, employment law is firmly on the side of the employees in this.

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Saving a drowning dog

Written by Carolyne Wahlen

My dog Comet almost drowned last week.

And while it was less dramatic than it sounds, it was still awful.

We were walking along the towpath when we bumped into an old friend.

I stopped to chat, but Comet didn’t fancy a chinwag, commencing his normal bouncing and barking that makes it clear that he doesn’t appreciate the delay.

Bouncing and barking that was followed very quickly by a splash as he fell into the cold, fast-flowing water.

If he could swim, it would have been funny.

But he’s a paddling specialist, so it really wasn’t.

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Calm. Too calm.

Written by Carolyne Wahlen

We went through a redundancy process at a golf club back in July 2020.

And it was all very calm. Too calm.

There were several staff members at risk, including the club manager, and when that happens, it can be quite challenging – managers are much less inclined to play ball.

Not this time though – the manager quietly went through the process, didn’t apply for any of the new roles created, and was made redundant.

Last month we found out why the manager had gone so quietly: they’d been defrauding the club.

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Redundancy announcement script – general meeting

Written by Carolyne Wahlen

Why The Redundancy Announcement Script?

A redundancy announcement can be a very hard thing to do.

It is one of the most unpleasant tasks that you will have to do, telling staff that their position in the company is potentially no longer needed.

Unfortunately, it is a task that nearly every employer will have to do at some point in their working career.

Nobody relishes this task, which is why we created this redundancy announcement script.

It can be scary trying to formulate how to begin the meeting – especially if you don’t want to hold this meeting in the first place.

I know how I am if there is a task I don’t really want to do: I will either put it off until it is almost too late, or I will rush it, getting it over with as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, in the case of a redundancy announcement, haste can lead to you using the wrong words, which leaves the business open to being sued for unfair dismissal (click here to see our page on this), as well as leaving the
staff even more upset than they would otherwise have been.

As I’ve seen so many employers struggling with the wording to use, I’ve devised the redundancy announcement script to help you out through the meeting.

What is the meeting?

This script is for the general meeting, without offering voluntary redundancy – and with roles for staff to apply for. This is the first meeting in the redundancy process.

For employees, there are not normally any difficult questions to answer – this will be a shock to them. Do not worry about trying to make the statement any “nicer” than it is. Those who you are speaking to will not be listening to any nuances – they will be in shock.

You don’t have to use it word for word, and please do put the redundancy announcement script into your “voice”.

But you do need to keep the essential parts:

That the roles are at risk of redundancy. They are not redundant.
Using the wrong words in the redundancy announcement script means that you are open to an unfair dismissal claim at tribunal. As long as you put the words “at risk” in there, the danger is much lower.
Keep it short and sweet. This is a five minute announcement, with some questions afterwards. The redundancy announcement will be a shock to the staff, even if they have been expecting it.
Do not go into lots of detail, and convoluted explanations of what went wrong. They are not able to hear what you are saying because they are in shock.
NEVER burst into tears and say that this is the worst day in your life, and that it is so difficult for you. You still have your job, they probably won’t have one soon.
They are worrying about paying the bills next month. Your role is to be fair and reasonable and focus on them, not on your own pain.

They will want more details about the situation than we would include in the redundancy announcement script. But these are often best answered on a one-to-one basis in the individual consultation meetings.
The problem with having questions in the redundancy announcement meeting is that they can get aggressive and accusing, which is not great if everyone is there.
So, if the questions are headed in that direction, we recommend ending the redundancy announcement meeting and saying that you will be happy to answer any questions anyone has in the individual meetings.

The redundancy announcement script contains all you need to begin the redundancy process. If there are any concerns that you have about making your employee(s) redundant, feel free to schedule a free 15-minute consultation meeting with me, using the Calendly link in the sidebar.

When starting the redundancy process, another thing that you should be aware of is the cost to the employer. Thankfully, there is an easy way to calculate how much each employee will get. Read our article about it here.

If you have any other questions about the redundancy process, feel free to visit our Redundancy page, call us on 01491 598 600 or email us on cw@gaphr.co.uk.

Do I Have To Give Employees Redundancy Pay?

Written by Carolyne Wahlen

Yes! If you employ anyone, be it a cleaner, nanny, or sales person means that you have responsibilities under employment law.As is usual in law, ignorance is not a defence and will not protect you!You don’t need to pay redundancy to staff who have worked less than two years for you. You will obviously have to pay them their notice period.

You do need to pay redundancy to staff who have worked for you for more than two years. Statutory redundancy pay is currently max £571 for every completed year’s service. You will have to pay them their notice period.

NB Statutory redundancy pay changes every April.

In addition, you will have to follow a fair and reasonable consultation process. This needs to be at least 3 weeks long.

Example

Sarah has worked for you for 5 years. Her notice period is one week for every completed year of service. Her weekly pay is £600. You would start the redundancy consultation process. You would pay her and she would work for those weeks, as usual. Then you would terminate her employment. You would give her 5 weeks x £600 notice pay (subject to tax and NI) and 5 x £571 redundancy pay (week’s pay capped at £571, paid gross).

Read our more detailed article about redundancy payment here

Redundancy Process (video and transcript)

Written by Carolyne Wahlen

The process normally is three weeks consultation – it is a grey area.

The ACAS guide is that it should be a reasonable consultation period.

I have argued with clients, who then didn’t stay clients for very long, that one day was a reasonable consultation period.

No, it’s not and you don’t want to be paying a lawyer £250 to £350 an hour to argue that it is with a judge.

So what has been seen as fair and reasonable is if you are closing down the business entirely, which is unlikely in a golf club but not impossible, then two weeks because it is absolutely closing dead, there’s nothing left, fine

But if you are keeping on the business then it’s going to be three weeks consultation period is seen as fair to get people used to the idea of being made redundant to look for other roles within the old club and then to make the termination at the end