The economic impact of coronavirus means that many voluntary sector organisations will be going through a period of significant change over the coming months. For many of the hardest hit charities, the process of restructuring and making redundancies will sadly be inevitable. In this webinar we help organisations prepare for this context.

1. HOW TO MANAGE OPERATIONAL
CHANGE IN A TIME OF UNCERTAINTY
23 JULY 2020

2. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
• Josie Hinton, Capacity Building Programmes Manager, NCVO
• Maria Aguilar, Director, HR Services Partnership
• Sarah Mcintosh, Director of People and Organisational
Effectiveness, Mental Health First Aid England

3. RESTRUCTURING AND REDUNDANCIES
Getting the process right
Maria Aguilar, Director

4. CONTENT
• Redundancy or restructure?
• The business case
• Overview of key steps
• The timetable
• Selection methods
• The consultation process
• Voluntary redundancy
• Governance

5. RESTRUCTURE OR REDUNDANCY?
Definition of redundancy
• You cease (or intend to cease) to carry out work either
completely or in the place the employee is employed OR
• You require fewer staff to carry out work of a particular
kind

6. RESTRUCTURE OR REDUNDANCY?
What we mean by a restructure or re-organisation
• General right of employers to organise themselves as they
see fit​
• General obligation on trustees to manage the charity
efficiently
Which means you are allowed to re-organise how you are
structured

7. POLL 1
Are you considering restructuring and or redundancy?
1. Yes
2. No
3. Not sure

8. FAIR REASONS FOR DISMISSAL
• Capability
• Qualifications​
• Conduct​
• Redundancy​
• Employee or organisation would break a legal duty or
restriction if they continued to employ​
• Some other substantial reason​

9. THE BUSINESS CASE
• Why are you doing this?
• What problem are you fixing? What are you seeking to
achieve?
• What is the current structure?
• What is the proposed structure?
• What is the impact on individual jobs?
• What will it all cost?

10. OVERVIEW OF KEY STEPS
Under 20 staff to be made
redundant
1. Announce
2. Letter putting people ‘at risk’
3. Consultation
4. Decision
5. Letter giving notice
Over 20 staff to be made
redundant
Collective consultation with:
• Recognised trade union OR
staff representatives
• Process laid down – elect
reps
• See ACAS Guide on
collective redundancy

11. SELECTION METHODS
• Single (stand alone) posts being made redundant?
OR
• Jobs which are similar and can be ‘pooled’?
• For example, co-ordinators; programme managers; finance
officers etc…
Two ways of selecting – desktop selection OR by interview

12. THE CONSULTATION PROCESS
1. Announcement meeting – is not consultation!
2. First consultation meeting
3. Second consultation meeting
1. Consultation on structure closes and decision on final structure
2. Interviews for new jobs
4. Third and final consultation meeting
1. Interviews for new jobs

13. CONSULTATION TO INCLUDE…
• Why it’s all happening
• Why is their job at risk
• The proposed new structure
• Possible alternatives to redundancy
• The redundancy package

14. VOLUNTARY REDUNDANCY
• Is not a resignation!
• Consultation must continue – albeit shorter
• Redundancy notice still to be issued

15. GOVERNANCE
Decide on role of the board to:
• approve the business case and proposed redundancies ‘in
principle, subject to consultation’
• approve the final structure
• hear any appeals.

16. SUMMARY
• Have a clear, well thought through business case
• Restructure or redundancy?
• Decide on the role of the board
• Plan the consultation
• Document everything!

17. MENTAL HEALTH & PSYCHOLOGICAL
SAFETY IN ORGANISATIONAL DOWNSIZING
Sarah Mcintosh, Director of People and Organisational
Effectiveness

18. WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH?
Mental health is part of our overall health – we all have mental health
A good barometer for our mental health is shown by:
• How we feel, think and behave
• How we cope with the ups and downs of everyday life
• How we feel about ourselves and our life
• How we see ourselves in the future
• How we deal with negative things that happen in our life
• Our self-esteem or confidence
• How stress affects us

19. POLL 2
How confident do you feel in supporting the mental health of your
staff and or volunteers through a time of significant change?
1. Extremely confident
2. Very confident
3. Confident
4. Not very confident
5. Not at all confident

20. PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
‘Being able to show one’s self without fear of negative
consequences of self-image, status or career.’

21. • Ethnicity/BAME
• Those with existing mental health issues
• Disabled
• LGBT
• Older
• Carers/Parents
• Sole earners
• Lower paid
IMPACT ONVULNERABLE GROUPS
T ON VULNERABLE GROUPS

22. TYPICAL REACTIONS
TOTHE NEWS OF
DOWNSIZING

23. KÜBLER-ROSS GRIEF CYCLE
Information and
communication
Emotional support Guidance and
Direction

24. THINGS TO CONSIDER

25. CREATING PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IN DOWNSIZING
You • Policy/process walk-through before any process starts
• Regular 121s will all employees on the process and their
mental health and wellbeing
• Agree reasonable adjustments for staff with disabilities or
existing mental health issues
• Signpost EAP services, counselling, MHFAiders if you have
them

26. CREATING PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IN DOWNSIZING
• Share the financial problems early and in a transparent way
• InvolveTrade Union or employee forums immediately
• Clear policies, processes and timelines provide real clarity
• Create anonymous ways to ask questions or provide
feedback
• Publish all questions and answers
• Hold regular drop in sessions to ask questions on process
• Ensure a genuine two way consultation
Trust

27. CREATING PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IN DOWNSIZING
Autonomy • Regular face to face communications
• When you tell people the timeline, ask what additional
support or communications might be helpful
• A redundancy process that gives people choice is
better for psychological wellbeing

28. CREATING PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IN DOWNSIZING
• Ensure all stakeholders know what else is being
done to save money/generate income
• Share selection criteria openly and as early as you
can
• Keep good records on selection and share the
scoring
• Use decision making panels that are diverse
• Make plans now to monitor redundancy pools by
ethnicity, gender and other diversity/marginalised
groups
Fairnes
s

29. CREATING PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IN DOWNSIZING
Security • If you can, enhance your redundancy pay with a minimum number
of weeks payment to help those on lower wages and those with
less than 2 years service
• If you can, pay people PILON and unused holidays
• Signpost to organisations that can help with financial budgeting,
benefits advice and support
• Offer CV workshops, interview tips, career coaching – if you can’t
pay for them crowdsource them
• Offer time off for CV writing, attending interviews

30. CREATING PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IN DOWNSIZING
• A good send off/exit for those being made redundant to
reward and recognise contribution supports self
esteem
• Group leaving dates together if you can to encourage
consistent exit celebrations
• If you can’t do an organisational gift you can do
organisational cards or an online leaving book
• Do a LinkedIn recommendation for every employee
who leaves
Esteem

31. THE EFFECT OF DOWNSIZING ONTHOSE WHO STAY
• Give clear clarity and goals for those left behind
• Re-engage with mission, purpose plans and ways of
working
• Communicate, communicate, communicate
• People will want visible leaders more than ever
• Support wellbeing and workloads
• Consider wellbeing action plans with regular reviews

32. QUESTIONS

33. REMINDER: NCVO PRACTICAL SUPPORT
All organisations can access our NCVO Knowhow guidance, tools
and resources.
Check out our webinar series on topics relevant to the pandemic on
NCVO’s training platform.
Check out NCVO’s new range of online training on NCVO’s training
platform.
Recording and signposting to relevant material will be sent round.
We would love to hear your feedback.

34. RESOURCES
• ACAS Guide to managing 20+ redundancies
• MHFA Line Managers Resource
• NCVO Knowhow: Managing organisational change
• Blog: How to support staff wellbeing during coronavirus
• HR Services Partnership news and events
• MHFA England resources

35. NCVO champions the voluntary sector and volunteer
movement to create a better society.
We connect, represent and support over 15,000
voluntary sector member organisations, from the
smallest community groups to the largest charities.
This helps our members and their millions of volunteers
make the biggest difference to the causes they believe
in.
• Search for NCVO membership
• Visit www.ncvo.org.uk/join
• Email membership@ncvo.org.uk
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