Employeedeployment
Managing Employee Redeployment — Creating Value Through
Opportunity
By Sarah Seabury, Director, TPI
INTRODUCTION
The management of corporate redeployments is a business discipline that most companies embrace only reluctantly, even after the fact. Yet we live in an age when redeployment of corporate personnel is becoming a regular task for many major multinationals.
Redeployment of displaced employees either out of the company (through separation, redundancy or retirement) or internally through retraining, internal recruitment and flexible working schemes is an emotive and complex issue that demands careful management.
Employees displaced should be viewed as assets, not liabilities, and managed accordingly
— otherwise valuable human capital will be lost to the business which could otherwise be utilized to create value and offset future recruitment and training costs.
During the business case analysis of a captive/outsourced project this redeployment exercise is often captured as a heavy one-time cost, with insufficient analysis of alternative scenarios The redeployment of employees is covered by differing national legis lation around the world and often generous company compensation policy which can greatly increase the cost of this redeployment exercise. In an article in the UK-based Sunday Times, a large scale redundancy programme underway at
Eircom (Irish Telecoms Operator) estimated the average redundancy cost for its employees at
€130,000 each, with a theoretical maximum of
€170,000. Employers must consult with Works
Councils or Consultation Committees and respect individual employee rights; failure to follow the law results in litigation and negative press. The challenging European legislative environment requires organisations to take an active approach to employee redeployment; an approach that may create value for companies redeploying employees elsewhere in the world.
Most companies rely upon HR managers
Opportunity
By Sarah Seabury, Director, TPI
INTRODUCTION
The management of corporate redeployments is a business discipline that most companies embrace only reluctantly, even after the fact. Yet we live in an age when redeployment of corporate personnel is becoming a regular task for many major multinationals.
Redeployment of displaced employees either out of the company (through separation, redundancy or retirement) or internally through retraining, internal recruitment and flexible working schemes is an emotive and complex issue that demands careful management.
Employees displaced should be viewed as assets, not liabilities, and managed accordingly
— otherwise valuable human capital will be lost to the business which could otherwise be utilized to create value and offset future recruitment and training costs.
During the business case analysis of a captive/outsourced project this redeployment exercise is often captured as a heavy one-time cost, with insufficient analysis of alternative scenarios The redeployment of employees is covered by differing national legis lation around the world and often generous company compensation policy which can greatly increase the cost of this redeployment exercise. In an article in the UK-based Sunday Times, a large scale redundancy programme underway at
Eircom (Irish Telecoms Operator) estimated the average redundancy cost for its employees at
€130,000 each, with a theoretical maximum of
€170,000. Employers must consult with Works
Councils or Consultation Committees and respect individual employee rights; failure to follow the law results in litigation and negative press. The challenging European legislative environment requires organisations to take an active approach to employee redeployment; an approach that may create value for companies redeploying employees elsewhere in the world.
Most companies rely upon HR managers