News: Performance Management
'Staff must be treated with respect regarding redundancies'
28 April 2008
Firms that are forced to make staff redundant as a result of the credit crunch need to treat employees with "respect and dignity", one employment expert has said.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Michael Moran, chief executive of outplacement firm Fairplace said: "Companies have to treat people with respect and dignity. It's a fact of economic life that markets grow and also decline, but organisations have to treat those they are making redundant well or else those people leave and tell everyone how nasty the company was."
Global financial services firm JP Morgan Chase has predicted the credit crunch will see 40,000 City workers lose their jobs, the newspaper reports.
Meanwhile, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has reported recently that the number of firms intending to make staff redundant has doubled since last autumn.
Mr Moran told the newspaper that if a firm develops an "uncaring reputation" through its redundancy procedures, remaining staff will be angered and may conclude that they will receive the same treatment.
The expert's advice follows news that eight in ten employers have fired staff on the spot without following procedures.
Employment law firm Peninsula, who made the claim, also surveyed 459 employees and found that 63 per cent had been dismissed without warning or an opportunity to defend themselves, Online Recruitment reports.
