What is a suitable alternative role to redeployment?
– Personnel Today Legal Q&A: Redundancy and redeployment – what is a suitable alternative role? In an ever-changing world, employers are constantly under pressure to restructure and review headcount. Departmental reshuffles and changes in job duties are often used to improve the efficiency of teams and these may lead to reductions in headcount.
When does an employer decide to redeploy an employee?
Employers may decide to redeploy employees for various reasons but must be particularly careful if this is done in connection with a redundancy situation or if a redundancy situation could be deemed to have arisen as a result.
What does redeployment mean in the context of redundancy?
What does redeployment mean in the context of redundancy and ‘suitable alternative’ employment? In a redundancy situation, an employer is obliged to consider ‘suitable alternative’ employment for the employees who are facing redundancy.
What happens when an employer eliminates a position?
Without that ground work being done, employers can end up with egg on their faces when a plaintiff says “okay, you had to eliminate a position, but why my position?” Another danger is that employers will claim a reduction in force may re-fill the position that they told the plaintiff they were eliminating.
When is redeployment unlikely to be a suitable alternative?
For example, if an employee would not use the same skills in a new role or their working hours are significantly rearranged, the new role is unlikely to be a suitable alternative. If the new role is entirely within an employee’s job description, they may be matched into it.
What happens to your staff during a redeployment period?
During this transitional period, your staff is going to be stressed out because they will be losing team members that they might have come to see as close friends, some employees may have to move away to new locations, and roles may shift and change depending on what needs done.
Can a workforce redeployment plan cause layoffs?
Instead of letting people go, you simply move them around, a move that is similar to workforce planning initiatives, though that term has seemingly become synonymous with layoffs over the past few years. Side note: workforce planning can cause redundancy, though. If you need to eliminate positions, we recommend checking out our guide:
What are the steps in a redeployment process?
There are 5 stages to the process which must be undertaken in the following order:- i. Straight assimilation of 70% roles; then ii. Interviews for those remaining employees at risk within the affected teams and “ring fenced” to apply for roles; then iii. Those not successful at interview are considered displaced and are put “at risk”.