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Redundancies have become an unwelcome necessity across all sectors of the economy. But research undertaken for Acas identifies the particular skills and experience needed for managers to break bad news well
Every organisation that has restructured or downsized has within it “envoys”, people who have to break the news of redundancy or redeployment to their colleagues. The prolonged nature of the economic downturn, however, means that more and more people who have never had to convey the news of job losses are finding themselves in the envoy role – especially in the public sector, where there is relatively limited experience of downsizing management. There is a considerable body of theory and research on the phenomenon of organisational downsizing, mostly from North America, but despite this, consideration of the role of the envoy has been neglected. As a result, the need to understand and prepare for the challenges of communicating such difficult information has never been greater.Why label the people who deliver the bad news face to face with employees “envoys”? In the limited amount of research that has looked at the role, they are often referred to as “executioners”; however, evidence gathered for a study commissioned by Acas indicates that such a name is both inaccurate and unfair.The term envoy is preferred because it denotes the function of an agent or messenger, or even a diplomat, which is much more in keeping with the requirements of the role. The skills needed don’t comprise being good with an axe or a noose, but do involve sensitivity, discretion, resilience and the ability to mediate.Successful change management depends on three elements – strategy, procedure and psychology. They are, of course, interdependent, but the third element, which concerns dealing with the emotions of all employees affected by downsizing, is often ignored. The important role that envoys play in this gets overlooked, and yet they may be the most important people in the delivery of downsizing goals by ensuring that:
the message is communicated accurately, with sensitivity;
Downsizing in the public and private sectors
To find out more about the role of the envoy, in-depth interviews were carried out between October 2010 and April 2012 with 50 envoys, of whom 30 were HR professionals and 20 were drawn from other management functions. Of the envoys, 24 came from public sector organisations (including education, health, emergency and local government services), 24 were from the private sector (including areas of manufacturing, retail and process) and two were independent consultants who primarily worked with small and micro firms.The nature of the downsizing activity undertaken by the organisations in the study varied considerably from dealing with only a handful of job losses to many hundreds, which were managed through the application of voluntary or compulsory means – or a combination of the two. Across the public organisations, the approach was always to downsize through a combination of natural wastage, recruitment freezes, voluntary severance (redundancy and retirement) and redeployment – without exception, compulsory redundancy was considered to be the last option. Across the private sector organisations, on the other hand, no such pattern could be discerned. The consequence of the public sector approach is that downsizing takes a long time (often many months) and the longer the process, the greater the demands are on the envoys. That is not to say that private sector organisations always did it more quickly. For instance, one organisation downsized over a period of years because of unusually long product lifecycles, although at the other extreme another dispensed with the services of 70 managers in a morning by offering enhanced redundancy packages if they left immediately.In the rare cases where employees were not unionised – all the public sector organisations and all but one private sector organisation participating in the study recognised trade unions for at least some of their staff – downsizing was generally a shorter process. Nevertheless, where union representatives were involved they often proved to be important participants because they could be a source of support and guidance for envoys as well as for members.Coping strategies
Many of the people interviewed described being a downsizing envoy as the worst job they had ever had to do. The phrase “difficult conversation” is popular among the HR fraternity for describing activities such as grievance and discipline or appraisal, but it does not do the envoy role justice. Typical adjectives used to describe the emotional impact of the role include: “traumatic”, “nerve wracking”, “dreadful”, “very upsetting”, “hideous”, and ultimately, “stressful”. On the flip side however, not every victim of downsizing is sorry to be leaving and many envoys spoke of truly uplifting situations of triumph through adversity, which did a great deal to help them cope.Coping, of course, is fundamental to the experience of being an envoy and some people cope better than others. Typical coping strategies range from emotional hardening and cognitive distancing (separating the “downsizing me” from the “real me”) to using procedures as a psychological support that depersonalises individuals and events.The envoys were unanimous in their view that the closer their normal working relationship with the victims of downsizing, the harder their task. For line managers in particular this is an obvious issue but it can touch HR professionals too when dealing with their subordinates or particular business units they have been partnering. The irony, if we can call it that, is that despite the heightened emotional burden, the envoys always felt it right and proper that they should take responsibility for delivering the news of downsizing to their subordinates and colleagues because they knew them best and wanted to provide support. In many instances the envoys were also at risk of being made redundant and so genuine empathy was often an important aspect of the dynamic.HR and the line
The dynamic between HR professionals and line managers in downsizing events is an interesting one as they often have to work side by side as envoys. A number of issues were raised by the research in connection with that relationship.Downsizing activities can often become a preoccupation for those charged with managing events and so work overload was an issue reported by almost every envoy. The problem, however, seemed particularly acute for line managers, who were often expected to handle the envoy role alongside their day job. Some line managers in the public sector also complained of a sense of isolation because they had no opportunity to share their experiences with other managers in a similar position, perhaps because there were none.Envoys from the HR function, on the other hand, were far more likely to have the role incorporated into their normal workload and were more likely to be able to share experiences with other HR professionals, either in their own organisation or through their local CIPD branch. There is perhaps a responsibility on HR envoys, therefore, to look out for their line management partners and to identify the signs of work overload and isolation, providing support if requested. Having said that, care must be taken in managing the relationship to ensure that what is intended as support does not become domineering. Across the private sector organisations, the relationship between HR and the line was universally positive, but in a few public sector organisations line management envoys felt that they were being policed by their HR counterparts.Experience counts
It may seem to be stating the obvious, but experience counts for a great deal when it comes to being a downsizing envoy. The more experience someone has, the more refined their approach to procedures and dealing with those leaving and staying is likely to be. Perhaps more importantly, their familiarity with the emotional pressures of the role means fewer unpleasant surprises and better coping mechanisms. The private sector organisations involved in the research were all well acquainted with downsizing activity, even before the recession, which meant there was likely to be a number of experienced envoys who could provide advice and support to new envoys as well as to one another. The public sector organisations, on the other hand, had little or no downsizing experience until recent times and it told on many of their envoys. Rawness and feelings of isolation made the role seemingly more trying for a number of the public sector envoys.This begs the question – how can envoys be prepared for their first exposure to downsizing? Being “thrown in at the deep end”, which was the initial experience of many envoys from both sectors, does not appear to be the sensible option, as it may have a long term detrimental impact on envoys, leavers, survivors and, ultimately, the ability of the organisation to move forwards. Many envoys suggested that it was not possible to understand the stresses of the role until it had been experienced first-hand; nonetheless, there were some examples of innovative efforts to prepare for the task. Mentoring and a gradual introduction to the psychological challenges of the role were cited in some cases. Role playing was a device used by some and, in one instance, a company tutored its envoys in bereavement counselling. Interestingly, all of the HR envoys said their professional training had provided them with very little insight into the emotional aspects of downsizing, suggesting that professional development programmes should pay more attention to the less palatable psychological demands of organisational renewal. Best practice
One organisation in particular showed what was possible regarding the handling of envoys, having instituted for a particular downsizing event what was referred to by one respondent as “the Rolls Royce service of redundancy”. This involved comprehensive procedures, practices and facilities for the benefit of those on the receiving end, but also up-front and bespoke training for envoys in the emotional as well as the procedural and legal aspects of the role. Additionally, the company chose to carry out redundancy consultations in a facility set up for the purpose off site, which was ostensibly to save people from what was referred to as the “walk of shame”, but had the additional benefit of creating a situation where the envoys were gathered in the same place and so could share their experiences more or less immediately with one another and provide moral support as events unfolded. It was this proximity that enabled the opportunity for envoys to opt out of a consultation if, for instance, there was a particularly difficult situation or conflict of interest.The best practice option may not be available to everybody – this case study relates to a large organisation with significant resources – but it certainly offers food for thought. Money invested in careful downsizing management, including envoys, is probably money well spent – even in times of fiscal constraint. However, the research suggests that something which costs nothing is perhaps the most important factor in influencing the experience of envoys: involving them in downsizing decision-making. Ideally that will mean involvement at the strategic, policy and implementation levels. Evidence from the research indicates that, as a consequence, the organisation gets envoys with buy-in and a depth of understanding that they can carry into the role. The envoys get a sense of ownership that puts them in a stronger position to cope with their own emotions and those of the employees they deal with.
CONCLUSION Recommendations
It’s clear that the downsizing envoy role is a demanding one wherever it occurs. The context in which the downsizing occurs will have a crucial impact on determining the extent of these demands. But wherever envoys are based – be that in HR or the line or within public or private sector organisations, there are some key recommendations that can be drawn out of the research:
Involve envoys in the decisions and rationale for downsizing. It may be unrealistic for all envoys to be involved in strategic decision-making, but it should be possible with regard to procedural and operational matters. The rationale for the downsizing must be communicated clearly to envoys at the earliest opportunity, in order to maximise the opportunity for buy-in.
The challenges facing envoys
Emotional demands
Most envoys considered the task to be about the most emotionally demanding thing they had undertaken in their working lives: ‘There is not one time that hasn’t reduced me to tears in some shape or form, for one reason or another, because again I’m the Grim Reaper. It’s not a nice feeling because I’m actually a quite happy, amenable person – I’m not a hatchet person’ - HR envoy
Relational ties
Without exception, envoys across both the public and private sectors acknowledged that the closer the normal working relationship with those affected, the more difficult the role became:‘For the management restructure I knew all of them and that was incredibly difficult. When the managers you considered almost as friends stop speaking to you because they think you’ve stabbed them in the back – that’s when it has got to me’ - HR envoy
Role overload
The issue of work overload was universal, with managers in particular saying that the role resulted in very long working hours: ‘The envoy role had a massive impact on my workload because it was important… The downsizing affected only one of 10 areas that I looked after at the time, so the others got left to their own devices a little bit’ - Non-HR envoy
Ian Ashman is a senior lecturer in HRM and leadership at the Institute for Research into Organisation, Work and Employment at the University of Central Lancashire