During 2008, many companies found themselves in a state of shock. From challenged business results, to failed new ventures and in turn facing downsizing. Some companies including Circuit City, Best Buy, Gap Inc. etc. had to eliminate over 2000 in a brief period of time. This trend continues until today, and of course, following these events, corporate moral takes a down turn as well. At this crucial point in time, it becomes especially important for Human Resources managers and executives to put on their corporate social responsibility hats and create momentum in communicating transparency and dignity. To preserve morale, personal empathy is a requirement. We need to be asking ourselves “how to maximize the level of support?” Company leaders and employee need to recognize the organizations key challenges, how they have been caused, and the solutions. This will result in open communication which can serve as a key problem-solver as well as a prevention technique. As a counsel to the both the HR executive as well as the business leader in times as these, I recommend the following:
- Creation and support of an HR Summit which establishes a podium for addressing important topics as they arise or are foreseen.
- Creating a website or intranet helpline that is updated frequently with new information case by case as they arise or are foreseen.
- Gathering a Temperature Read of where employees awareness stands as related to cost saving and reshaping efforts.
- Hold once a month open-director meetings, where workers and staff are able to question senior leadership.
Of course, depending on the size and budget of your organization, you may have the flexibility to do a total-rewards redesign, offer severance packages, make healthcare plans available for part-time employees and introduce health-reimbursement accounts.Regardless of what you choose to do, remember that you have the responsibility for another person’s personal expressions of themselves.
