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Maintaining Employee Morale during Restructuring
Posted By Logan Riley
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Managers are required to be honest, proactive, and consistent during layoffs and tough economic situations that may result in restructuring. Otherwise, they may even lose employees that would not have been affected by the process. The major goal of layoffs and restructuring is to make the business become more productive, efficient, and competitive. It is important to note that the term layoff is not personal but a decision professionally made to protect the organization and all its businesses. However, it makes employees worried and nervous. Layoff and restructuring are the uncertainties that managers should understand well because there are situations where key talents may exit before the announcement of the layouts. Restructuring sends shivers down the nerves of employees and even those that are not affected will be skittish. According to the site, an organization should be prepared to lose people with great talent.
In situations where risks of laying off the employees arise, all employees get scared of instability, including those who would otherwise want to remain with the company. To prevent mass exodus, it is important for the company to engage all employees and this should start at the highest level of the organization. All managers from top to bottom will have a role to play to navigate the workforce successfully before, during, and after the layoff. It is worth noting that there will be issues related to trust, which calls the managers to be truthful and transparent about how and why the layoff and restructuring are being done from the beginning. The conversation should be started by outlining how the organization makes its money so all employees understand the driver of their employer’s bottom line. A good manager should find the opportunity of bringing together the employees through community initiatives and non-work related gatherings.
Employees are also to be treated with fairness and respect in comparison to others. A good manager should learn to be thankful and show gratitude by recognizing employees. During layoffs, managers should be able to organize things properly, align with the company’s messages, and motivate the junior staff. To ease the anxiety of change, the following should be taken into consideration.
The organization should first acknowledge that there are difficult periods coming and work towards making the staff understand that attention to detail can bring out the impact that will benefit all.
When an organization is discussing changes, language is an important aspect. Thus, equating the problems to a struggle or a battle should be avoided. It is essential to develop goals and checkpoints that can be easily reached by teams. These goals help in keeping high the morale of the employees. The organization should consider rolling out changes at a steadier pace.
Instead of just reassuring employees that things will be back to normal, it is important to follow this by example. The leader should show the employees how things will be working after restructuring so they notice the potentiality that will accompany the restructuring.
It is important to give the employees the opportunity to express their feelings about the changes that are taking place. Such approach may provide them with an outlet or reveal new avenues to be explored. Communication is critical at such a stage. Employees are to be motivated to come up with questions and concerns about the workplace reforms .
It can be easy to motivate yourself while being a manager because the business is yours. However, it can be challenging to keep the morale of your employees high and motivated during reforms, restructuring, and general uncertainty. A good manager should know how to drive changes and at the same time how to keeping the workers engaged and productive.
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