Doing it in the environment of a small business is particularly hard. Big companies can blame the cut on faceless executives and the market's insatiable desire for results. There's almost a safety in numbers.
But when you're the owner of a small firm and you decide you can't afford somone any more, it can be very, very hard to deliver the news. Trust and personal relationships are on the line, along with a nervousness about whether it's really the right thing to do.
Here are some tips to help make the process a little less painful. You'll still feel bad afterwards because (almost) everyone does, but these may help to smooth what's always a difficult path.
1. Don't delay. If you've decided you need to act, then do it. Don't hold off in the hope that next week things will pick up or that your staff might leave before they're pushed.
2. Always take professional advice. Don't assume that your staff will understand and go quietly, even if you know them very well. It's amazing how someone's attitude can change once they're made redundant. Get advice about the process and follow it to minimise the risk of being taken to a tribunal.
3. Be honest about the reasons. You need to spell out why someone is being made redundant. Partly because it's essential to make it clear it's the role, not the person, that's being cut. And partly because it's the right thing to do. If someone was making you redundant, you'd like to understand why.
4. Don't make unrealistic promises. It's too easy, in the heat of the moment, to offer more help with finding another job than you can reasonably give. Or to make commitments to the staff who remain. You can't guarantee that there won't be a need for more redundancies in the near future, so don't say there won't be any.
5. Don't use redundancy as a cloak for dismissal. Sometimes you need to get rid of someone because they're not up to the job or their behaviour is poor. It can be tempting to do this as redundancy because it's relatively easy and less confrontational. But it can create distrust amongst the remaining staff who know what's really going on.
