With many employees furloughed, and as the furlough scheme changes are you using this opportunity to right-size your company and consider redundancies? 
 
Rightsizing is a proactive activity and should be a constant part of managing an organisation. By adjusting an organisation like this can make it the most efficient, effective, competitive and profitable that it can be. 
 
20% of companies are planning redundancies this summer despite the furlough scheme and over half of employees are worried about losing their job. 
 
Three key questions to ask before you start assessing your workforce are: 
1. In what way post-pandemic will your customer needs have changed? 
2. What will success for your business look like going forward? 
3. What positives changes from remote/social distancing working can you introduce to the workplace following lockdown? 
 
Next, look at where you are now and what talent do you have within, what areas you may need to upskill or what new skills should you be looking to bring into the organisation. 
 
Look first to your business-critical positions which will help with the long-term success of the business. All the furloughed employees –can you manage without any of them? Identify your high potential employees – these are the ones who embrace and embody the culture of the organisation, can flex and adapt and perform at a high level in their current positions. 
Look at what key competencies you need within the organisation to ensure your success moving forward. What training and development can you utilise for your high potential employees to plug this gap? 
 
Another consideration is where will you be operating from moving forward and what do your employees want to do? Over 75% of current companies now have 62% of their workforce working from home. You need to be clear as to what you can offer and how that matches the expectations of your high potential employees. Some may want to maintain a high degree of flexibility whilst others may miss the social interaction they get from a face to face working environment. Does this work for you? 
 
Bearing in mind that over half of employees are worried about losing their job once you have made your decisions, communicate quickly and sympathetically. Offer support to both those delivering the message and to those who will need to find new jobs in what will be a competitive market place. 
 
Emerald Starfish offers outplacement support in workshops and one to one sessions to get employees facing redundancy fit for the current job market. Candidates that are offered outplacement support have a much greater chance of securing their next position more quickly giving them an unfair advantage in the job market. 
 
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