Navigating Redundancy Trends: What HR and People & Culture Managers Need to Know for Q3 2024

As we head into the September quarter of 2024, HR and People & Culture Managers need to be prepared for a notable shift in redundancy intentions that could impact your workforce strategy. Here’s what you need to know:

A Slight Increase in Redundancy Intentions

Recent data reveals that 27% of employers are planning to make workers redundant in the September quarter. This marks a modest rise from 23% in the June quarter. 

Understanding the Context

It’s crucial to interpret this rise with caution. Employment and recruitment data indicate that the demand for labour remains robust, suggesting that the increase in redundancy intentions may reflect broader organisational shifts rather than a downturn in overall employment opportunities.

Driving Factors: Reorganisation and Technological Advancements

The modest increase in redundancies may signal a period of reorganisation within many organizations. This could be driven by several factors:

  • Digitisation and Automation: As companies embrace new technologies, some roles are becoming obsolete while new ones are emerging. This shift necessitates a recalibration of workforce composition and skills.
  • Evolving Skills Requirements: Organisations are adapting to changing demands, which means some roles are being phased out in favour of positions that align with new business priorities.

Managing Simultaneous Changes

For HR and People & Culture Managers, this environment presents a unique challenge: managing redundancies while simultaneously handling recruitment and organisational change. Balancing these aspects effectively will be key to maintaining workforce stability and aligning talent strategies with evolving business needs.

Takeaways for HR and People & Culture Managers

  1. Prepare for Reorganisation: Anticipate and plan for potential workforce changes. This involves not only managing redundancies but also facilitating smooth transitions for affected employees and integrating new roles and skill sets.
  2. Stay Agile with Recruitment: With ongoing demand for labour, ensure your recruitment strategies are flexible and responsive to shifting needs.
  3. Embrace Technological Change: Understand how digitisation and automation are impacting your organization and use this knowledge to guide your workforce planning and development.

By staying informed and proactive, you navigate the complexities of redundancy trends and position your organisation for continued success in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Many organisations are managing reorganisation, redundancies and recruitment simultaneously – call me if you’d like help to attract, select or outplace people. I can help you across the employee lifecycle.

Authored by Bridget Hogg of Outplacement Adelaide, a brand of Development at Work Australia. Bridget is an experienced outplacement consultant who has helped hundreds of people to take their next step. Many retrenched workers that Bridget has helped have spontaneously told her during the outplacement process “this is the best thing that’s happened to me” – it just takes time and effective psychological support. Bridget holds full membership of both the Australian Human Resources Institute (CAHRI) and the Career Development Association of Australia. She won the Career Development Association of Australian award for excellence (SA) in 2020 and was nominated by the CDAA for national award in 2022. Bridget has researched the effectiveness of her service and knows that it helps people to improve their mental health and wellbeing and find their next step

Bridget offers face to face flexible, responsive outplacement services around the Adelaide area. 

Bridget’s services are positive psychology based. She uses her psychology degrees and NLP training to help retrenched workers manage their emotional state during the outplacement process. To see who are past clients are and to see testimonials from past clients go to www.outplacementadelaide.com.au

For an overview of Bridget’s outplacement services or to book our help call 0477 016966 or email bridget@developmentatwork.com.au

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