Work with staff in a crisis

And what will happen next - the main issue that occupies non-unique specialists of almost any company. In the current environment, working with staff is of a different nature: instead of retaining workers, it is often necessary to take measures to reduce them. The traditional mysterious silence of the leadership asserting “we continue to work, but bonuses are postponed” also contributes to the situation of tension. The policy of silence leads to the fact that employees themselves are looking for sources of information, thanks to which they are easily amenable to rumors about a critical situation in the industry or even in the entire economy. The appearance of even one panicked employee leads to the fact that a team of 20-30 people "become infected" with panic within a few days, and a company of more than a hundred people within a week. The main result is apathy and inability to work, everyone begins to discuss the impending crisis, they begin to openly criticize the authorities, and instead of fulfilling their duties, place resumes on specialized sites. In such a situation, very few employees will do what maximizes their functions (and in vain, after all, it is these people who will be most needed in the company).

It is clear that now you can write a whole list of undoubtedly useful tips from the category “do not panic, talk with subordinates or invite the management to hold a corresponding meeting”, but all these tips do not take into account a simple thing in practice: no one will do that. There may be many reasons for this, and we will leave their study to scientists, but we turn to more practical questions, namely, how to get out of the situation of “general panic”?
So, there are a number of fairly simple recommendations out of the crisis. The recommendations are based on the fact that your company has the opportunity to emerge from the crisis, more precisely, that the top management and director are ready to emerge from the crisis and are not willing to give up and submit to negative external circumstances.

It should be understood that I am not trying to introduce the ideal bosses, it is clear that in a specific situation requires the appropriate tools. However, the ideal is to strive and focus on it.
So, the ideal leadership behavior will consist of:
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1. To hold a meeting of the strategic analysis group (in most companies this function is assigned to advisers) in order to adjust the company's strategy in the current environment.
2. To hold a meeting of the heads of the department in order to determine which of the employees forms profit. This will help the famous Pareto law, according to which 80% of the organization’s profits form 20% of employees.
3. Despite the quite understandable responsibility for such actions, it is necessary to hold a meeting on the theme “Yes, comrades, the crisis has affected us too. And now it is only in our power to do so to help save the company, jobs, and those with whom we have to part (definitively or temporarily) help materially or with employment. "
4. To negotiate with the IT department of the company to automate the work process. It is no secret that some of the employees, pointing out in the resume “an experienced Word and Excel user,” have very superficial knowledge about the capabilities of these two simple programs. In addition, the automation of work, the introduction of an electronic document of turnover and other fairly obvious IT solutions will help to significantly reduce the costs of employees involved in various reports, but they can mainly improve the manageability of the company as a whole. It should be understood that negotiations with the IT department should be held with all employees in order to identify all ideas.
5. After this, it is necessary to proceed to the development of a work plan for the year, taking into account the adjustments made by the crisis:
- How many orders we have and how many we can in the near future (and in the future for the next year) conclude contracts. This is necessary in order to understand how many employees we will be able to provide with salaries, who will have to be temporarily sent on unpaid leave, with whom to say goodbye finally.
- Estimate the number of people who are really busy with work (for example, in the absence of orders, we definitely do not need 10 managers, one or two is enough, but what to do with the rest - on unpaid leave or reduction, decide on the basis of your budget for the year) . You may have to act based on the opinions of department heads, but in such a situation it is better to understand what people are doing, because the manager can “cover up” the person with whom he has been good friends for a long time and give you a promising newcomer in return.
- To again discuss with managers the prospects for their employees. If retirees work for you, offer them retirement (unless of course the work of the entire department rests on them, and this also happens). Probably the most "humane option" is to send to the so-called. unpaid leave, with the prospect of a return at stabilization. But at the same time you have to explain to employees that you can’t give guarantees of this very stabilization, therefore they can simultaneously go in search of work,
- The important point is the next (it is better to check once again) the miscalculation of the budget (best together with an accountant and a lawyer) for dismissal, going on leave (think about paid leave, perhaps they are not yet taken away from your employees) and for the salaries of those remains,
- It is very important that the dismissed ones do not hold onto the remaining ones. This is where you have to apply all your oratorical qualities. This is connected not only with the necessary ethical leadership, but also with pragmatic considerations such as the transition of employees to competitors.

So, we have analyzed the situation, and now we have 3 groups of employees :
- Those whom we leave (with the performance of its functions and the combination of additional)
- Those who are sent to unpaid leave for an indefinite period,
- And those who say goodbye finally.

We should have a conversation with each of these three groups, because it may well turn out that those whom you enrolled in the remaining ones have already found a new job, and they can be replaced by someone who we send on vacation.
In this case, we explain to all employees that they can count on the fact that you will help them with job search and give recommendations. And, it would be great if you could put up your full-time lawyer so that he explains to those who want their rights from the point of view of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and other legislative acts, that is, that people have no thoughts left that you are deceiving them and not there was a desire to run to court.

This will significantly reduce your costs, even assuming that one lawyer will be able to accept 10-15 people per day, since the company could incur large costs in the future in case of lawsuits.
Thus, our plan is registered, calculated and almost put into action. It remains only to give the task to the personnel department for the preparation of orders for dismissal / leaving for unpaid leave / combining positions - and you again understand that the company can work!

At the same time you have:
- There are valuable employees who can and love to work (otherwise you would not choose them, right?) And bring you profit,
- There remains a “personnel reserve”, which is still on unpaid leave, but as soon as your market situation changes, you will be happy to take them back because you have not parted with them,
- There are always employees whom you dismissed, but with whom you have remained with good good relations (thanks to you here, your lawyer and personnel officers).

That is, there is the most important thing - human capital, with which you will move any mountains!
Successes.