As layoffs loom, HR staff redeployment strategies gain traction
Football and pumpkin spice lattes aren’t all that’s on the horizon — layoffs might also be in the air.
The first ominous sign came by way of the July jobs report, which revealed a sharp downturn in hiring in the U.S. Employers added just 114,000 jobs in the month, 35% fewer than expected, while the 4.3% unemployment rate was the highest since October 2021, according to Labor Department stats. August’s report released Friday also showed signs the strength of the labor market is weakening.
And now LHH, the Adecco Group’s talent solutions provider, reveals in its “Outplacement & Career Mobility 2024 Trends Report” that more than 7 in 10 HR leaders are planning or considering layoffs in 2024, according to a survey of 3,000 HR heads and 8,000 white-collar workers across 9 countries.
But there may be a silver lining for the workforce, as there has been a noticeable shift toward redeployment programs in organizations. More than 8 in 10 HR leaders are considering reassigning workers as an alternative to layoffs, per the report. The proportion of HR leaders with redeployment initiatives in place has increased by 25 percentage points since 2023, now at 47%, indicating a growing trend towards retaining and reskilling talent, LHH found.
“The global job market has undergone significant reshaping over the past year, largely due to the rising impact and integration of AI,” said John Morgan, president of LHH’s career transition mobility and leadership development unit. “As the workforce adapts to this new reality, our research tells us that leaders are recognizing the need to evolve talent strategies to support employees throughout their careers, making reskilling and redeployment essential for maintaining an agile organization.”
Many employers have had documented success with redeployment strategies, one example being BAE Systems, an aerospace, defense and information security company based in the U.K. Several years ago, it warmed to the strategy of redeployment when it was faced with having to cut about 5,000 jobs—a costly proposition and one that was largely avoidable considering it also had thousands of positions to be filled across the company.
Here’s how redeployment worked for one employee of the company, as told by its head of HR, who spoke on the condition of anonymity: A person doing procurement in one division was moved to the same role in another where they might not know every detail—the suppliers, for example — but where they did understand the procurement process, with the rest they would pick up over time. “We accept that these employees are often a less than perfect fit at first,” said the exec. “But even six months training and investment is worth avoiding the cost associated with redundancy and having to recruit externally.”
Other cases where LHH helped redeploy workers whose positions were eliminated were at a financial services firm, where an IT business analyst was transferred to a project manager role, and a wealth performance management ops manager was redeployed to a governance and controls risk advisor position.
Employers can underestimate the expense related to layoffs, ranging from severance packages and legal fees to loss of productivity, damaged reputation and lower profitability, notes Randstad Enterprise. The firm reports that 1 in 3 organizations see talent mobility and redeployment as a “vital strategy,” with more than half (53%) boosting their investment in internal mobility.
“Redeployment of talent and more proactive reskilling can help your employees develop the skills the organization needs while strengthening their resilience to withstand tough economic conditions in the future,” Randstad said. “It can also build greater workforce agility, helping you to deploy skills when and where needed, and workforce loyalty as people feel valued.”
Eric Mochnacz, director of operations at the HR consultancy Red Clover, also sees redeployment as a viable alternative, if the reason for termination is financial rather than related to performance.
“Ultimately, if a person is driving value for your business — and the need to eliminate their role is due to no fault of their own — why not consider other opportunities within the organization where they can still contribute?” he asked. “That way, you retain a strong performer and don’t need to work through the different considerations related to a layoff.”
He added that in a case where such a role has been hard to fill, moving someone into it who already knows your business addresses half the challenge of onboarding a new employee: integrating someone into the company’s culture and way of working.
If redeployment is something a company wants to investigate, they must be mindful of the skills needed for the new role and whether it is a job that is conducive to upskilling and training, Mochnacz said.
“I’m not sure the smartest accountant in the world would ever be able to train me in anything numbers-related, so as an HR leader, redeploying me to an accountant role wouldn’t make sense,” he explained.
“But could I do well in a customer service role? Could I adapt to other roles with the right training? Sure.”