By Frances Gillespie, HR Consultant specialising in the Hospitality Industry

Redundancy is a Communication Challenge, Not Just an HR Process

If you’re sitting there at the moment looking at your numbers and thinking, “this isn’t stacking up anymore”, you’re not alone.

I’ve had so many conversations like this over the years, especially in hospitality. You can see the writing on the wall, but actually making the decision to reduce headcount is something else entirely. It’s heavy. It sits with you. Most people don’t sleep very well when they know it’s coming.

And what I often hear is, “I just need to get the process right.”

Yes, you do. Of course you do. There are legal requirements you have to follow, and they matter.

But here’s the bit that doesn’t get talked about enough:

Redundancy is not just a process problem. It’s a communication challenge.

Let’s be clear on one thing

Redundancy is never good news.

There’s no way of dressing that up. Someone is losing their job. For them, it’s personal, it’s unsettling, and it can be genuinely frightening.

So, I don’t believe in trying to position redundancy as something positive. It isn’t.

What can be positive is how you handle it.

What makes the difference (and I’ve seen this first-hand)

When I was doing my Master’s dissertation, I looked at employee engagement in organisations going through change.

There was one case that really stuck with me. A business had to make a number of redundancies. Before they started, they measured engagement. Then they measured it again afterwards.

You would expect engagement to drop.

It didn’t. It improved.

Not because people were happy redundancies had happened, but because of how the leadership team handled it:

  • They were open about what was going on
  • They communicated clearly and consistently
  • They involved people in the process
  • They treated people properly, with respect and dignity

And crucially, they didn’t disappear when things got uncomfortable.

That’s what people remember.

Your team is watching, even if you don’t realise it

One of the biggest mistakes I see is leaders focusing only on the people who are at risk.

Of course they matter. Massively.

But so do the people who stay.

Because they are watching every single step you take.

They’re asking themselves, quietly, “if that were me, how would I be treated?”

And the answer to that question will shape how they feel about staying with you.

The way you handle redundancy will either build trust… or quietly erode it.

Where it tends to go wrong

Not because people don’t care, but because they’re under pressure.

I see businesses:

  • Hold back information because they don’t want to worry people
  • Rush meetings because they feel awkward
  • Avoid questions they don’t have the answer to yet
  • Hope it will somehow feel easier once they start

It doesn’t.

In fact, when communication isn’t clear, that’s when the rumour mill kicks in, and that’s when things start to unravel.

What good communication actually looks like

It’s not about having perfect scripts.

It’s about being clear on your rationale, why this is happening, and being able to explain it in a way that makes sense.

It’s about planning your communication properly, not just the first announcement but everything that follows.

It’s about consultation that is genuinely meaningful, where people feel they’ve been heard, not just processed.

And it’s about being present. Even when it’s uncomfortable.

Especially then.

A moment I’ll never forget

In one redundancy process I supported, we got to the final meetings.

And a couple of the people who were being made redundant said “thank you”.

Not because they were pleased about losing their job, obviously.

But because they felt the way it had been handled was fair, clear, and respectful.

That doesn’t happen by accident.

That’s down to the way the communication was managed from start to finish.

If you’re facing this right now

If redundancy is something you’re having to consider, don’t try to wing it.

Take the time to think it through properly. Get your plan clear. Be really honest with yourself about how you’re going to communicate it.

Because this is one of those moments that will define how your people see you as a leader.

And if you’re not sure, or you just want a sounding board before you take the next step, that’s absolutely fine. You can email us to arrange a confidential, no obligation call.

Sometimes having someone who’s been through it before makes all the difference.