Responsible Restructuring
If you’re involved in, or subject to, one of the many restructures happening at the moment, would you say it’s being done responsibly?
If part-time work isn’t being offered, but redundancies are underway, I’d argue that we’ve failed.
I keep hearing variations of the same story at the moment. That story goes something like this:
There’s a restructure happening. It’s awful, despite the fact that we’ve been through this many times before. Why does it never get any easier? Why can’t it be done in a more humane and responsible way? Why does it have to be so brutal?
The question I always ask is, “Has part-time been offered to people, as part of the process?”
Invariably, the answer is, “No”.
What has part-time work got to do with a responsible restructure?
We have seen a significant reduction in part-time work over the last decade. Meanwhile, our workforce statistics measure the underutilisation rate, but not the overutilisation rate. That means we know how many people want to work more hours, but we have absolutely no idea how many people want to work fewer hours. We just don’t measure it!
Anecdotally, I hear from a lot of people who are looking for high-quality, part-time work, but it’s simply not on offer. They might be working parents or working grandparents, people with a side-hustle business, or simply ready to get out more on their mountain bike. The one thing they all have in common is that they’re looking to add plenty of value in their paid work, but simply over a shorter working week. They take full-time work because that’s all they can get and try their best to make it work alongside all their other life demands, for better or worse.
Meanwhile we’ve got a workforce that is burning out at persistently high rates through overwork and a long-hours culture. All of this contributes to our doggedly stagnant and low productivity rates.
Harmful (and expensive) restructures are the status quo
At the moment, our restructures are happening quickly, driven by urgent cost-cutting targets. We’re finding the money by looking at whole jobs and picking winners and losers. In actual fact, we’re all losing. Relatively few people lose their whole job, with all the knock on effects that brings them and their families, especially to their financial and emotional health. Those who keep their jobs are left with survivor guilt and additional (often unfamiliar) work to cover. We spend a small fortune on redundancies and we’re left with a workforce that’s even more overworked, under-resourced and exhausted by the restructure process. Not in the best state to deliver more for less.
It’s awful. There is a better way.
What’s the alternative?
By pausing on this default process and offering part-time work across the board we will almost certainly be surprised by how many people take it up. They will see this as an opportunity to finally get the high-quality, part-time work they’ve long wanted, but never got. We’re able to save money through a reduced salary bill, as people voluntarily reduce their hours. We’ll also save in redundancy pay-outs, because we simply won’t need as many of them any more.
We retain the talent we’ve worked hard to attract and build over the years and we’ll have a workforce that’s not as emotionally drained that still has access to the varied skills, even if it’s for slightly shorter hours each week.
It might even show us that more hours doesn’t necessarily generate better output. The four day week research, time and time again, has dispelled the myth that there is a direct relationship between hours worked and productivity. When we’re working long hours, we get to the point of diminishing and even negative returns. I’ve done it and I know I’m not alone! Tired people make poor decisions and we’re more likely to create new problems and rework, rather than doing our best work and being truly productive.
Restructure responsibly - offer part-time work across the board
If you haven’t offered part-time work as part of the restructure, can you honestly tell yourself that you’ve done this as responsibly as possible? If you haven’t asked the question then you’ll never know what might have been possible. What if this one change creates a better outcome for the workforce, their families, the quality of work and the productivity of your workplace?
Offer part-time as part of your restructure and you’ll know you’ve done everything you can to support the workforce AND achieve a more productive and healthy outcome for the organisation along the way.