TUPE and redundancies can be daunting for people looking to purchase a business and I have experienced first-hand individuals even delaying or discontinuing an exchange due to the uncertainty.
I will start by explaining this is completely normal, these can be complicated and intricate situations that only broader knowledged HR professionals would find easy, however, to make you feel a little more at ease I have listed some of the key points to think about throughout the process.
Not which employees – ALL employees
Some business owners start the process of business buying without the understanding that all staff must TUPE across to the new business. There are no exceptions, whether staff have only been working a week or 9 years, they will transfer to the new owners. Some owners choose to not communicate until later on in the purchasing process to save staff the worry should the purchase fall through for any reason. Or some owners choose to be completely transparent throughout the process so staff can prepare. Neither of these is the correct way across the board, as some businesses would find it a lot easier to communicate later on if they are all home-based, a smaller business or field workers as they are a little more separate from the day to day directorship of the company.
Calculate the costs before
When there are staff transferring in a business and you do not wish to keep all of them, there will inevitably be a cost involved in letting the staff go. Not only in terms of redundancy costs (some staff may not be required to be made redundant) but the legal costs behind it, some business owners make the costly mistake of going ‘rogue’ and letting staff go without the advice of an HR professional. It is possible but a huge risk in this climate, there are a lot of factors to consider and it is unlikely these will all be contemplated before going through with it. Most small businesses will have their staff contracted to statutory redundancy pay, this can be easily worked out via the GOV website, simply input the start dates, redundancy dates and weekly pay and this will show you the final payment. However, others will require a little more calculation, maybe there are bonuses involved too, or of course, the age of the employee needs to be taken into account.
Stay empathetic
Remember employees are humans too and the TUPE and redundancy process can be an extremely anxious time for them. Having someone who is understanding and willing to provide help and advice to the employee wherever possible can make a huge difference and even prevent appeals from happening in the first instance. Communications with employees of this nature should be face to face wherever and whenever possible. Having an ideal combination of being fully compliant and having empathy for the employee will make the process run very smoothly.
