Dismissals of individual employees from an enterprise or organization happen for many reasons. Due to a mismatch in the qualifications of the position, violations of the internal regulations or labor laws, staff reduction, self-declaration, etc., mass dismissal of staff occurs only in a few cases, and, as a rule, the personal qualities of employees in this process little effect.
Extra people
Dismissal is the termination of an employment agreement in compliance with the agreements specified therein between the employee and the employer. Regardless of which of them initiated the termination of the contract, the following is a fairly simple and quick mechanism for processing documents and paying the earned or compensation amount to the outgoing employee. With the exception of the reduction procedure, which can take a couple of months. As for the technology for the release of personnel, here the process is a whole complex of various events and does not always end with a mandatory dismissal. It can last from several months to several years, depending on the reasons underlying it.
At once, several dozens or even hundreds of people can fall outside the line of one enterprise because of its complete liquidation or industrial reorganization. If we talk about the lump-sum release of staff briefly, then this mainly happens due to the optimization of the number of employees of the company. Such dramatic changes can lead to both external and internal factors. The first include:
- a drop in demand for manufactured products or services, which causes losses to the company;
- reorientation to the production of another type of goods more in demand by consumers;
- introduction of new technologies and equipment, the servicing of which is based on computer programs replacing the workforce, etc.
The latter feature can also be attributed to internal factors. The decision of the company's management to replace people at the enterprise with smart machines is the first of the reasons for the mass dismissal of employees. In addition to it, internal factors can be considered: liquidation of the company, reduction in production volumes, initial incorrect planning of the number of employees for a particular operation. Depending on these reasons, one can observe several stages of the release of personnel: from retraining and moving to another job to complete dismissal. The desire and consent of employees is taken into account as much as possible, but it is not of paramount importance if there is no other option.
The untouchables and privileged
The main indicator by which the company resorts to the release of personnel is profit. Either its current decline, or the desire of the owners of the enterprise to significantly increase it. Saving on wages, taxes on it, social and hospital payments brings considerable income. However, whatever the factors leading to the optimization of the number of employees, certain categories of workers are protected from dismissal without their consent. The only exception is the complete liquidation of the enterprise or organization. In all other cases, the policy for the release of personnel takes into account the guarantees in the labor legislation of a more gentle attitude to the procedure:
- the only breadwinners in the family where there are persons with disabilities or minors;
- received at the same enterprise an occupational disease;
- more qualified in front of others who are in danger of release;
- continuously working in the company for a long time;
- receiving higher education in accordance with their current position, especially according to the scheme on the job.
In addition, women on maternity leave for child care cannot be reduced or transferred to another position, if this is not the liquidation of the enterprise, without their consent.
When planning measures for the release of personnel, planning for subsequent staffing should be carried out taking into account the untouchability or privilege of the above categories of full-time employees. They can be transferred to other departments to positions corresponding to their qualifications or retrained depending on the saved production activity. In addition, generous material compensation in certain cases can lead to dismissal by agreement of the parties or at will.
In any case, it is necessary to act within the framework of labor legislation without prejudice to the interests of the employee. Otherwise, his demand to reinstate himself in his former position through the court will lead to re-enrollment in the state, payment of compensation for lost profit for the entire time of forced absence from work, as well as moral harm. The amount will run up a lot. And if such dissatisfied is not one person, but several dozen?
With things - go out
On the eve of the mass dismissal, the company, on the basis of the personnel policy department, forms a department engaged in the release of the organization’s personnel, which studies in detail the biographical data, personal and professional characteristics of each employee recommended for resignation. Analysis of labor activity, the presence of restrictions affecting the suspension from work, the number of disciplinary sanctions or incentives - everything is taken into account for deciding on his future fate. In the absence of mitigating factors, the employee is unlikely to be able to defend his position, and he falls into the number of necessarily released.
If there is at least one indicator giving the right to be considered a privileged member of the collective, he may be offered several options for further employment at the same enterprise. The most common is retraining and moving to another workshop or department.
In case of mass dismissal, the list of those released is headed by disciplinary sanctions for various violations that do not fulfill production plans and low-skilled employees. Only the first item can be deducted at once about two percent of the staff. In the second and third - about ten more. Having thrown off the problematic ballast, a more selective scheme and individual measures for each specific person are already applied to the remaining number when dismissing and releasing personnel.
In some cases, a large team of specialists is being formed at large and appreciative enterprises, offering their help to the released employees in their further employment. The set of methods for such an activity is called outplacement, which is translated from English as a definition of a position outside your own enterprise.
A similar practice in organizing the release of personnel is widely applicable in the West, but in our country it is taking root quite poorly. In most cases, the dismissed employees are left to their own devices, and their only assistants in further employment are specialists from the employment center.
Temporary difficulties
The next type of personnel release procedure is part-time. It is used only if the organization or enterprise has temporary production difficulties. They can happen for various reasons:
- the change of equipment to a more modern one, which leads to a halt in the production and sale of products, and therefore, a decrease in profits;
- loss of regular customers and accumulation of unclaimed goods in warehouses;
- problems of the production process, equipment downtime at business partners, who are the main buyers of manufactured products, etc.
The measures for the dismissal of personnel during a period of temporary decrease in the company's productivity are aimed at preserving all jobs and the number of employees, since in a month or two the work process can return to its usual mode and people will be fully involved. In the meantime, during downtime, a shorter work week can be introduced and overtime activities canceled. In addition, employees have the right to send on long-term unpaid leave or with the preservation, according to some points of the Labor Code, of two-thirds of the salary.
During this period, the hiring of new employees is canceled, vacant posts are liquidated, or unemployed workers are transferred to unoccupied places, which also positively affects the process of dismissal. Staff reduction as a measure to optimize the number of employees is not carried out, since it is necessary to retain permanent employees as much as possible. Under certain conditions, when a downtime can drag on for a longer time, a process called fluidity occurs. During this period, employees leave the problem enterprise themselves, looking for a job elsewhere. In any case, a partial release is not an absolute dismissal without the desire for a large mass of people.
“We do not need services”
With the onset of difficulties for the company, temporary or leading to its liquidation, the management sets the personnel policy department to carry out the procedure for releasing personnel with the least financial or labor losses, depending on further plans. If the transfer to other posts or the reduction of the working week does not give the expected effect, and the duration of the unpaid leave does not comply with the norms of labor legislation, a dismissal occurs. Three main, most frequently used, methods of optimizing the number of employees are applied:
- reduction;
- agreement of the parties;
- voluntary dismissal.
Regardless of the reasons for the release of personnel - a decrease in production or the complete liquidation of the enterprise, all three methods can be used.
- Employees are primarily offered the most acceptable for the company - dismissal of their own free will. But, as a rule, few take this step.
- The second priority is the agreement of the parties. The employee is left with the time set for the search for work, during which, even if he was not employed at any enterprise, he retains his continuous working experience with timely registration on the employment exchange.
- In addition, the agreement of the parties implies the payment of a certain compensation amount for using this method. It is calculated in each case individually. Someone will be glad to agree to pay him an additional monthly salary, the second one will require two or three.
A comparative analysis of the release of personnel in the three indicated ways shows that the most disadvantageous method for the company is the official reduction of employees. Firstly, a former employee needs to submit an order and a notice of impending dismissal two months before the proposed action. After this period, after dismissal and registration at the employment center, for another three months to pay him the average monthly salary. It turns out pretty expensive. Therefore, employers are doing everything possible to convince the employee to go, as a last resort, to the agreement of the parties. Often not only persuasion, but also threats are used.
Sweeten the pill
However, completely opposite tricks do occur during the personnel release procedure. It all depends on the employer. Valuing his reputation, allowing him to develop an influential and strong trade union movement at the enterprise, he has a slightly different approach to the mass dismissal of employees, trying to mitigate the situation to the maximum. Temporary dismissal for a period of recession of the company, maintaining two-thirds of the salary in case of a forced simple, official reduction - all these are ways to make life easier for your employees.
In addition, there is such a thing as ethics. A caring employer does not report the dismissal, reduction or dismissal of personnel in the following cases:
- On memorable or significant personal dates for the employee, such as his birthday, the anniversary of the beginning of his career at the enterprise.
- On the eve of weekends or holidays.
- In advance, when the issue of dismissal is not completely resolved.
- When a person is on vacation or is sick.
In addition, a whole set of recommendations has been developed for the employer, regulating the recruitment and dismissal of personnel, in order to create a healthy business environment and friendly atmosphere in the company. Among the points of a peculiar code of ethics:
- informing the employee of the dismissal, not through his colleagues, but in a personal conversation in the presence of representatives of the personnel policy department and the trade union committee;
- express the reasons for dismissal clearly, concisely, in accordance with reality, and not on far-fetched facts;
- Do not disseminate conflicting information when an objectionable employee is told one thing and his colleagues another.
There are many similar recommendations on how to act when firing an employee. Even with the mass release of personnel, it is not difficult to comply with all of the above items. It would be a desire to treat the company team ethically and with care.
Retirement ahead of schedule
Outplacement - assistance in finding employment in another enterprise - the rarest of the ways to make the dismissal procedure in our country less painful. And the most common among a caring employer, if dismissal is inevitable, is monetary compensation. Depending on the conditions for the release of personnel - full or partial - one or another type of payment is applied. It is individual for each individual employee.
However, one special category of workers can be distinguished — those who have reached retirement or pre-retirement age, for whom the severance pay and conditions for dismissal are somewhat different. Early retirement is a fairly common form of staff release. The procedure is greatly facilitated by the experience of a specific employee. It can be of three types: labor, special and insurance. The presence of the latter two gives the corresponding benefits and the right to exit for a well-deserved rest ahead of schedule. But in most cases, workers have the first of them - seniority. That is, for them, the retirement age occurs when they reach the age of 60 for men and 55 years for women.
However, in case of staff reduction or the complete liquidation of the enterprise, those employees who are up to the indicated age of two years or less can take advantage of the right of preferential access to a well-deserved rest. In this case, with their consent and the presence of some mandatory factors, a pension is drawn up. This method allows you to free up to five percent of the team during the reduction.
Bringing to dismissal
The next method of releasing staff is to encourage the dismissal of their own free will. It is based on monetary compensation and / or compulsory employment in another enterprise with optimal conditions for the employee and the level of wages. Sometimes a generous severance pay is enough for a person who can easily find a new job to agree to write a letter of resignation of his own free will.
What else can you achieve loyalty from employees - a promise with the provision of guarantees to take him back to the staff, when the shaky business at the enterprise will improve, and it will return to its usual working rhythm. In this case, the admission of new specialists will become inevitable, and it’s really easier to take your own people back than to train those who came from outside and are not familiar with the specifics of production. This technique of staff release is used quite often, and it bears fruit - people quit on their own. Naturally, without some material incentive for their voluntary solution, the method would be ineffective. But money is the basis for the release of staff, especially in the case when dismissal in the near future is inevitable.
The following methods that are quite popular with employers are forcing a person to leave the company of their own free will - cut their salaries, deprive them of bonuses, send them on unpaid leave, and the like, which are unpleasant for an employee. The use of the “whip” is quite common, and there are a lot of ways to make the working life of an employee in an enterprise unbearable.
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The complex of measures taken at the enterprise to release personnel, whatever it may be, must comply with labor law. All possible reasons for the termination of the agreement between the employee and the employer are described in detail in article 77 of the Labor Code. Violations made upon dismissal are an excuse to reinstate one’s position in court. In order for the employer not to be threatened by such an incident, personnel policy officers should adhere to the following measures:
- approve the proposed staffing after release;
- timely issue orders regarding the planned change in the structure of the company;
- to approve the payroll of the labor collective after the reduction or dismissal of employees;
- provide the dismissed person with a signature all orders relating to him personally;
- have all accounting documents on payments before and after the procedure for the release of employees, etc.
On all papers, the actual dates of each event should be affixed by the hand of the dismissed employee. The absence of his signature on the documents is a gross violation of the law. The personnel release system is clearly defined, therefore it is necessary to strictly follow its standards. The terms of the warning on dismissal, reduction or retirement, the last working day, the dates of all payments due to the employee must comply with the Labor Code. Compliance with the law is the only way to prove in court the lawfulness of actions to reduce or mass release staff.