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There’s no getting away from the fact that redundancies, sometimes on a large scale, are a very prominent fact of life in today’s packaging industry.

The UK packaging industry workforce shrank by almost a fifth from 2000 to 2005 (down from 103,000 to 84,000), according to the Packaging Federation. And as packaging manufacture follows brands overseas and the UK prepares for a predicted economic slowdown, RPC, Amcor Flexibles (see below) and Linpac are among the big-name groups to cut jobs in the past year.

A printer with 30 years’ experience in self-adhesive labels – we’ll call him James – faced the stark reality of this situation earlier this year when his employer decided to make his position redundant.

James says he left the company feeling “disappointed” with his employer because it failed to provide him with information on the financial implications of redundancy, or advice on finding alternative employment and dealing with recruitment agencies.

“The company arranged for a local training firm to provide training if you wanted to retrain,” he says. “But you could only receive a certain amount of training for free, otherwise you had to pay.” This was of little use to James who, having worked for the firm for 18 months, received a pay-off of just £500.

Happily for James, he has arranged a new job through an agency. But he would argue this is despite, rather than because of, the help provided by his previous employer.

Anyone who has been affected by redundancy will be well aware that it’s a very unpleasant business for all parties concerned, but the tone of discussions and consultation is often set by the company’s approach and procedures.

Duty of care
A crucial aspect of the process is the support provided for staff in their hunt for alternative employment. Putting aside ethical considerations, it makes sound business sense to do the right thing and do it well, even if it’s not a statutory duty enshrined in employment law.

Despite James’s experiences, Packaging Federation chief executive Dick Searle says the concept of a ‘duty of care’ to employees is “pretty well-developed” in UK packaging.

“The other point is that redundancies are a fact of life these days,” he says. “There was a time, two or three decades ago, when it left a big black mark against your name. Fortunately, it’s no longer a negative thing, but it’s always painful.”

Searle’s point is backed by Conrad Taylor, operations director at packaging recruitment specialist Listgrove, who says we can “all expect to be made redundant once in our career, in a world of globalisation, consolidation and business re-engineering”. But some employers need to work on their approach.

Taylor says that the language used by an employer, as well as actions and support given, can make a big difference to how staff feel the process has been handled.

“There is no single ideal solution for a company dealing with redundancy situations. However, there is one guiding principle that all good employers should work to – that is to treat the person facing redundancy as an individual and with professionalism, sensitivity and support.”

Likewise, Dani Novick, managing director of print and packaging recruitment agency Mercury Search and Selection, says a “professional and considered approach” to helping staff affected by redundancy “pays dividends for the employer’s reputation”.

She adds: “An employer that makes the effort to help those being made redundant, usually at comparatively little cost, can avoid a lot of negative feeling at exactly the time when they need the remaining staff to be committed to the success of the company.”

In practical terms, this could mean simply helping employees to update their CVs.

Novick says: “There’s no question that some people are being overlooked, even though they may be the best person for the job, because they are not presenting themselves properly, either on their CV or at interview.”

Mercury runs outplacement workshops for companies making redundancies. It also provided a 15-page document for a major printing company when it made staff redundant last year, covering topics such as job searching, CV preparation, interview technique and making job applications.

Support services
Peter Ellis, Unite’s national officer for packaging, says the way companies handle redundancy “varies tremendously”, but some “bend over backwards” to help employees.

“They will provide on-site advice, put them in touch with people who will help with CVs, and even to the extent of giving staff careers advice,” he says.

The type of advice required very much depends on the age of the worker, says Ellis.

“One of the big things for older workers is identifying what’s happening with pensions,” he says. “With younger people it’s more a question of job opportunities and CV writing.”

However, CV writing can be a “daunting prospect” for some staff who have been longstanding employees of a firm.

“Some of our members will have worked in a company for 20 years and they might not have written a CV in their life,” says Ellis. Workers such as these are likely to need more comprehensive training on the whole job-seeking process.

Alongside advice offered by companies themselves, Unite is also developing a ‘jobs board’ that will provide information to members about job opportunities and advice on issues such as CV writing.

Ellis believes that some businesses, particularly smaller companies, do not provide enough help to staff being made redundant.

“Some don’t think about what services can be provided. They say their obligation is to pay a bit better than statutory redundancy.

“Some staff might also want financial advice on what to do with their redundancy money, but most companies would avoid that.”

Listgrove’s Taylor says good employers will seek support from professional outplacement companies such as his own. For example, a packaging manufacturer making 12 people redundant in its UK operation at middle management and technical level enlisted Listgrove to provide support on CV development and interview techniques. The two-day programme used one-to-one and group-based exercises.

However, Taylor says employers should by wary of “handing all of their responsibilities to an external company”, and should maintain regular contact with employees during the early stages of their job search.

There’s a lesson for all employers from Taylor’s own experience of redundancy earlier in his career, for cost-cutting reasons, which shows just how badly the situation can be handled. “I have never forgotten my then employer saying they wanted to ‘sever the relationship forthwith’,” he says.

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CASE STUDY
Amcor

Amcor Flexibles offered a range of services to 140 staff facing redundancy when it decided to close its Venus plant in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.

General manager Steve Isherwood says Amcor brought in a specialist outplacement company to provide advice on CV writing, letter writing and interview practice. The firm also set up a job club and offered staff up to £2,000 if they wanted to retrain for another trade.

“From a rather negative scenario, we have managed, with the help of the agency and our HR people, to do our best to get people fixed up with suitable alternatives,” he says.

“When people have been working for a company for 10, 20, even 30 years, they haven’t known anything else. Knowing they could talk to someone about opportunities was a very good thing.”

Amcor also arranged for staff to speak to independent financial advisers about their pensions.

Isherwood says staff had “very different agendas” depending on their age. “In some cases people were looking to do more of the same, others chose a change of direction, and others were looking to perhaps take advantage of their redundancy payment and an early pension to do something to tide them over and keep them occupied,” he says.

For a couple of staff, the change of direction involved taking up alternative employment with Amcor in its Australian operations.

“Quite a few people have told me that had the situation not occurred, they might not have taken time to think about their options and taken a bold step, such as moving to Australia,” adds Isherwood.

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REDUNDANCY PLANNING
Tips for employees facing redundancy

• Plan for your future – do you want to get a similar job, change career, retire or work part-time?
• Plan and budget your finances in the short-term – consider realistically how long you might be out of work
• Read the trade press – it might be worth submitting a speculative job application if a company is expanding
• Tailor your CV and job application to each vacancy. It should be neat, clear and no longer than two pages plus covering letter

Tips for employers

• Firms proposing to make 20 or more staff redundant within 90 days must consult the employees’ trade union or other elected representatives and consult with employees as individuals
• The Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations give workers in businesses with at least 100 staff a statutory right to request information about and consultation on employment developments, including when jobs are under threat
• To avoid compulsory redundancies, companies should consider seeking applicants for voluntary redundancy, ask existing staff if they are willing to work more flexibly, reduce or eliminate overtime, or introduce short-time working
• Although it is not a statutory requirement, it is good practice for companies to help staff find alternative employment, through on-site interviews, contacting other local employers and offering guidance on job hunting. Companies could also offer financial advice on the implications of redundancy

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Useful websites

Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Business Link

Amicus

ICE Regulations