Facing Overstaffing and Rising Costs: How Can We Responsibly Reduce Our Workforce?

Dear All,

Please help me with tips to reduce staff/manpower from the company. Currently, our company is experiencing an excess of staff, and employee costs are rising, likely to affect the company's growth. All group members are requested to provide me with guidelines/tips to address this issue.

Keep Smiling......

Mahesh K Prasad

Mr. Prasada,

There is a heavy manpower crisis in India these days, and you are asking about the reduction of manpower. Strange!

:( :(

Purshottam Saini

One of the ways can be that you assign different tasks to people which aren't a part of their functional requirements so that they feel burdened and quit themselves.

Secondly, you can adopt a HIRING FREEZE policy which means not to recruit anybody for a specific period of time. Again, people will get retired and if you don't hire more manpower, the existing employees will feel burdened and will quit themselves.

Lastly, I would suggest relocating the existing employees to far-off places or to another plant of your organization if it exists. Distance is a major barrier, and people don't like to spend most of their time commuting.

Hope this info is helpful!

Hi,

Reducing manpower/staff is a phenomenon experienced in every company. The job comes to be handled by HR. As an HR person, I too am facing the same situation. These situations need to be dealt with a lot of study and care.

This information is very critical and should not be discussed with anyone except the direct boss - CEO or HR head, as any leakage could lead to a loss of confidential information.

I have implemented it this way:

1. Check the total positions in the company and the tasks assigned to each.

2. Inform the department heads that the management needs to carry out the retrenchment process due to excess manpower for the same job. This will alert everyone from the top to the bottom.

3. Start checking the employees' attendance - late arrivals, sick leaves, etc., employee behavior, and employee goals. These are some of the checklists that will help you scrutinize the needed manpower.

4. Also, check employees who are nearing retirement to provide them with retirement dues well in advance.

5. Additionally, ask the department heads to give you the names of 5 people (if the department comprises 10 people) who seem unable to complete the assigned tasks/have complaints from peers/clients.

6. Last but not least, as this is a very emotional stage, you need to sit with the employees (from the retrenchment list) and mentally console them, informing them that the decision has been taken by the management.

I hope I have addressed your query, and this information will assist you.

Regards,

Sayara

Hi,

The only way to reduce manpower is to say goodbye to some people. So make a list of the people you like least and fire them (HA...HA....HA).

OK. Jokes apart! Manpower reduction is always a political exercise (political because it affects different interest groups and changes the current power equation of the organization).

So, to play this game fairly, one needs to, first of all, understand the current structure (underlying political structure) and then you need to collect some data to show why manpower reduction is necessary and how (on what basis) it will be done.

If you are new to all this, you will need guidance from an experienced person in the process.

Regards,
Vijay

Dear Prasad,

Make a list of people whom you want to let go. Ask them for voluntary acceptance of termination. If the result is zero, then analyze who is performing the same type or similar roles and reduce by one. Assign more responsibilities to the existing ones for a few months. These actions aim to reduce the workforce from a management perspective. Finally, there is no way around it; you have to announce a notice period for the employees in the list.

Truly Yours, Kumar.H.P

Prasad,

Most of the companies do shed some of their excess manpower. You need to tackle it very carefully. The first thing to avoid "firing is being careful in hiring". Ask the managers to give a list of the employees who are excess in the department and based on the list study the possibilities of transferring/deputing them to different centers. If there are a few who are not willing to get transferred, make them aware that there's no other option other than saying goodbye. Speak to them and prepare them mentally to be flexible. Another way is to train them in different technologies. The last option is to speak to them and give them a notice period of 2 months to look for other jobs. (What we do is ask them to go on compulsory leave for two months. We would be paying them during this period - this way, you will be avoiding the "gossips" in the organization).

Best regards,
Mariaa

Hi all,

I completely agree with Vijay that firings mostly happen because of changing political equations. However, sometimes they occur due to projects drying up and a decline in revenues. In such cases, there's not much to do except giving a 1 or 2-month notice as per the company rules. People should be made aware of why they are being fired, whether it's due to excess manpower, non-performance, non-acceptance of transfer, or any other reason. It's good to avoid flimsy reasons like background checks, especially if the person has been with the company for some time. Many big companies (IBM, Wipro, etc.) do this and end up damaging the careers of these individuals.

As for our company, we make an effort to train employees on other technologies before considering layoffs due to redundancy. We also provide opportunities in our associate or partner companies. Furthermore, there is no bench in my company, so there is no issue of excess manpower. We hire two months before the actual need arises, and all necessary checks are completed before the person joins. Firing is seen as a last resort and is considered only when all other options have been exhausted.

Regards

Hello, Mr. Prasad,

I would like to add my words. Instead of reducing the staff, you should concentrate on increasing your business, which will generate work for them and also increase your turnover of revenue. This is what I think. What do you say, buddies?

Actually, reducing the staff will damage your reputation in the market. Why and how do employees become excess in your company? It is due to mismanagement. Use multitasking and multiskilling for the proper utilization of your company's workforce. Show that your company has excess employees, but you are not considering employee retrenchment.