Address from Bernie Cullinan, CEO, Clarigen

"Welcome to the Summer 2009 edition of our Ezine. In this edition we look at a number of topics which we believe will be of interest to you. Business has continued to struggle in the last quarter, with the continuing impact of the credit restrictions. However, the rate at which companies are encountering difficulties has slowed in the last quarter, as many actions have already been taken to deal with a lower level of activity. Unfortunately, it is premature to predict that we have turned the corner but business is in better shape to deal with what is ahead.

Rebuilding employee trust and engagement is more critical than ever especially if you have gone through any kind of restructuring programme. We need even greater commitment and effort from employees during a downturn, yet we are often dealing with de-motivated staff. In our article on 'Rebuilding Employee Engagement' we offer some practical advice and hope you find this useful...

Survey Results: What do HR professionals see as the main challenges in Q3 and Q4 2009

We conducted a survey in May 2009 asking HR professionals what they felt would be the main challenges for them in the second half of this year. The results were as follows:

Over 30% felt that the main challenge would be the cash constraints on their business; operating with lower flexibility, lower budgets and in some cases no budgets for activities like training and development
More than 25% believe that maintaining high levels of employee motivation and engagement will be their biggest challenge. In other words rebuild trust and morale following restructuring
21% believe that implementing and managing redundancy programmes will be their biggest challenge
The remaining 23% cited business survival and change management as their major challenges.

In summary, it is clear from the survey that the main issues facing HR Managers and other Managers with responsibility for HR (often the Finance function) will either be dealing with further downsizing and restructuring and/or dealing with its aftermath. One way or another, having to stabilise, manage and grow the business with significantly lower budgets than previous years.

Those with responsibility for HR need to look for creative ways to save money on low value activities (such as payroll and administration) and to invest the saving into high value-add activities (such as management training and performance management).

Clarigen can help you with both; we offer outsourced payroll and HR administration solutions to clients as well as consultancy services focused on rebuilding your business. It is important to note that outsourcing payroll for example, is proven to be 20 - 25% cheaper than managing it in-house.

written by Bernie Cullinan, CEO, Clarigen.

Five Key Steps for Rebuilding following Restructuring and Redundancies

by Sinéad Creane

Many businesses have been forced to restructure their operations and/or reduce their headcount in response to the downturn in the economy. In some cases, the restructuring was a pro-active move to keep costs to a minimum and ensure optimum efficiency and in other cases it was a desperate measure to ensure the survival of the business.

Whatever the reason, business owners and managers must now consider the impact of the restructuring on the workforce and the ways and means to ensure everyone is motivated and productive. After all, the future success of the company is highly dependent on the commitment and efforts of the remaining staff.
So how does a business rebuild morale and trust following a restructure? We believe that there are five key steps:

1. Responsible Restructuring:
2. New Opportunities
3. A Performance Focus
4. A Team Focus
5. A Cost Focus

(This is an extract from an article by Sinéad Creane, Executive Director, Clarigen. Click here to access the full article