Prepare supporting documentation

Redundancy is confirmed after negotiations with the employee organisations with which the University has collective agreements in accordance with the Employment (Co-Determination in the Workplace) Act. Prior to negotiations, as a manager with responsibility for staff you are to draw up supporting documentation.

The documentation is to describe your organisation, the background to the redundancy that has arisen, work duties that may be redundant, affected employees and when the redundancy is expected to arise.

The documentation is to also include relevant documents as support for the proposed change, for example staff statistics, related budget material, decisions that have been made and an assessment of the risks of ill-health and accidents that the redundancy may entail for the affected work team.

Assess risks and impacts

Before an organisation changes, as in the case of redundancy, the employer is to assess the risks of ill-health and accidents that the change may entail in accordance with the Work Environment Authority’s regulations on systematic work environment management. The aim of the risk and impact assessment is to identity the preventive measures needed to ensure that no one will be affected by ill-health and accidents.

The risk and impact assessment can be described as a four-step process: investigate – assess risk – instigate measures – follow up/check. As a manager with responsibility for staff, you conduct the assessment with the health and safety representative and document it in a template. Affected employees are also to be given the opportunity to take part. The assessment is to cover social, organisational, psychological and physical risks and is carried out both for the person or persons affected and for the remaining staff.

Read more about risk and impact assessment in view of organisational change and download the template for risk and impact assessment

Negotiations in accordance with the Employment (Co-Determination in the Workplace) Act

As a manager with responsibility for staff, you must initiate negotiations in accordance with Section 11 of the Employment (Co-Determination in the Workplace) Act before you plan important changes in your organisation. Confirming redundancy is an important change of this type. The aim of the negotiations is for you to ascertain the union organisations’ position on the matter prior to making a decision.

Your supporting documentation for the negotiations is to be sent via your local HR officer to the HR Division. The HR Division convenes the negotiations, takes part to support you as a manager and writes the minutes. Your local HR officer should accompany you to the negotiations.

Read more about the University’s rules of procedure for matters relating to the Employment (Co-Determination in the Workplace) Act

After the negotiations have concluded, you are to notify the affected employees about the employer’s decision on the confirmation of redundancy and the transition process.