2015 is shaping up to be an interesting year as increasing levels of mergers and acquisitions activity looking likely to surpass the £2.25 trillion threshold set last year. This year's media reports suggest the pairing of some well-known brands which will undoubtedly change the construct of many sectors and industries. A bid interest for Sky from French media conglomerate Vivendi valued at £28bn, FedEx from TNT Express for €4.4bn and a potential tie up between Shell and BG Group are just a few current examples.

Let's also not forget those bids which have already completed. Aviva has just finalised the insurance industry's biggest merger since 2000 with the completion of the Friends Life's £5.6bn takeover. This deal has made Aviva the UK's leading insurance, savings and asset management business in terms of number of customers.

So why are we experiencing a merger frenzy? When considering growth strategies there are two options: grow organically or merge/acquire another business. The latter often being seen as an engine for accelerated growth which helps the organisation to:

Gain a competitive edge. Rather than start from zero, an organisation may decide to merge to obtain a better distribution of products or services to a wider customer base.

Add new products or services: Frequently seen in the Pharmaceutical sector, when a larger organisation acquires a smaller niche player for their product portfolio, avoiding the excessive research costs. Another scenario is when two organisations decide to merge to increase their customer base to gain a competitive edge over others in their marketplace.

Putting aside the integration challenges that arise as a result merging different organisational cultures, operating systems and incorporating new products/services, resultant synergies will also need to be considered. By this we really mean the implications for employees. There will undoubtedly be overlaps or duplication in structures, roles and headcount; resulting in restructure and potential downsizing and redundancies. Aviva, for example, has already revealed that it expects to cut 1,500 jobs - around 5% of its workforce as part of its plans to make £225m of annual savings from the deal by the end of 2017.

Mergers and acquisitions however do not have to be all doom and gloom, especially when one considers that during times of restructure and change, businesses are often recruiting as well.

Redeployment - the process of connecting those impacted by organisational change with internal vacancies - is a very effective solution for retaining and mobilising talent around the business. It can also mitigate some of the negative consequences of change. Yet, whether due to time pressures or lack of know-how, it is often be overlooked.

Redeploying employees internally has a number of benefits:

  • Supports a fair and consistent approach in the management of employees impacted by a redundancy through a merger or acquisition, by ensuring all colleagues have access to the same information at the same time.
  • Provides those impacted with the support they need to make decisions about their future and have support to execute their own career plan
  • Maintains employee engagement and performance throughout change processes
  • Retains skills, knowledge and experience
  • Reduces the impact on productivity as internal candidates are ready to step into new roles with limited induction training needed
  • Protects the employer brand, sending a positive internal message to everyone
  • Reduces both redundancy and recruitment costs

However, it's not simply case of deciding to implement a redeployment process. Successfully introducing redeployment requires thought, design, buy-in from the business as a whole and a solid implementation plan that involves both managers tasked with transitioning talent and those looking to recruit talent, and of course HR.

Key factors that will ensure success include:

  • Having a redeployment policy definition/statement
  • Designing a simple and clear process with clearly articulated accountabilities
  • Communicating and raising awareness for redeployment, internal vacancies and the application processes
  • Providing training for all those involved on their specific roles and responsibilities
  • Helping employees to identify their transferable skills and prepare for the internal recruitment process
  • Cross functional integration e.g. resourcing to centrally manage all internal vacancies and redeployment teams to match employees they are supporting internal vacancies

Whilst these are clear business benefits they will only be achieved if redeployment is deemed to be a positive experience for all involved.

Helen Morgan,
Head of Redeployment
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