A well thought-out, defined and practiced separation culture is essential for every company and should be part of the corporate culture. But what factors characterize a corporate culture? And why is a good separation culture important?
The "hard factors" are not everything: industry, company size and sales figures say nothing about what holds your company together at its core. It is the "soft factors" that shape a corporate culture - the values, norms and attitudes that influence the decisions, actions and behaviour of people in organizations.
In everyday working life, the corporate culture is reflected in behavior and interaction with one another, in the Type of guidanceThe main factors are the communication behaviour, the organizational form and the prevailing structures, the design of the working environment and, finally, the shared values and norms.
A positive corporate culture can:
... promote a good working atmosphere
... increase the motivation of employees
... reduce fluctuation and thus the costs of recruitment
... increase the attractiveness of the employer in the labor market
... Attract, motivate and retain talent
A suitable corporate culture lays the foundation for organizations to achieve their goals and for employees to feel comfortable and committed to the company's objectives in the long term.
Termination and separation culture
Personnel change processes are an everyday part of a constantly changing working world. Companies that want to be successful today must master this challenging task in the competition for the best talent. This includes not only filling new positions, but also separating employees. We see time and again that companies invest a lot in recruitment but often neglect the separation process. There are a number of clearly tangible reasons why this must also be part of the corporate strategy and should be well planned.
In most companies, the topic of "termination and separation" is still treated as a taboo and not discussed openly. Nobody wants to admit their helplessness and fears. According to a study conducted by Kienbaum in 2021, only 33% of the companies surveyed have a separation strategy and only 26% of these have clearly defined processes, tools and templates.
The result is a culture of separation that costs the company a lot of money, reduces productivity and puts a strain on the working atmosphere. In addition to the obvious costs such as social plans, severance payments, training, counseling/outplacement and legal costs, the hidden costs are usually much more significant. The hidden costs include aspects such as fluctuation costs, absenteeism, deterioration in the working atmosphere, a drop in productivity, loss of image with customers and applicants, etc: These are all costs that relate almost exclusively to corporate culture.
The most important stakeholders in a separation culture
HR and managers
Dismissal interviews are one of the key tasks of a manager. Dismissals are a major challenge for HR departments and managers and place a heavy burden on everyone involved. The dynamics of such processes and measures are often underestimated. Careful preparation, planning and communication are therefore essential. A professional and at the same time personal approach to those affected is essential in such situations. On the one hand, this includes professional preparation on the part of managers - because they not only conduct the termination talks, but also have to maintain business operations and look after the "bereaved" employees. Careful internal and external communication as well as professional and empathetic management behavior are crucial here.
Terminated
For most of those affected, redundancy is an extreme situation. Suddenly the financial basis is lost - and for many a part of their life, as the majority of employees identify strongly with their company. In most cases, it is not the separation as such that hurts, but the way in which the process has taken place. It is often the lack of empathy, appreciation and respect that can hurt and leave a stale aftertaste. Consequently, this also makes it difficult for those affected to see the company in a positive light. A lot of time is often needed to reflect on and process the past. The focus on the new takes considerably longer as a result, as self-esteem has suffered.
Remaining employees
However, redundancies are also drastic experiences for the remaining employees. These so-called "survivors" are usually given too little attention. Yet they are the ones who are crucial to the future success of the company. Committed and motivated employees are vital, especially in times of crisis.
Survivors will react very differently to the reorganization. It is therefore important to define measures that help to rebuild trust and focus on the following areas:
Leadership: communicate, listen, lead, appreciate, involve or coach
Communication: It is not possible to "over-communicate" during a downsizing. Regularity, clarity and consistency must be ensured.
Job and process optimization: Layoffs have a major impact on the workload of colleagues. Short-term optimization is also essential.
Employee retention measures: The most effective measures are those that help to master individual performance in crisis situations and strengthen the resilience of employees.
Survivors must be the main focus of all personnel reorganization processes, even if "only" a few people have to be let go. The better the changes are prepared and accompanied, the faster those remaining will return to their original level of productivity and health effects will be reduced.
Separation management
Understood holistically, the process of separation management does not just begin once a decision to terminate has already been made. The best time for HR departments to become active is as soon as the strategic decision to restructure has been made. The separation process is just as important as the recruitment process. As with the recruitment process, it is advisable to draw up a checklist for leaving a company and to actively plan and regulate the process. The manager should communicate the departure early enough, initiate the technical process, ensure the transfer of knowledge and plan the farewell. A structured separation process, also known as an offboarding process, ensures security and trust in you as an employer.
The following steps are part of a separation process:
Decision-making:
Analysis of the initial situation
Search for alternatives to dismissal
Decision-making on downsizing (Who?)
Preparation
For the Termination meeting the 5 basic questions help: Who leads, when, how long, where and with which contents the conversation?
Rollers during implementation (especially managers and HR): giving notice is clearly part of a manager's role.
Clarify labor law framework conditions
Determining the specific situations of the employees to be dismissed - Nothing is worse than only finding out about an illness during a break-up talk, for example.
Development of a communication planCommunication must be rapid, comprehensive, uniform and transparent.
Implementation of the planned measures
Conduct a termination interview
Informing the stakeholders
Concretizing the departure: remaining leave, know-how transfer, etc
Stabilize: Focus on the survivors
CONCLUSION
A good separation culture requires the same prerequisites as a good corporate culture: open and early communication, transparency and honesty, fairness, respect, appreciation and sensitivity.
A lack of a culture of separation hurts those who leave, unsettles those who stay and lowers their morale. It encourages voluntary departures of motivated employees, leads to a loss of trust in management, lowers productivity and leads to long-lasting innovation bottlenecks in the company.
For a good separation culture, it is therefore important to define and implement a clearly thought-out separation management system.
Deutsch 
English 
Français 
Italiano