Mergers can be high anxiety times for all the employees of a company. Therefore, the HR department will naturally get many inquiries from staff regarding updates and concerns if he or she will keep their job. During this time, it is the duty for HR to act as a liaison between staff and managers, especially upper management. They must keep the employees assured as well as report unrest to appropriate management. Once the merger takes place, the HR manager must seamlessly integrate the two company’s policies.
Management-Staff HR Liaison
Nearly all proposed mergers fail for one reason or another, but the negotiations can last for months and in some cases, years. During this time, many employees may feel their jobs are on the line. In fact, some staff members may even begin to search for other employment. Therefore, it is imperative for communication to continue between everyone. This responsibility rests on most HR departments. Human Resource will also be the communicator when there are lay-offs, promotions, and terminations of positions. These are all possibilities with or without the merger going through.
Calming the Restless and Marriage
As mentioned above, some employees will begin to look for work elsewhere if they are not assured their jobs will be safe. HR managers need to be doubly sure the staff with critical duties do not become restless and resign, as the function of the company could suffer. His or her work should be monitored to ensure productivity stays high as well. Also, when the merger has been finalized and the two businesses are operating as one, many employees can become frustrated by new policies. HR managers must communicate to the staff the changes are necessary and will make the work environment better.
The HR department has ha huge responsibility placed in their lap during a merger, from staff communication, retention, and integration of policies. This can be difficult when job security comes into question, but is manageable as long as dialoged between management, HR and staff never ceases.
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