The following are the step by step strategies to implement a reduction in force;
Selection of employees for layoff – As the CEO, I must develop a strategy that would help me make the selection of the employees to layoff is done carefully considering the organization’s goals. For instance, I would consider the employees’ traits with regard to the targeted healthcare organization's objective. Furthermore, I would consider other factors such as performance, seniority, job knowledge, and skills.
Avoiding adverse actions – after selecting the employees to layoff, I must review the selected employees to determine if an adverse effect may exist for the protected class. These protected classes include a particular gender, old age, and chronic diseases requiring more healthcare attention. For instance, the selected employees may be providing essential services to a particular protected class. In that aspect, the employee may not be laid off from the system.
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Review of Federal and State "Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification" (WARN) Act Regulations– I must determine if the process complies with the WARN Act. WARN act protects employees, their families, and the entire community by requiring employers to provide a sixty-day prior notice of the planned mass layoff. I would, therefore, provide 60 days' notice to the affected employees. Besides, the notice would also include the layoff state, if it is permanent or temporary, and notify them of the expected date of separation.
Review of "Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA)" regulations – OWBPA protects employees above forty years from discrimination based on their age during the process of hiring and termination of the contract. If I choose to layoff based on age discrimination due to high payment, I should ensure that they comply with the OWBPA to release claims under the "Age Discrimination in Employment Act."
Determination of severance packages and additional services – I must determine the severance packages offered to the displaced employees. Offering the severance packages to an employee who has been affected in the termination process helps to soften the blow of involuntary termination in addition to avoiding any lawsuits. The employee signs a release form in exchange for the severance. That may lessen legal action chances filed on behalf of former employees.
Conduct the layoff session - I must gather enough information to professionally sit down with the affected employees to notify them of the layoff. For instance, I must give them the dismissal reasons, answer any questions they may raise, and provide them with any job placement information.
Informing the remaining workforce of the dismissal – I must also inform the remaining employees of the layoff done to their fellow to help in squelching the potential rumors that may come up.
Information on each employee's productivity is vital for the decision making process. I would ensure that less productive employees are given the priority in the layoff process before considering the productive ones. Information on employees' job classification is also essential in the layoff process. Classifying employees would help me identify employees who are no longer needed in the system considering the changing work environment. For instance, I would identify employees working part-time or temporarily, yet their services are no longer essential to the healthcare organization. By that, I would consider them for the layoff process. Besides, less skilled employees will be considered in the process compared to the more experienced counterparts. By aligning the organization's future goals with the best selection strategy, the organization will determine if its success is continuing.
To calculate eliminated FTEs to achieve the targeted $2.5 million, the total money spent on employee salary is divided by $2.5 million. The answer is the FTEs that need to be eliminated. For instance, if the spending budget is $X million, then,
Eliminated FTEs = (X ÷ 2.5) FTEs
While selecting the groups of workers to consider for elimination, the support staff will be the first group to consider. These support staffs include cooks, cleaners, groundsmen and women, and non-technical workers within the healthcare organization. However, the professional staff would also be considered for elimination. The hired part-time staff, such as doctors doing operations, always have a very high hiring cost. Additionally, healthcare nurses will also be considered in the reduction process. In any healthcare organization, there is always a high number of nurses, which may, at times, be more than the required number considering the available workload. With the remaining FTEs target, work will be reassigned by considering the affected workgroups. The remaining workers in each affected workgroup will be called for a staff meeting to discuss the way forward of covering the workload that has been left by the workers who have been eliminated.
In a unionized environment, I would consider layoff provisions in the collective bargaining agreements (CBA). For instance, the CBA may provide that the layoff should be based on seniority plus. It means that other than considering how long an employee has served in the organization, their qualification must also be considered in the termination process. Therefore, an employee may not be laid off if they have served longer in the organization, yet they can perform other remaining duties. Their capabilities are substantially equal to a worker with less seniority. Additionally, some other considerations captured in the CBA include bumping, which considers reassigning a job to the workers, super seniority, and No layoff terms. No lay of terms is considered because some CBAs do not allow for layoffs when an employer complains of a money shortage for paying every person on the payroll.
Overtime payment on some employees may negate the effect of RIF. It is, therefore, necessary to guard against it. Cross-training some of the remaining healthcare employees to help in such duties would be necessary to overcome overtime payment. Furthermore, cross-training is even crucial since it increases productivity. Cross-trained workers would feel that they are actively contributing to the healthcare organization's success. Creating a policy that caps how many extra hours an employee can work will ensure that no one will abuse the overtime payment rate, hence helping to stay within the set salary budget. It is also important to offer training for the employees to improve their time management skills. That would allow them to increase their efficiency during the scheduled time.
Events associated with RIF should be communicated with care since it affects employees a lot. For instance, a coordinated reduction in force meeting should notify all healthcare employees about the planned RIF activity. After the process, a RIF letter should be written and addressed to the specifically affected employees relaying the reasons, outplacement service, employee rights, and positive acknowledgment.
