21/05/2026
Redundancy comms is now an employer brand event, whether you like it or not.
You can have the cleanest legal process in the world, and still absolutely torch trust if the communication is cold, vague, or delivered like a corporate ransom note.
People don't remember your org chart. They remember how you treated humans when things got hard.
When redundancy comms is clunky, three things happen fast:
Leavers feel disposable. Stayers feel unsafe. And everyone else (candidates, clients, your industry) starts watching your culture in real time. That's why this isn't just "internal messaging" anymore, it's reputational risk.
People Management's recent coverage landed the point clearly: poor redundancy communication doesn't just upset those leaving; it destabilises the people who remain too. That turns a cost decision into a retention issue, a performance wobble, and a values test, all at once.
So here's the rebel take: if redundancies are unavoidable, communication becomes a leadership capability, not a HR admin task. Clarity beats corporate poetry. Presence beats silence. Dignity beats speed. And managers need to be equipped to speak like humans, not parrots reading from a script.
Because when you handle people well, they still hurt, but they don't hate you.
And when you handle people badly, they'll tell everyone. Loudly. On LinkedIn. Probably with screenshots.
Source: People Management
