The decision is usually sound. The process is what gets challenged
Very few restructures fail because the commercial logic was wrong. They fail because of how the organisation got from decision to implementation.
Consultation begins after the decision has visibly been made, so it isn't consultation in substance. Selection criteria are set late and can't be explained. Redeployment is considered in theory but not in practice. People find out through rumour. Someone lodges a claim, and the questions asked are ones the business can't answer with documentation.
None of that is about whether the restructure was justified. It's about process, and process is the part you control completely.
We provide end-to-end support through restructures and redundancies, so the decision you've made is implemented in a way that's fair to the people affected and defensible if it's tested.
You might be dealing with
- A restructure that will result in redundancies
- A downturn requiring workforce reduction, and pressure to move quickly
- Consultation obligations under an award or enterprise agreement you need to meet properly
- Roles being merged, so you need a selection process between people doing similar work
- A site, project or function closing or being scaled back
- Outsourcing or insourcing, with transfer of business questions
- A leadership restructure where senior roles are being removed
- Redundancies you've already announced, where the process is now being challenged
- A previous reduction that generated claims, and a determination not to repeat it
What's included
- Impact assessment and planning Which roles, which people, which sites. What obligations are triggered, under which instrument. What the realistic risks are, and where the process is most likely to be attacked.
- Consultation Genuine consultation, at the right time, with the right information, properly documented. We prepare the material, plan the sequencing, run or support the sessions, and record what employees raised and how it was considered. This is where restructures most often generate disputes, and it is almost entirely avoidable.
- Selection criteria and process Where you're reducing the number of people in a role rather than removing it altogether, you need criteria that are objective, applied consistently, evidenced and explainable. We design the process, moderate the assessment, and document the reasoning.
- Redeployment Genuine consideration of redeployment across the business and any associated entities: identified, offered, and recorded. This is a common failure point and a straightforward one to get right.
- Notice, entitlements and documentation Notice periods, redundancy pay, accrued entitlements, and the correspondence: consultation notices, outcome letters, termination letters, separation certificates.
- Individual meetings Preparing your leaders for the conversations, and attending where that's useful. These meetings are remembered for years by everyone in the room, including the people who weren't affected.
- Support for those who remain The step that gets skipped. Your remaining workforce is watching closely, absorbing extra work, and drawing conclusions about their own security.
How we work
- 01 Scope What's changing, why, who's affected, what's triggered.
- 02 Plan Sequence, obligations, criteria, communications, timeline, risk.
- 03 Prepare Documentation, leader briefings, scripts, anticipated questions.
- 04 Consult Genuine consultation, properly run and recorded.
- 05 Implement Selection, redeployment, individual meetings, exits.
- 06 Follow through The remaining workforce, and closing out documentation.
We can usually start within two weeks. Timeframes from planning to implementation depend on the change, and run longer where multiple sites, rosters or agreements are involved.
Plan it before you announce it. Book a call
Experience behind this service
Kelly has led multi-site restructures and workforce reductions across resources, construction, energy and aviation, including repositioning businesses to remain viable through market downturns.
She has also been on the other side of it: her own role was made redundant along with 300 others during the mining downturn. It's a useful thing for someone advising on this work to have experienced directly.
Where restructures come unstuck
- Consultation that's really an announcement. If the decision is visibly final before consultation starts, employees know it and the obligation hasn't been met in substance. The words that carry the most weight in most consultation clauses are 'genuinely consider'.
- Selection criteria written after the selection. Criteria decided once you already know who you want to keep are almost impossible to defend, and they tend to read that way to everyone involved.
- Redeployment considered in theory. 'There was nothing available' is a much weaker position than a documented list of vacancies considered, with reasons.
- Silence between announcement and outcome. The gap is where speculation does its damage, and the speculation is always worse than the reality.
Restructuring an operating site
Production usually can't stop for the process. Rosters and swings mean the workforce can't be brought together in one room, so information reaches different groups at different times unless the sequencing is deliberate. Crews are tight-knit and news travels faster than any communication plan. Contractor and labour hire arrangements sit alongside direct employees, with different obligations attaching to each.
We plan around these conditions rather than discovering them mid-process.
Common questions
What are our consultation obligations?
They come from the applicable award or enterprise agreement, and the specifics vary. Generally you must notify affected employees once a definite decision to make major change has been made, provide relevant information, discuss the effects and measures to mitigate them, and genuinely consider what employees raise.
How do we make sure a redundancy is genuine?
Broadly: the role is no longer required to be performed by anyone because of changes in operational requirements, you've complied with consultation obligations, and you've genuinely considered redeployment within the business and associated entities. Failing any one of those puts the redundancy at risk.
Can we choose who goes?
Where you're reducing the number of people in a role rather than eliminating it, you need a selection process: objective criteria, applied consistently, documented. Criteria that operate as a proxy for something impermissible are a significant risk.
When should we tell people?
Once a definite decision to make major change has been made, and before implementation. Too early creates prolonged uncertainty; too late breaches the obligation and costs you trust. The sequencing is worth planning rather than improvising.
We've already announced it and now there's a dispute. Can you help?
Yes. We can assess where the process stands, what can still be corrected, and what your realistic options are. Some things can be remedied mid-process; others can't, and you're better off knowing which is which.
Do we have to pay redundancy?
It depends on the applicable instrument, the employee's service, the size of the business and whether acceptable alternative employment was obtained. It's not universal, and it's worth checking rather than assuming either way.
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