Strategies for handling redundancy - Practicality, not formality

Chartered Accountants' Hall, London EC2
Tuesday 14 May 2002

Redundancies are inevitable, but it is so important to handle them appropriately. How should an organisation announce job cuts and how should it break the news to individuals?

When times are good, companies invest in conferences, videos and literature in pursuit of motivating their workforce and boosting their internal reputation. So why do so many put the company's long-term reputation on the back burner when it comes to making people redundant? If people feel they have been discarded without consideration a company might find it is no longer a favourite place to work. How can companies avoid this?

Ashby McAllister presents a one-day conference on an important and highly sensitive issue. Leading experts and HR practitioners will discuss the legal, practical and emotional aspects of handling redundancies with a strong focus on innovative approaches that could benefit organisations large and small. Fresh ideas will be presented by speakers from AstraZeneca, the Royal Bank of Scotland and other leading firms.

Speakers include the prominent employment lawyer Gillian Howard, the outspoken City HR director Liz Tremerie, Professor of Managerial Communications Dr Joanna Kozubska and TMP's outplacement expert Russell Pickering. Presented by Sarah Montague of BBC Radio's Today programme.

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Dr Theodore Zeldin - Live in London!

Ashby McAllister is proud to present, by public demand, a repeat of the one-day conference:

The Joy of Work? How to attract and retain the talent you need.

Savoy Place, London WC1
Friday 22 March 2002

Keynote speakers Dr Theodore Zeldin and controversial Guardian columnist Richard Reeves will debate job satisfaction and staff retention issues, hosted by BBC Television's Tanya Beckett. The programme includes many practical ideas from Lever Fabergé, Pret A Manger, Mentor Interface, Flexecutive and other speakers.

Dr Theodore Zeldin
Theodore Zeldin is a fellow and former dean of St Anthony's College, Oxford, where he researches on subjects - like happiness - that universities do not teach. He has been hailed as "one of the forty world figures whose ideas are likely to have a lasting relevance to the new millennium" (Independent on Sunday) and "one of the hundred most important thinkers in the world" (Magazine Litteraire, France). He is best known as the author of An Intimate History of Humanity which offers a somewhat different perspective on human history by focusing on the evolution of feelings and personal relationships. His books are bestsellers in 21 languages and have made him a global household name.

For the past few years, Dr Zeldin has been conducting what he calls "human audits" of British workers across a spectrum of occupations and professions. This work is part of a research project The Future of Work funded by the European Commission (the administrative arm of the European Union) to create a new vision of work for the new millennium.

He says: 'At the moment I am looking at the nature of work. I visit the workplace and meet young people who tell me that they are dissatisfied with the traditional world of work.' Dr Zeldin defines work very broadly to mean what most people do, one way or another, for most of their waking hours. Many people tell him they feel they are wasting their lives in their work, enslaved to it in some cases. 'Clearly one cannot just continue according to the patterns of the past. One has got to reinvent work. And I am interested in having a vision of what is possible.'

Richard Reeves
At The Joy of Work? Dr Zeldin will cross swords with Richard Reeves, who until recently was Director of Consulting at the Industrial Society. He is also an admired journalist, with a fortnightly column in The Guardian and frequent extended articles in both the Observer and New Statesman. He is regarded as 'Britain's leading expert on workplace trends' (The Guardian) and is a first choice social and workplace commentator for a wide range of media.

Last year Richard Reeves published Happy Mondays, a controversial bestseller in which he kick-started a more honest view of work and what it does for us. It presents a ground-breaking challenge to anti-work rhetoric, arguing that stress is a myth, demolishing the arguments for 'work/life balance'. Work gets a bad press, continually portrayed as an endurance test rather than a source of enjoyment. But work's changed. It's more fun, more fulfilling, more creative, more sociable and more rewarding than ever, according to Reeves. Work has taken centre stage in our lives: we are what we do.

People now want to live life, rather than simply make a living. The old deal - wages in exchange for time served behind the desk - is off. There's a new charter for work now: I'll give you my passion, verve, enthusiasm, imagination, intelligence and 'that extra something' that comes from loving my work. But in return, I need a whole lot more than before - to choose what I do, where and when. I want to reap the rewards of my own ideas. I want money; but I want liberty too.

The Joy of Work is a day full of fresh ideas and innovative thinking. Carol Savage, work/life balance expert and founder of Flexecutive, will conduct a workshop on the pros and cons of flexible working in their organisations. Alastair Creamer will set out how Lever Fabergé established a whole new corporate culture. Pret A Manger's Head of Human Resources will explain how staff turnover was brought down dramatically within one year. Dutch job satisfaction guru Salem Samhoud will discuss his challenging views on the role of management in staff retention and job satisfaction; his vision has already taken continental Europe by storm and was a huge hit with delegates last November. And there's more: Arts & Business, the International Management Centre and the Special Forces approach to talent management.

Delegates at last November's conference The Joy of Work at the Institute of Directors said:

"I came to be challenged and get new ideas. I was and I did. All my colleagues could benefit from this conference." (Crystal Richards, B&Q)

"Practical ideas, intelligently presented" (Mario Swanson, Director, Civic Security)

"Fun, fresh thinking, riveting" (Virginia Merritt, Partner, Stanton Marris)

"Excellent, very thought-provoking" (Georgina Churchlow, Consultant, Hay Group)

"A little out of the usual and quite stimulating" (Lynette Swift, MD, Swiftwork)

The Joy of Work is researched and developed by Ashby McAllister Ltd in association with

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Ashby McAllister Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)20 7928 8183
Fax: +44 (0)20 7928 3736
Suite 107, 65 Hopton Street, London SE1 9JL, UK