News details
Guide to help small firms survive recession
Managing the Downturn and Preparing for Recovery is the first in a series of booklets aimed at small firms, which are less likely to have access to professional in-house personnel advice. The Commission acted because it was revealed that around 85 small businesses are closing every day, and research predicted that 600,000 jobs could be lost across the economy as a whole this year.
The guide aims to ensure businesses act fairly and within the law if they have to make staff redundant, and also contains information on flexible working, such as job sharing and remote working as cost-cutting alternatives to redundancies.
Commission chief executive Nicola Brewer said: “We understand that, sometimes, firms will have no option but to shed staff. When this happens we know business owners will want to do it in a way that is fair to all their staff and avoids the waste of time and energy taken up by grievance and tribunal procedures. We also want to help businesses consider alternatives.
“Investment in recruiting and training employees is often wasted when redundancies occur, yet a committed, loyal and expert workforce is a key to ensuring you’re able to exploit any improvements in the economic climate.”
The guide can be downloaded from www.here4business.net
05/Feb/2010