Close cross icon.

Redeploying Your Workforce in Response to a Crisis

The redundancies that so often accompany organisational restructure can be highly disruptive. Damage is done to the morale of those left behind, highly trained and loyal workers are lost, and years of in-depth specialist knowledge walk out the door, at an incalculable cost to replace.

Redeployment is a preferable option, balanced with the use of contractors to provide specialist skills. Contractors act as a relief valve to reduce fixed costs and ensure you achieve critical business outcomes when facing diminishing customer activity and optimism.

Getting redeployment right for your organisation will require detailed analysis before you actually move anyone. We recommend adopting the below three fundamental characteristics to any redeployment strategy.

Fundamentals of redeployment

Things change quickly and frequently during a crisis. Continuously re-evaluate your organisation’s position at any point in time:

  • What services are essential and non-essential?
  • Are there new services required in response to the crisis?
  • The financial and human impact of any planned changes.

Communicate often and openly with workers during the process.

Consult with workers to ensure their buy-in and support of the changes you are asking of them.

How to execute your redeployment

Map required skills

Using the information from point #1 in the Fundamentals of Redeployment above, map the skills required in your new and increased demand (essential) areas. During this activity, consider re-engineering processes to enable leaner operations.

Identify immediately redeployable workers

Use a consistent framework that is structured, accurate and objective to identify the skills of workers in low demand (non-essential) areas. Cross-reference the results with the skills you require for your high demand areas. This will provide visibility of immediately redeployable workers (those with existing skills in your high demand areas), and those who will require retraining before being redeployed. The characteristics of an immediately redeployable worker are:

  • Existing skills that can be utilised in your high demand areas
  • Willingness to change
  • Demonstrate the right competencies
  • Appreciate the benefits of the redeployment opportunity

Create a training plan to address skill gaps

Looking at the skills of the workers who are not immediately redeployable, map the skill gaps between this group and the skills you require for your high demand areas. Create a training strategy to address the skill gaps. Start with the skills that are most closely linked, and will therefore be quickest to achieve. Redeploy existing staff to create and facilitate the training. Where skills are not easily trainable, engage specialist contractors to fill the gaps.

Move redeployable workers to high demand areas.

Considerations include:

  • Workers’ geographic location
  • Your organisation’s ability to have the work performed remotely
  • Whether performing the work will put the worker/s at risk
  • Changes to shifts or hours

Implement a continuous review cycle

Put regular reviews in place to evaluate the effectiveness of current staff deployment. Repeat steps 1-4 throughout the crisis management period.

We’d like to help you

Clicks’ Executive Leadership Group is highly experienced in workforce deployment across a diverse range of business environments. We are ready and willing to share any knowledge and insights to support our clients’ business continuity in these difficult times. If you could benefit from some advice, please reach out to your Clicks Account Manager or me in the first instance and we will connect you with the right expert.

Latest Posts

Avoid These Hiring Hazards and Recruit Like a Boss

When a role becomes vacant in an organisation, it often becomes a scramble to fill it within a period-of-notice timeframe. This usually means rolling out existing processes (including repurposing old job ads and position descriptions) in an effort to expedite hiring a like-for-like replacement. The role is quickly published on a job board and hiring…

Read More

Don’t Lose Quality Talent by Neglecting Your Employer Brand

Your recruitment process, for any position, begins well before your job ad hits the market. Your employer brand is critical to attract, engage and retain top talent. A strong employer brand helps reduce the time it takes to fill your vacancy and turnover in your organisation. So, if you’re not investing in an employer brand…

Read More

Are You Planning for Additional Headcount in Q1 next year?

After over 20 years in the industry, I’m not too proud to say that I know recruiting is one of people’s least favourite things. It often feels like a distraction from your core responsibilities, and something you need to do in addition to your ‘day job’. That’s partly true. Which is where we come in….

Read More
 

Melbourne

Level 35
360 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

T | 03 9963 4888
vic@clicks.com.au

Sydney

Level 13
333 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000

T | 02 9200 4444
nsw@clicks.com.au

Brisbane

Level 8
127 Creek Street
Brisbane QLD 4000

T | 07 3027 2555
qld@clicks.com.au

Canberra

Level 9
224 Bunda Street
Canberra ACT 2601
PO Box 129
Civic Square, ACT 2608

T | 02 6202 7700
act@clicks.com.au

Scroll to top arrow.