Employer guide
How to support employees through redundancy
Most small businesses face their first redundancy without an HR team, a budget, or a playbook. This guide covers what to prepare, what to say, and what genuinely helps the people leaving.
Supporting someone through redundancy comes down to three things: meet your legal obligations properly, handle the conversation with honesty and respect, and give practical help finding the next role. The first is set by law, the second costs nothing but preparation, and the third can be done well on a small budget.
This is general information, not legal advice. Australian employers have specific obligations around consultation, notice and redundancy pay. Check yours with the Fair Work Ombudsman, your award or agreement, or a workplace relations professional before acting.
In this guide
1. Before you tell anyone
Most of the damage in a badly handled redundancy happens before the conversation, in the preparation that did not occur. Work through three things first.
Confirm your obligations
Get the legal position right before you plan anything else. Depending on the award or agreement, the size of your business and how long the person has worked for you, this can include consultation requirements, notice periods and redundancy pay. The Fair Work Ombudsman covers the rules on redundancy and redundancy pay, and provides a notice and redundancy calculator. If you are letting go of a larger group, Services Australia has information for employers about notifying them.
Two points are easy to miss. Consultation is often a requirement rather than a courtesy, and it has to happen before the decision is final. And a genuine redundancy means the role is no longer needed; if you plan to hire someone else to do the same work, it is not a redundancy.
Plan the practical details
Have the answers ready before you walk in. People remember whether you were organised, because it signals whether the decision was considered.
- The last working day, the notice arrangement, and whether notice will be worked or paid out.
- Final pay: entitlements, accrued leave, and any redundancy pay, with the date it will be paid.
- A written letter confirming the redundancy, ready to hand over.
- What happens to equipment, accounts and handover, and who will manage it.
- Who they can contact with questions afterwards, and how.
Decide what support you will offer
Decide this before the conversation, so you can tell them in the same meeting. Being able to say "here is what we are doing to help" changes the conversation from an ending into a transition. It is also the part most small employers overlook, because they assume support means an expensive programme. It does not.
2. The conversation itself
Keep it short, clear and human. Aim for a first meeting of ten to fifteen minutes: the message, the reason, the practical detail, and an offer to talk again once it has sunk in.
Say it plainly in the first minute. People know something is wrong the moment the meeting appears, and drawing it out is unkind. Then make it explicit that the decision is about the role, not their performance, if that is true. Then move to the practical details, and let them ask questions.
| Avoid | Better |
|---|---|
| Small talk before the news. | "I have some difficult news. Your role is being made redundant." |
| A long business rationale. | One or two clear sentences on why the role is going. |
| "I know exactly how you feel." | "I am sorry. I know this is a shock." |
| Vague timing: "in the next while". | Specific dates for the last day and final pay. |
| Hinting the decision might change. | Being clear the decision is made, where it is. |
| Leaving support unsaid. | "Here is the support we are providing, starting today." |
Have someone else present if the person would want it, put everything in writing the same day, and expect a range of reactions: shock, anger, relief, or nothing at all. None of them require a response beyond patience.
3. Support that costs little or nothing
These matter more than most employers expect, and a small business can offer all of them.
- A written statement of service, handed over on the day, confirming the role, dates and responsibilities. Applications often stall waiting for this.
- A reference you have agreed in advance, with a named person and their contact details, so they never have to ask a former employer for a favour.
- A LinkedIn recommendation, written by you within the week. It is public, permanent and takes ten minutes.
- Paid time to attend interviews during any notice period, without needing to explain each one.
- Warm introductions. Think about who you know in similar businesses, and make the introduction yourself rather than offering to "put in a word".
- Prompt, correct final pay. Money worries dominate everything else in the first fortnight.
- Practical job search tooling, which is where a small budget goes furthest.
- Counselling support, if you have an employee assistance programme, extended for a defined period.
One caution: do not promise what you cannot deliver. An unanswered reference request or an introduction that never arrives does more harm than not offering.
4. Do you need outplacement?
Outplacement means support to help someone find their next role, paid for by the employer. Traditional programmes include one-to-one career coaching and are usually priced per person, running into the thousands. That pricing is why they are typically reserved for executives or large redundancy rounds, and why most small businesses offer nothing at all.
The gap between "a full coaching programme" and "nothing" is where most people affected by redundancy actually sit. Software-based support costs a fraction of a coaching programme per person, which makes it realistic to offer to everyone affected rather than only senior staff.
Whatever you choose, judge it on one question: does it help the person produce better applications and keep their search organised? Advice alone rarely does. The work of a job search is tailoring documents for each role, tracking where each application is up to, and preparing for interviews.
A practical option
Give everyone a real job-search workspace
NextOrbit gives each person a private workspace for AI resume tailoring, cover letters, ATS-style checks, interview preparation and application tracking, funded by your organisation. You manage invitations and budget, and never see their documents or applications. When the support period ends, the workspace becomes theirs.
5. The team who stay
The people who remain are watching how you treat the people who leave, and they will draw conclusions about their own security. Handle this in the same week, not later.
- Tell the team promptly and directly, once the affected people have been told.
- Be honest about whether more changes are expected. "I do not know yet" beats false reassurance you may have to withdraw.
- Say what happens to the work that is left, and be realistic about what will stop.
- Make time for one-to-ones. The quiet ones are often the most unsettled.
- Let people say goodbye properly if those leaving want that.
Employer redundancy checklist
- Obligations checked against the award or agreement.
- Consultation completed before the decision was final.
- Notice, final pay and entitlements calculated and dated.
- Written confirmation letter prepared.
- Support package decided before the conversation.
- Statement of service ready to hand over.
- Named reference contact agreed.
- Meeting booked privately, with time afterwards.
- Handover, equipment and account access planned.
- A follow-up conversation offered.
- The remaining team briefed the same week.
- A contact point for later questions.