Employee concerns within an Acquisition
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What do you think the number one concern is of field level employees when they find out they are being acquired?
Most probably the main concern is layoffs, changes in salary and or strategy. It creates a lot of uncertainty for the employee and naturally a consolidation of resources usually means layoffs. In which case, communication can help alleviate some of the concerns and uncertainty that the employee faces
I agree it’s most commonly layoffs, certainly at the manager levels. Individual contributors might lose their jobs if there are too many people who do their same work, but by nature of the expansion they will need more people to do the same work so there’s less risk. But every team only needs one leader, so unless the expansion is so large that it warrants multiple teams or sub-teams, the target company managers are likely at a higher risk.
As a result of synergies, usually, employees with be concerned about their jobs continuity, especially in functions that are redundant between the two organizations.
The number one concern of field level employees when they find out they are being acquired is job security. If I were the field level employee, I would have worried the instability – work environment – during the integration process even though I have been guaranteed a job continuity after the acquisition. I would probably start looking for new opportunity to avoid any surprises.
Uncertainty will definitely be apart of employees’ thinking post any acquisition. We understand in some cases there would be redundancy in functions; where layoffs might happening. But in many other cases, the HR benefits/policies have been adjusted to match the acquirer.
I think one of the major concerns with employees is not having the same policies between the two organizations merging. As clearly stated in the Indian Airlines merging case study, this was one of the significant reasons for the eventual failure of the merger.
In my experience layoffs or when a merger is involved who will win each position. I.e. two CFO’s or two heads of HR. I find a clear comms plan and strategy with scripts and dates works best so that all stakeholders are aligned on what to say and when to say it. It means messaging is clear from day one.
It depends on the level of the employee, for example executives most likely will be changed but non senior staff will continue if the business is operating well.
Employees are most anxious about what impacts their every day – do I have a job? Do the people I work with have a job? Who will be my boss? How with this impact my pay? How will this impact my career opportunities? How will this impact my total compensation? Will my life be easier or harder?
I agree with the majority of comments already shared. From my experience, the most significant concerns include: Who am I going to report to and is it someone different? Do I have a job? Is my salary impacted? What will my benefits be? What are my career opportunities going forward?
According to this HRDirector article, employees have 3 main fears during an M&A:
1- They fear they will lose their jobs;
2- They fear the cannot trust leadership;
3- They fear they won’t fit in or like the new culture.Unequivocally, it is whether or not they will lose their jobs. Secondly and depending on the merger size/scope, it is ‘how will my day to day responsibilities change’.
Job security, pay cuts, change in strategic priorities of the new management, cultural gaps between the parent and the target company, lack of communication from management on the way forward – these are some of the concerns that the field force have during an acquisition
As stated by the participants the main concern is the fear of losing their position, or to put it more general is the fear of unknown, and psychologically it’s a challenge for every one not knowing what is coming that’s why communication and transparency is a key for a successful integration to avoid all the unnecessary worry
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