Maintaining Employee Morale and Retention During M&A Transitions
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What are the best practices for keeping employee morale high and minimizing turnover during the integration phase of a merger or acquisition? Discuss techniques and share success stories related to employee engagement and retention.
Hi Dana,
Many years ago, the company I was working for was acquired. Initially, this was a scary, confusing, and tense environment. However, after some time, management discussed with us what the plan was and set expectations. For the group, I was in (FP&A), some of us were needed for the post-merger integration, and others were not. Fortunately, as a group, we discussed what each of us preferred. Some wanted to leave right away. Some wanted to stay for a medium term. Some, including myself, wanted to stay through the integration (for the experience and the nice bonus). Unfortunately, this is not a typical scenario. The key is that employees want clarity and guidance early on. Management needs to communicate early and often to keep employees up to date and set expectations. Management must also listen to feedback so that employees feel heard. The communication should be in both a group setting and in 1:1’s.Peter
We have found that having open communication and visits are key. Coming from a large organization, it can be very scary to be acquired and most employees of an acquiring company really just want reassurance that they will still have a job. Ways that we make employees feel part of the team and that they are needed are that we go to the site early and give swag bags (this puts a mental note that we are spending money on the employees, why would we do that if we were going to fire them), we immediately start discussing comp and ben plans and how we will bring them in as soon as possible. If their comp and ben is better, they get to keep it. Another way that we retain employees is by doing a two step approach to integration, we leave the company “stand alone” for a couple years as part of our huge organization before we move them into our more complex systems like our ERP and physical plant moves.
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