A new report from HR consultancy, Penna, warns that poor handling of business restructuring will affect employer branding and will cause problems for future recruitment activities.

Penna has produced a set of guidelines on how to manage a restructure sensitively to reduce stress to all involved parties and avoid any future negative effects on employee branding.

Restructuring causes marked psychological stress to those who are directly affected by redundancy but it also has a significant impact on employees who remain behind after their colleagues have gone.

Those who remain in their roles but display negative symptoms brought on by the departure of their colleagues are said to have ‘survivors syndrome’. Symptoms range from guilt at the thought of their ex-colleagues out of work, to anger at the lack of information given to them by management and frustration at having to take on extra work.

The report from Penna highlights that if employers want to avoid low staff morale, a dip in performance and a negative impact on employer branding, then special focus needs to be given to remaining members of staff to ensure that they feel they are being communicated to about the changes and their employers are still committed to their future careers.

As the economy improves, the focus for businesses is once again on recruiting and retaining staff. If a business has a history of poorly managing redundancies, then recruiters will be faced with the challenge of attracting employees to a damaged employee brand.