While summer hiring in the City creeps up seemingly unabated, we’re not too far off from back-to-work autumn and then the stress of bonus season, a prime time for redundancies.

How workers and financial services HRs handle themselves in a redundancy is critical to positive outcomes for both parties.

The recent reporting of stressed City workers (see below) and three suicides, the most recent a trader at Credit Suisse in Zurich because of his potentially being fired according to The Times today, points to the downside for some of a career in finance.

Michael Moran, chief executive of outplacement firm Fairplace, is engaged by financial services firms to smooth transitions for ex-employees. He says the second half of the year is the time to be acutely aware of one’s career management.

“Autumn can be a time when firms with a December year end look at their headcount structure,” Moran says. “Another dangerous time is the first few months of next year in firms with a March year end.”

Moran has advice and top tips for both sides of the redundancy roundtable:

Advice to those who have been made redundant

“Most people in the City will experience redundancy or a restructuring at least once in their careers. It’s a fact of life now. If it happens to you it’s important to realise that it is not a reflection on your talent nor a barrier to securing another City job. But you do need to realise you may need professional support to help you through the transition and it may take time to understand how you can move on.”

Top tips for redundant employees

• Make sure you understand the terms of your redundancy deal before you leave the room – including whether any support services such as outplacement will be offered.
• Tell your family immediately – they can help support you.
• Take at least a few days to regain your equilibrium before you plan your next move.
• Work out how long you can afford to be out of work and whether now is the time to pursue a complete career change.
• Update your CV and start your job hunt. Looking back at all the great work you have done should restore your self-belief and confidence in your abilities. Remember, job hunting is about getting the right job for you, one that will enhance the CV and take you in the direction you want to go. It isn’t just a case of getting a job or even the first one that comes along.

Advice to HRs on the redundancy process

“Because everyone is different you just can’t predict what will happen and the ideal is to have trained professional counsellors onsite during the redundancy round just in case. 99% of the time you won’t need them but sometimes you do. I’ve sat there when people have been so distraught they have been unable to tell their wives or family or in another case when, the same day someone found out they were redundant, they also found out their mother had cancer.”

Top tips for HRs

• Remember, redundancy affects everyone in different ways. Consider all eventualities.
• Redeployment can work – don’t dismiss it. Often, not enough is made of redeployment opportunities and talented, loyal staff will walk out of the door who could easily be redeployed leaving a costly recruitment necessity in another part of the organisation. Being considered for redeployment can also help to alleviate the feelings of personal rejection and drives home the message that it is jobs that are restructured not individuals.
• One big mistake that organisations make at redundancy time is to act as if these people are leaving the marketplace. They’re not; they go to work for your competitors or clients and how you handled making them redundant affects their views of your organisation.
• Outplacement is proven to work in ensuring your employer brand remains untarnished.
• Don’t forget the impact of redundancy on those who are left behind. Empty seats are a permanent reminder of friends and colleagues who have departed. Very often making people redundant means additional work for those left behind. Not unnaturally those left behind often feel angry and demoralised. Organisations need help (preferably from skilled outsiders) to go through this change cycle. You need to spend as much time and money on those staying as those leaving!

Outplacement is a cost for banks, one that some say they have been cutting back on. But those workers whose employer uses outplacement services not only benefit professionally to stage a comeback but generally hold their former employers in higher esteem because of it.

The Square Mile is a small place. Firms investing in their former employees will find outplacement and reputation management are not miles apart.