Managing trust after a redundancy: what happens to the team that stays

A redundancy process doesn’t end when the affected employee leaves the building. For the team that remains, it’s often just beginning. The way one departure is handled shapes how an entire team feels about their own security, long after the conversation is over.

Why silence backfires

When a redundancy happens and leaders say little or nothing, people don’t stop thinking about it – they simply fill the gap themselves.

Rumour, speculation, and worst-case assumptions move in fast, and they’re rarely accurate. The instinct to stay quiet out of respect for the departing employee is understandable, but silence carries its own cost.

What can, and can’t, be shared

Employers don’t need to disclose personal details about the departing employee to be transparent.

It’s enough to confirm that the business has made a structural change, that the affected employee was treated in line with the required process, and that the business will support the team through the transition. That’s sufficient information for people to feel informed, without crossing into the confidentiality the departing employee is entitled to.

The false reassurance trap

Under pressure to calm a team, it can be tempting to promise there’ll be no further changes. That’s a risky commitment to make unless it’s genuinely certain.

Honesty about what’s known, and what isn’t, holds up far better than reassurance that later proves false. A team that’s told “nothing else is changing” and then experiences another restructure loses trust faster than one that was told, accurately, that the situation was being monitored.

Resetting workload, not just headcount

If a role is removed but its workload isn’t redistributed with any real plan, the remaining team will draw their own conclusion: this was a cost-cutting exercise, and they’re now absorbing it. Leaders need to be explicit about what work stops, what changes, and what support – additional resourcing, adjusted priorities, temporary cover – is available while the team adjusts.

The questions employees are quietly asking

Even where a redundancy is handled well, the remaining team is watching closely. Could this happen to me? Was my colleague treated fairly? Was the business transparent throughout? These questions rarely get asked out loud, but the answers – inferred from how the process was handled – shape engagement and trust well beyond the individual whose employment ended.

The bottom line

A redundancy is a legal process and a human one. The paperwork, consultation, and redeployment assessment protect the business. How the remaining team is communicated with protects something just as important – their confidence in the organisation they’ve chosen to stay with.

Want the full legal and practical picture on redundancy, including how to handle the process from decision through to delivery? Watch the on-demand webinar, We need to talk about redundancy, featuring Citation HR’s workplace relations team. Watch the webinar here.