These signals could be in the form of withdrawal of powers, responsibility or asking a manager to report to someone junior. After the merger between Stanchart and Grindlays, signals were sent out to the older crop, which the merged entity did not want in its new avatar. This lot of senior officials were asked to report to people from Standard Chartered who were junior to them by years, which was not acceptable. Insiders claim a large number of employees from Grindlays left without bothering to appear for re-interviews before the selection committee because they were certain about the outcome. In such circumstances, performance and good equations with the bosses may not count, especially if it s your company that s been acquired.
Support functions are particularly vulnerable.
If you are, for instance, in human resources, there s more of a danger because the acquiring company will certainly have an HR department. Family comes first Counsellors who help some of these retrenched employees to regain their bearings say that the biggest problem these people have is telling their families. Very senior employees go and sit in parks because they cannot tell their families that they no longer have a job. It s important to convey to them that it s not a stigma and that it s not their fault. Many organisations now offer retraining or professional counselling through agencies like DBM so that these employees can look ahead.