Employment engagement is key; we all know this and are aware of the effort, time and expense undertaken by companies to ensure their workforce is happy and satisfied. One way of destroying all of this hard work, essentially throwing it all out the window? A poorly handled redundancy announcement!

There are a number of ways of breaking the bad news of redundancies in the workplace, and while there are no ‘nice’ ways to do it, there are many ways it should most definitely NOT be done. A very good example of how not to undertake a redundancy announcement is the recent GHA Coaches saga.

Based in North Wales, GHA is one of Britain’s largest independent bus companies, employing over 300 people. They decided to announce their redundancies by sending a text message, a very badly written and informal one, to all staff announcing the closure of the business and loss of all jobs.

The message said: "I sorry to report GHA Coaches will cease trading tonight plz attend depot meeting 10AM Tomoz, ALL wages holidays will be paid."

Our advice on how best to break the news? Be mindful that each and every member of staff will react differently to the news, so be prepared. Show compassion, consideration and deliver the messages as clearly and concisely as possible. It is helpful to plan a structure for the announcement: set the scene, deliver the news and explain the future for the roles and company. Ideally, any meetings should take place one-to-one but this is not always possible, especially if it is to a whole company or big group of people.

Text messages definitely do not cut it!