Maze of uncertainty

New year, new take-over. With 2007 being a year of unprecedented mergers and acquisitions (M&A) there is no sign that this will diminish through 2008. Businesses worldwide are targeting growth strategies based on increasing their marketable products and services. It is a difficult time for the human capital involved, the uncertainty, the fear of job loss and the maze of questions both acquired and acquiring employees will have for the new management.

A recent victim of the credit crunch, Northern Rock, may be forced into becoming a public company, so employees could not only have the stress of a change in management but they will also be moving from private sector to public. This is not something to be envied from an employee engagement stance, as Kate Pritchard discusses in our Trend Tracker on page 28. Research has shown that public sector employees fall well behind their private sector counterparts in engagement, organisational pride and loyalty.

But public sector employees do feel more secure in their job. Perhaps this is the advantage the public sector has – they are less likely to suffer from either a merger or an acquisition, and thereby suffer the insecurity. Insecurity can be the largest impact of an M&A for an employee and the vital tool for management is to focus on communication, making sure concerned employees are kept informed at all stages of the process.

A new addition to this issue is our Research section on page 6, offering the latest surveys and findings in relation to employee engagement. Another addition is Legal Eye on page 7. This column offers some up-to-the-minute advice on what protection is available for employees and businesses about to embark on the minefield of a merger or an acquisition: both employee protection and how the business itself can avoid unnecessary expense or litigation.

Legality aside, employee engagement is never more vital than in an M&A. As Melanie Stern says in our cover story: brand is more than a name – it is the experience customers have through dealing with the workforce, and it is the workforce that absorbs the effects of a merger or takeover.