Downgrading jobs - where do employees stand?

BabyBoots

At a team meeting yesterday, management outlined plans to reduce staff numbers. They want to reduce the number of staff by 10. They will offer early retirement and voluntary redundancy first, then reallocate jobs from the top down. Any supervisors who do not have a supervisor role left can apply for jobs one grade down. Those with one grade below fight over the places left, amongst themselves and their previous supervisors, any left can go for a job the grade below etc.

The actual work will be exactly the same as ever, so the end result is everyone nominally has a more junior role, despite doing the same thing and the employer pays less. Is this legal? What can the staff do?

Jarndyce

This is a redundancy situation and the employer needs to approach it in that way.

Depending on the salary differences between the different grades, there may well be a case for individuals refusing to take roles on the basis that they are not suitable alternative employment. But each such case would need to be looked at on its own facts.

BabyBoots

The roles are all customer facing, so presumably are classed as a suitable alternative, but some have more responsibility. The supervisor is in charge of each site for example, and would be paid 19k ish to line manage all staff at that site and the premises. The next grade would be paid £17-18kish, then £16k for assistants, and £14k for helpers. So the wages are not wildly different, but reflect experience. If you're on £16k with ten years experience behind you, it's a bit of a kick in the teeth to be told, you're now going to do exactly the same thing day in day out, but you're only a helper and here's your lower pay. If you have a job at all, that is.

Can you really just tell someone to do the same job, but it's now lower skilled and lower paid?

Jarndyce

BabyBoots wrote: »

The roles are all customer facing, so presumably are classed as a suitable alternative, but some have more responsibility. The supervisor is in charge of each site for example, and would be paid 19k ish to line manage all staff at that site and the premises. The next grade would be paid £17-18kish, then £16k for assistants, and £14k for helpers. So the wages are not wildly different, but reflect experience. If you're on £16k with ten years experience behind you, it's a bit of a kick in the teeth to be told, you're now going to do exactly the same thing day in day out, but you're only a helper and here's your lower pay. If you have a job at all, that is.

Can you really just tell someone to do the same job, but it's now lower skilled and lower paid?

That's not what I said. I said that every example would need to be looked at on its own facts.

Given that there is little difference between the salaries at each level, in the current climate I would not like to be the one arguing that such a change is not suitable alternative employment.