Reference no: EM132809452

"Both mergers and acquisitions present significant challenges to HR professionals. The M&A process requires management of both organizations to consider all implications of a proposed merger or acquisition before agreeing to one-which necessarily involves consideration of the "people issues" created by a proposed merger or acquisition. HR professionals are often involved in the process by advising management on human resource matters, including using surveys and other metrics to gather relevant data, identifying potential conflicts or HR challenges between the two companies, integrating HR practices and company cultures after an M&A, and managing talent decisions such as layoffs, to name a few.

HR professionals face a number of challenges during M&As, including:

-Attempting to maintain an internal status quo, or to effect change-either to facilitate or thwart (in the case of a hostile takeover) a possible merger or acquisition, as instructed by upper management.

-Attempting to provide guidance to upper management from a "people" perspective as to whether organizational goals will be better fulfilled in the form of a merger versus an acquisition, or by making internal changes.

-Assuming that a merger or acquisition has been approved, discerning all aspects of the two separate organizations and the one combined organization that will be affected.

-Communicating with employees at every step in the M&A process with both an appropriate level of disclosure and an appropriate level of confidentiality.

-Devising ways to meld the two organizations most effectively, efficiently and humanely for the various stakeholders.

-Dealing with the reality that M&As usually result in layoffs of superfluous employees under the combined organization. This reality entails coordinating separation and severance pay issues between the combining organizations.

-Proactively avoiding legal issues for violation of federal and state anti-discrimination laws and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).

-Participating in the defense of lawsuits that may be brought as a result of a merger or acquisition.

-Aligning the HR function to achieve the organization's strategic objectives. See Aligning Workforce Strategies With Business

Objectives.

-Addressing the ethical dilemmas involved, in which an HR professional may be required to eliminate his or her own position, the position of a current co-worker, or the position of an HR counterpart in the combining organization"