A proactive company that has a history of honest communication with its employees will only further strengthen employee relations if communication remains transparent, irrespective of how dramatic the restructure maybe.
After all, greatest critics of a restructure are the employees themselves.
The businesses who have invested in establishing an open and trustworthy covenant with its employees will strengthen on the basis of honesty alone.
Businesses without the credibility of consistent honest communication with their employees can make a clean start by communicating effectively throughout a restructure and then sustaining it beyond. This demonstration by the company of commitment to live by its values will be acknowledged by employees, but it will be a long time before the suspicion (that the old ways will return) subsides. A ‘high say – high do’ culture will eradicate that suspicion over time.
An organisation in which employee communication has been consistently poor that then attempts a radical restructure may successfully achieve the desired new physical structure, but by further alienating its employees in the process. Embarking into a new world without the hearts and minds of your staff will make an already complex job doubly difficult to achieve.
A board or leadership team that lives by its values and demands the highest standard of employee relations exponentially increases its chance of completing a restructure successfully.