There’s no version of this conversation that feels easy. But there’s a real difference between a redundancy conversation that’s handled with clarity and respect, and one that leaves lasting damage, to the person in front of you, to your own reputation as a manager, and to how the rest of your team sees the organisation afterwards.
Most managers face this without any real preparation. You know the outcome. You don’t know how to deliver it. This is a structure for closing that gap.
Before the conversation
Get the process right first. Redundancy carries statutory obligations, consultation periods, selection criteria, notice requirements, that vary depending on headcount and circumstances. This article covers how to deliver the conversation, not the legal process around it. If you haven’t already confirmed the process with HR or legal counsel, do that first. No amount of skilful delivery fixes a process that wasn’t followed correctly.
Know your first sentence before you walk in. This is the single biggest predictor of how the conversation goes. Managers who improvise the opening tend to either bury the news in preamble, making the person sit through several minutes of anxious guessing, or blurt it out so abruptly it lands as callous. Neither serves anyone.
Choose your setting deliberately. Private, uninterrupted, with enough time that you’re not watching the clock. Never by video call if an in-person option exists. Never on a Friday afternoon “to let them process it over the weekend”, that’s a decision that serves your discomfort, not their wellbeing.
Delivering the news
Open with the outcome, not the context. A structure that works:
- State it plainly, in the first sentence. “I’ve got some difficult news, your role is being made redundant.” Not “as you know, the business has been going through some challenges…” The preamble doesn’t soften the blow. It just prolongs the moment they know something bad is coming but don’t yet know what.
- Pause. Let it land. Don’t fill the silence. This is the hardest part for most managers, the instinct is to keep talking to relieve your own discomfort. Resist it.
- Explain the reason briefly and honestly, without over-justifying. One or two sentences on the business rationale is enough. Long justification often reads as defensiveness, and can inadvertently raise questions you’re not equipped to answer on the spot.
- Move to practical next steps, timeline, support available, what happens next. This gives the person something concrete to hold onto once the initial shock has registered.
- Leave space for their reaction, whatever it is. Anger, silence, questions, tears, all of it is a reasonable response to genuinely bad news. Your job isn’t to manage their emotional response. It’s to stay present through it.
What to avoid saying
- “I know how you feel.” You don’t, and the claim tends to land as dismissive rather than empathetic.
- “This was a really hard decision for us too.” True or not, centring your own difficulty in this moment reads as self-focused at exactly the wrong time.
- Over-promising on references, future opportunities, or reconsideration, anything you can’t guarantee will follow through on.
- Filling every silence. Some of the most important moments in this conversation are the ones where you say nothing at all.
After the conversation
Follow up in writing with the practical details already covered verbally, most people retain very little of what’s said after the initial news, so a written summary isn’t redundant, it’s necessary. And be visible and consistent with the rest of your team in the days that follow. How you handle this one conversation is being watched closely by everyone who didn’t lose their role, and it shapes how much they trust you with difficult news in future.
This structure comes from the same framework used in Workplace Method’s Difficult Conversation Clinic, a 45-minute 1:1 session where we build the actual conversation for your specific situation, not a generic script. If you’re facing a redundancy conversation this week and want it scripted properly, book a session.
Workplace Method, Business Psychology support for managers, led by an MCIPD-qualified Business Psychologist with an MSc in Occupational Psychology and BPS Test User certification (Levels A and B).
Last modified: 04/09/2026
