The role of HR in Mergers & Acquisitions HR teams can get pulled in all kinds of di昀昀erent directions during a M&A, and without the right technology in place, ful昀椀lling all of these responsibilities can be very challenging and overwhelming. Some of these responsibilities include: De昀椀ning current and future organizational disparate 昀椀les, spreadsheets or databases. Ensuring a smooth transition for employees Ensuring governance and compliance structures For a M&A to be e昀昀ective, this information needs It’s very easy for discontent to follow a M&A, HR teams are also responsible for ensuring HR teams are typically called upon to provide to be consolidated and centralized, and this and for employees to leave the organization in that the organization stays up to date with detailed organizational charts before a merger task often falls upon the HR team’s shoulders. considerable numbers. To minimise attrition rates, current requirements regarding governance or acquisition, as well as to provide an outline Having an accurate and centralized record of and ensure a positive overall experience, and compliance, especially if the business for what a future structure could look like under information should be a key priority for the HR teams need to 昀椀nd ways to establish unity now operates in multiple countries or the new organization. Sometimes, HR teams organization moving forward, and should be and cohesion, provide clarity regarding new geographical regions. are also required to model di昀昀erent potential a focus of any M&A from the outset. structures, and accurately answer questions HR structures and present these to a board for Enabling data-led decision making from sta昀昀. Extracting and acting upon employee insights decision-making. As well as ensuring a smooth transition, This means being able to answer some critical There are lots of very important people-related Hiring new sta昀昀/adapting existing contracts HR teams are often responsible for monitoring questions very quickly and accurately: Who decisions to be made during a M&A, and HR From the outset of a M&A, there’s also typically employee progress, and reporting to boards/ will assume which roles in the new business? teams are often called upon to provide quite a huge workload for HR associated with moving management teams regarding employee Which roles, teams or departments will become detailed information very quickly. This could employees to new contracts, hiring new sta昀昀, sentiment during and after a merger. Without include anything from the structure of a team, making any necessary redundancies, and the right tools at hand, this can be very di昀케cult. redundant? In terms of speci昀椀c roles, how can to payroll, time and attendance, or even communicating this information to the broader the workforce best be merged? individual sta昀昀 performance. Unless the organization has consolidated HR systems in workforce. Meeting with individual sta昀昀, and Centralizing information completing required paperwork, can alone be During a M&A, important HR-related information place throughout the merger or acquisition, a huge and very time-consuming responsibility. it can be very di昀케cult for HR teams to extract will often end up spread out across the di昀昀erent and collate the information they need. organizations or departments, residing in 5