A merger is never simple for anyone – employees, executives or HR. Select employees on merit. The Harvard Business Review article, “Three Answers Every Employee Needs,” provides some advice on this topic from Betty Jane Hess, the former head of Arrow’s acquisition integration team. Integrate and appreciate. “When we make an acquisition,” she said, “every employee has just three questions: 1) Do I have a job? While retaining employees after acquiring a company, it is important that you make your selection based on ‘merit’ and not on the ranks. ... Getting employees to embrace a new corporate identity after an acquisition can be a tricky process. An employee-integration plan will greatly improve the success of integrating the two businesses and retaining the human capital from the acquisition. 5 Important Ways to Help Integrate Employees After an Acquisition 1. ... Now is the ideal time to assess skill sets, integrate workplace culture, and carve out initiatives that will be sure to help retain key people. When you succeed, it will be worth it. Here are 8 ways you can retain your top employees after a merger or acquisition: 1. 1. Let Your Values Guide Your Actions Integrating an acquisition is complicated, but stay the course, pay attention to the details, and keep at it. However, after a set of acquisitions, firms tend to restructure and make an effort to better integrate subsequent acquisitions. Although selecting the employees you want to retain and those you do not is a huge part of the M&A process, it’s what you do after the dust settles that determines how effective your employee retention policy will be. In the wake of a merger, many employees can get a little lost or frustrated in the transition, leading to disruptions and downtime. As a result, many employees flee in search of greener pastures. The uncertainty resulting from a merger or acquisition can increase stress levels and signal risk to target company employees. Inc. helps entrepreneurs change the world. Employee survey includes twenty-one questions in the following five categories: Demographics, Merger Announcement, Between Announcement and Close, During the Integration, and Overall. However, one of the biggest pitfalls of the event comes after it has happened, during the actual merging of the two businesses, which is commonly referred to as ‘post-merger integration.’ Basically, HR has a huge task ahead of them to bring two completely different workforces together in a way that will thrive long into the future. HR, after all, will be the department that helps this integration go smoothly, the department that is tasked with making sure that the two companies and cultures that come together during a merger and acquisition can do so in a way that keeps the businesses running. 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