The HR Guide to European Mergers and Acquisitions

Book excerpt: News of a merger or acquisition is a big event in the life of a company, which stirs uncertainty, anxiety and fear. The changes, redundancies and so on, that often follow this news, are a further source of turmoil for the employees of both companies involved. There is no magic formula to avoid these effects completely. However, good planning, communication and human resource practice can mitigate the worst of them; keep everyone that matters on board; and ensure that the new organization maintains your reputation for sensitive people management. Get it wrong, on the other hand, and you may lose the very people you were most anxious to keep; put the success of the process at risk and even face employment tribunals or other legal proceedings. In addition, imagine how these processes are complicated by any transnational elements. James F. Klein and Robert-Charles Kahn provide a practical, hands-on guide to successfully integrating HR functions following any merger or acquisition within Europe. The book guides you step by step, providing the methodology, tools, sequence of events and necessary material. It includes comparative tables, tips and stories illustrating the differences, specific issues and pitfalls that are particular to the different European countries. 20 years of human resources experience across companies in continental Europe has gone into creating this blueprint to successfully implementing the people side of successful mergers and acquisitions.