Experience shows that communication is key in a staff take-over process due to a legal obligation and that communication should be aimed at all possible stakeholders.

The detailed Staff Transfer Communication Plan artifact created in this task focuses on changes in the organization, the way of working and the culture. It enthusiasms employees to join Capgemini and enjoy new career opportunities and maximizes the feelings of security and of being welcome, there with smoothening the planned integration into Capgemini. As a staff take-over has personal consequences the communication about this subject needs to be planned carefully, taking the sensitivities into account.

The main purpose of the communication is to take away uncertainties. It is often the perceived uncertain future that would cause people to start looking for other positions outside their current employer. This can potentially jeopardize Capgemini’s service delivery because the staff Capgemini expects to take over does not join Capgemini after all. Correct, concise and timely communication helps in avoiding that key personnel runs away to another employer at a crucial moment and thus jeopardizing the service delivery.

The Staff Transfer Communication Plan also details the on-boarding training and related communication.

Examples of communications in the Staff Transfer Communication Plan are:

• Town hall meetings or road shows in which the employees are informed about the process, what they can do to prepare themselves, what guarantees they have
• Newsletters to inform the employees about the progress of the transition, what the new organization would look like, what the next steps are etc
• Q&A documents, including the captured frequent questions and answers, distributed via email, on a special transition portal or on the Client’s Intranet
• Q&A meetings in which the employees can ask questions in an informal setting and get the answers they need
• Individual one-to-one meetings during which on individual basis the new terms and conditions and the applied conversion are explained in detail 
• Worker’s council to worker’s council meetings in which the relevant employee representative organizations are invited to discuss the consequences for the employees
• A Capgemini office visit in which the to-be-transferred employees can see for themselves where Capgemini employees work; typically such a visit opens the opportunity to interact with Capgemini colleagues.

The Staff Transfer Communication Plan needs to be aligned with the Client. The Client knows their stakeholders best. The type and content of the messages to bring to the different stakeholder groups has not only to be agreed upon, it also is wise to agree which party will deliver what message to what stakeholder group.

In some countries Capgemini is not allowed to communicate with the teams or individual persons directly or only after some other processes like involvement of unions and worker’s councils have been executed first. It might be wise to align the Staff Transfer Communication Plan to the different stages in those processes.

The artifact Staff Transfer Communication Plan is updated according to these alignments.