How to Prepare Your M&A Workforce for Change

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) can cause major structural shifts within an IT organization, and it’s essential to thoroughly prepare to support employees during these changes. Financial and operational aspects often take priority over people-related challenges, but employee fulfillment is the backbone of a company’s productivity and collaboration. 

With up to 70% of M&A deals falling short of expected synergies, tech organizations must be intentional about implementing workforce integration strategies early on. Employee uncertainty is natural during organizational changes, but open dialogue with leadership and cultural alignment can keep IT talent engaged and committed to the company’s values. 

Below, we explore key areas of considerations when preparing your M&A workforce.

Preparing Your M&A Workforce

Plan for Workforce Integration Early

Pre-merger planning typically centers around financial factors, but it’s equally important to prioritize successful workforce integration. An ideal timeline for this is to begin planning before the deal and continue monitoring program efforts 12-24 months after the deal closes. Preparation involves clearly assigning roles and responsibilities for all individuals involved and establishing metrics to track progress. Logistics like payroll and HR infrastructure also need to be in place for a smooth transition on day one. 

Another key step is to form an integration team comprised of both IT and HR leaders, which helps companies plan for technical integration and cultural alignment. Keeping employees engaged throughout the process allows them to build systems thinking and cross-platform problem-solving skills early-on. 

To make data-driven decisions, tech companies must look through employee records and performance assessments to inform restructuring and growth plans. Leveraging skills data enables them to scale their IT workforce with strategic composition. 

Communicate with Clarity and Continuity

Communication is a crucial aspect of meeting employee needs during M&A – people often fear uncertainty more than the change itself. When the future direction of a company is unclear, particularly how existing staff will fit post-deal, they are more likely to begin pursuing other roles. 

Retention of top performers is key for tech organizations to realize their goals, so they must be intentional about communicating information as it arises. Specific strategies for ensuring open dialogue can include “ask me anything” sessions, town halls, and coffee chats. Leaders need to take initiative and sit with employees to set realistic expectations about when they can expect complete answers to their questions.  

In terms of ideal communication platforms to announce a merger or acquisition, in-person delivery of the message is preferable, though video conferences can be more practical for firms with multiple office locations or remote workers. On the other hand, brief emails or social media announcements are viewed as less thoughtful for major announcements and are better suited for follow-ups. IT organizations should also consider tailoring their communication style by department based on relevance of information to engineering, product, IT operations, and support teams. 

Align Culture and Structure

Roughly 34% of employees leave in the first year of an acquisition, so tech companies must prioritize accumulating feedback on cultural integration and structural adjustments in order to avoid high turnover. Sentiment dashboards can help monitor employee feedback, and analytics from both companies can identify workforce trends that support a balance between flexibility and stability. These analytics help tech organizations create a complementary culture defined around the value of work, where all IT professionals are clear on their purpose in contributing to the larger business goals. 

Even seemingly minor clarifications about new procedures or turnaround times can help employees adjust more smoothly to the transition. For new IT staff members, onboarding is critical to strengthen cultural alignment between product, engineering, security, and data teams and to set expectations about career development. 

Companies can also support workers by creating employee resource groups (ERGs) to build a sense of community and belonging with others of a shared identity. These efforts demonstrate that the organization cares about its people beyond expanding market share and acquiring intellectual property. 

Getting Started

Workforce integration isn’t a one-time task – it’s an essential process that begins before the deal closes and continues as tech companies begin new operations. Focusing on continuous improvement allows a company to actively support its employees with clear communication strategies and a shared culture. 

For IT companies, prioritizing the alignment of technical systems over M&A workforce integration significantly hinders retention efforts for top performers. Organizations need to instead be intentional about executing specific staffing and training initiatives to reduce uncertainty and promote employee engagement. 

For this reason, IT staffing firms often have a pre-vetting pool of candidates that they assess for not only skills but also cultural fit. Our experts at BCTG excel at ensuring a solid fit from both perspectives, so your company can thrive during mergers and acquisitions. Contact us today to get started. 

Contributions from Hannah Yang