You can see the video here:  Cass Talks Episode 8 – Scott Moeller on how to survive if your company is going through an M&A deal

Emily wrote in the article that ‘The spectre of a merger is enough to send a chill down the spines of most employees — with good reason. Mergers always carry a risk of redundancies: on average, 10 to 15 per cent of employees across both organisations lose their jobs in a merger, sometimes as many as a third. Even those who keep their jobs are likely to be fearful of the change to the status quo.’

She goes on to write:

‘In a book just published, Surviving M&A: Make the Most of Your Company Being Acquired by Scott Moeller, director of the M&A Research Centre at Cass Business School in London, explains how to improve your chances of keeping your job, based on 350 interviews with employees who have been through M&A deals. “The first question you need to ask yourself is: ‘Do you want to stay?’ ” Professor Moeller said. “A merger might be the best time to leave.”’

The article includes 10 of the key pieces of advice to reduce your ‘risk of being made redundant in a merger’ if you do decide that you want to fight for your job.  It also notes that ‘Workers in Britain, America and the Netherlands are more at risk of being made redundant than those in Germany, France and Japan, thanks to employment legislation differences.’    But, as she adds at the end,

‘Despite your best intentions, things might not work out. If you plan to stay at your company, go to a few interviews anyway to test the market and work out your value. “Mergers are unpredictable. Remaining flexible will give you more options,” Professor Moeller said.’

An article in the Times this morning (19 August 2009) noted from the Surviving Mergers book the importance of making sure that you don’t depend too much on your boss to take care of you when your company is acquired or even if your firm is the larger one taking over another company. Dominic Walsh wrote ‘A new book by Scott Moeller, a former banker at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, advises employees on the best way to hang on to their jobs in the event of a merger or takeover by a rival,’ and then continued with:

In assessing the economics of a deal, the shareholders and other analysts will look to see that the gains from the merger will exceed the costs. But perhaps the most telling piece of advice in his book — Surviving M&A: Make the Most of Your Company Being Acquired — is: “Don’t rely on your boss — in a merger everyone looks out for themselves.”

Given that the book is based on 350 interviews with people who have been through M&A deals, we can assume that a number felt that they had been stabbed in the back by their bosses.

But what about bosses nursing similar wounds? “It is fair to say we interviewed bosses who felt that after the deal, it was all about looking out for No 1,” Moeller admits.

This is certainly an important area that was highlighted frequently in our interviews. It’s not that your boss doesn’t have your best interests in mind or that (s)he doesn’t care, but often middle managers and even very senior ones do not really know what is going to happen, they may have been told they are secure themselves but then the situation changes unexpectedly (mergers ARE very uncertain even after closing), they are themselves going through the emotional roller-coaster caused by the deal, and, of course, will be most concerned about whether they have a job first.

Gratifying to see Stefan Stern’s suggestion that ”…we should be grateful that Scott Moeller…has picked this moment to publish a useful new book.’

He goes on to agree that everyone in two merging companies needs to be thinking about their future as possibly uncertain, that talent doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a personal winner and nor does seniority (in fact, in the latter case, it works against you), and that there are ‘strange, disingenuous things’ said during the deal.

As Stefan Stern said in the article:  ‘M&A can be fraught and filled with potential hazards’.  Exactly!  Which is why a proper defensive — or even offensive — plan is needed by each and every employee.

Anyone with any examples of the above?  Please comment below!

This blog will hopefully provide readers and potential readers of this book with the opportunity to share their own stories about how they survived when their company was acquired.  Or perhaps with some suggestions on what they wish they had done differently if they weren’t a survivor.  If you would like to provide some tips or suggestions, please do so HERE on this page of this weblog.

The book was produced following hundreds of interviews on this topic with individuals who had lived through deals.  But with tens of thousands upon tens of  thousands of people being laid off each year because of mergers or acquisitions, there must be some suggestions we’ve missed.  Please do share your stories with us.  Thank you.

Additionally, in this blog we will update stories that are contained in that book and will provide readers with a forum to provide commentary (please click HERE if you would like to add a story).  It has been exciting to produce the book and to see where it might help many people facing possibile redundancy;  help us make it even better.