Addressing human capital risk early and in a clear and methodical way is fundamental to driving deal value in M&A transactions. Prime examples of people risks that can severely undermine deals and destroy value are poorly executed integrations, failure to consider culture and organizational fit, inability to retain top talent, and lack of clarity in employee communications.
High-performing HR M&A teams combat these common risks by developing an HR M&A playbook that establishes a common approach to initiating and managing transactions.
While every team’s HR M&A playbook is different, there are key elements that should exist in all playbooks.
First, the playbook must be a practical, how-to guide. HR M&A playbooks have traditionally served as a comprehensive encyclopedia, complete with process maps for each HR workstream and every possible deal scenario.
While these playbooks have great content, when a deal comes in, the HR team has a difficult time using them, and as a result, the playbooks are often thrown to the side. In order for a playbook to be effective, it must be used. Your HR M&A playbook must provide enough guidance for the HR team to do their job effectively while avoiding information overload. The HR team must also be able to adapt the playbook for any deal scenario. It’s a difficult balance to strike.
Second, the playbook must define HR’s role throughout the deal life cycle. To maximize deal value, HR must operate as a strategic partner and be able to clearly articulate where they fit in the deal context and how their involvement mitigates risk and achieves deal objectives. A well-defined playbook helps both new and experienced members of the HR deal team understand the role they play, and enables them to quickly start working through deal-specific issues.
Clearly delineated tasks and established decision-making parameters also inspire confidence in team members and ensure HR alignment with other business teams, including finance, legal and IT. Throughout the transaction, structured collaboration across the organization is vital to prevent teams from making crucial decisions in isolation.
In this environment, HR can execute faster and immediately add value to the deal — which is the ultimate goal.
Third, the playbook must include due diligence. All too often HR is engaged on the deal just before or at close, which prevents them from conducting thorough due diligence. This is compounded by today’s sellers’ market, where buyers face shortened due diligence periods and, increasingly, a lack of data from the seller.
By not engaging HR early, companies are taking on unnecessary risk that could materially impact the deal price, integration strategy and timelines and could even result in a “no-go” decision or diminished synergies. Common HR issues uncovered during due diligence include Change-In-Control triggers in executive agreements, high-cost severance commitments, retention risks, significant cultural gaps, underfunded defined benefit pensions, and compensation and employee benefit plan compliance issues.
An effective M&A playbook not only includes due diligence tools to ensure the right data is requested and red flags are identified quickly, but also builds the business case for why Corporate Development should engage HR early on.
Fourth, the playbook should outline your preferred integration approach. While every deal is different and exceptions are common, it is important to align with your HR and business leadership team on your preferred integration approach (or different approaches for common deal types) upfront. As part of this process, you agree on the ideal integration outcomes by workstream; understand the timing, budget and resource requirements to adopt this approach; and establish an approval process for exceptions or deviations.
With your approach outlined, when a deal comes in, you have a starting point, can quickly review each workstream, determine if the deal thesis requires an exception and, if so, follow the established approval process to obtain the exception, and move forward with execution. This will significantly accelerate the deal execution and contribute to the synergy realization. The integration strategy must be designed to achieve the results articulated in the deal thesis. While the M&A vision often belongs to the CEO, HR owns the execution from a people perspective.
Your preferred HR integration approach should be rooted in your business strategy and address all people-related aspects of the deal. Your integration approach should be set up to achieve:
Fifth, your playbook should include project management tools. Project management throughout the M&A transaction is vital. Setting milestones and success metrics, documenting key activities, and ensuring their timely completion are required to meet pre- and post-acquisition financial goals.
Robust activity list templates are a central component of any playbook. These tools offer a starting point for each HR workstream to develop a comprehensive project plan guided by the company’s particular deal outcomes. These tools can be leveraged to ensure key steps are taken and to track results achieved along the way, such as early synergy savings.
An agile playbook is ever-evolving. At the end of each deal, it is incumbent upon the HR Project Management Office to conduct a postmortem and incorporate any new best practice learnings into the playbook.
Last, a playbook is only as good as the team implementing it, so it is critical to spend the time upfront training the HR team on how to use the playbook and when it makes sense to enlist external advisors to supplement the team to address specific M&A issues.
A well-executed M&A transaction keeps your most valuable asset — people — at the center. Given the significant people risks associated with deals, HR M&A readiness is a business imperative, and that begins with the ability to inform and orchestrate value-driven change.
Anticipating deals, preparing for them early, building internal systems and leaning on external expertise equip the HR team to be a valued member of the deal team.
By investing in an agile M&A playbook, companies can position their HR team to effectively support the business in all future transactions, engage the workforce and help deliver business results for both the short and long term.
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