1. HR Glossary
2. Bumping

Bumping

Table of Contents

1. What is Bumping?
2. Frequently Asked Questions
   • What is bump redundancy?
   • What are bumping rights?
   • Is bumping employees considered right or wrong?
   • What does bumping up and bumping down mean?

What is Bumping?

Bumping is a practice followed by many organizations and is one of the ways the HR department uses to reserve the top talents at senior levels. This situation happens when a particular position is at the point of dismissal, and the employee in that position has to be retained. To keep the senior-level employee with the organization, the offer made is to attain the position of lesser seniority in the company itself. Here the risk of losing the position increases for the lower-level employees as it will be acquired.

Here is an example of an employee bumping:

• (Senior-level) Employee A's job role is at the risk of elimination and redundancy.
• (junior-level)Employee B's job role is not at risk.
• Employee A took over the position of employee B and bumped him.
• Employee B was eliminated as A took over his position, even though he was not at risk.
• This scenario is called bumping.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is bump redundancy?

Bump redundancy is a process wherein an employee, who is at the risk of being redundant has been offered a position of similar or lower level. This transfers the redundancy from one employee to another.

What are bumping rights?

Bumping rights are the advantages given to an employee in a senior position and at the threat of lay-off to consider selecting a low-level place. The risk of lay-off is transferred to the employee who is at that lower position.

Is bumping employees considered right or wrong?

Whether bumping employees is right or wrong can be decided based on the following questions.

• Does the employee possess good skills if he is bumped up?
• Is the employee agreeable with the terms if he is bumped down?
• Will there be a considerable drop in his salary and incentives?
• What happens if, instead of bumping, redundancy is chosen, and how much will it impact?

What does bumping up and bumping down mean?

Bumping up refers to an employee being transferred to a higher position than his own in an organizational tree. Whereas bumping down is an employee transferred to a lower position.

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