How to Navigate the Workplace After a Restructuring

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The fashion and beauty industries experienced a wave of redundancies in 2025, from Burberry reporting it would cut over 1,700 jobs globally to beauty conglomerate The Estée Lauder Companies reducing its workforce by 7,000 amid profit recovery and growth plan.

With “challenging” overtaking “uncertainty” as the most frequently used word to describe the industry in 2026 by executives polled in the annual The State of Fashion 2026 Executive Survey by BoF and McKinsey & Co., leaders are bracing for sustained hardship ahead. From tariff woes and market disruption to deglobalisation and faltering consumer confidence, the cost of business operations is soaring while opportunities for market expansion and customer retention rates are declining.

What’s more, an uptick in AI automation is benefiting the bottom line, even as it accelerates workforce reduction — a 2025 Massachusetts Institute of Technology study found that current AI systems are technically capable of replacing work equivalent to 11.7 percent of the US labour market. Last year, CNBC reported AI was responsible for almost 55,000 layoffs in the US in 2025 — including at Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce.

While employees experiencing redundancy will face a harsh new reality and a destabilising of their career path, so too will those who remain at their company following a restructuring. The latter typically need to navigate shifts in leadership, worries over job security, increased workloads and unexpected responsibilities.

There’s also the possibility of what is colloquially referred to as “survivor’s guilt” or “survivor’s syndrome,” which is the distress employees feel after colleagues are made redundant, often accompanied by anxiety, sadness and pressure to justify why they remain at the company.

“Layoffs are very challenging because they affect individuals — but there’s also a general sense of dread and panic [in the company] about what’s going to happen next,” says Mory Fontanez, founder of workplace consultancy 822 Group and host of the ‘Signal with Mory and Melissa’ careers podcast.

While restructures often feel destabilising, they can also serve as a catalyst for professional growth — whether that’s renegotiating responsibilities, stepping into a new role or deciding it’s time to move onto new opportunities in your career.

Now, The Business of Fashion shares actionable advice from industry professionals on how to navigate a fashion or beauty workplace restructuring and manage the transition that follows.

Take Stock and Avoid Reactive Decision-Making

Organisational restructures can be distressing — especially after a round of redundancies or layoffs — so employees should first try to remove the emotion from the situation and evaluate, as objectively as possible, the reality of the restructure.

You can weather any kind of tension or restructure in the short term when you have a bigger business vision and a goal to strive for.

—  Dina Grishin, career coach.

Employees who experience a disruption to their professional environment during or after a restructure can find themselves feeling anxious, uncertain and frustrated with new workflows. It’s important to remember that redundancies and restructure are not about individual performance but instead reflective of structural challenges faced by companies under pressure.

“When there’s a change, you’re thrown out of your rhythm, your routine, and feel wobbly where you used to be surefooted. Notice that during this time, you might be more reactive and defensive,” says London-based life and career coach Dina Grishin, whose partners include NARS, Vinted, Apple and Sony. “There’s not much you can prepare for.”

A study of Emerald Insight in 2023 examined the psychological toll of restructures and downsizes on employees. It found that employees who remain are often impacted unevenly — and fall into three response categories. “Flourishers” are those who adapt positively and remain engaged, while “recoverers” struggle with the change. Meanwhile, “ambivalents” are employees who remain either conflicted, uncertain or disengaged from the process.

“Uncertainty is really difficult in general for us as humans,” says Fontanez. And what category each employee falls into depends on factors such as the level of control they have over their work and the degree of certainty in the organisation.

Depending on personal mindset — and what employers communicate — downsizing can either motivate resilience and commitment, or heighten anxiety and disengagement. Grishin emphasises the importance of “adapting” during a restructure, before assessing where you stand with your employer. Decisions such as impulsively quitting or seeking a job elsewhere as a form of escape are best avoided in the immediate aftermath of a restructure.

“Don’t make a decision in a bad mood,” she says. “Without thoroughly thinking about why you’re leaving and what you want from your next job, you are going to risk taking your problems with you.”

Grishin advises finding support in sharing your experiences with others — particularly those around you at work who may be going through a similar situation, or friends and former colleagues who have experienced a restructuring outside of your office. “Knowing you’re not alone and that it’s a phase that will pass really helps you to sleep at night,” she adds.

Know What Questions to Ask and How to Ask Them

“You can weather any kind of tension or restructure in the short term when you have a bigger [business] vision and a goal to strive for,” says Grishin. “If you are seeking to understand in greater detail why your company is making such decisions, and how they might affect you going forward, it is important to keep an eye out for internal company announcements, HR communications and official emails — particularly before relying on word-of-mouth.”

“Are policies changing? Are schedules changing? The day-to-day [change] can be really disconcerting or a great opportunity employees can be excited about,” adds Fontanez. “It’s about making sure you understand what the benefits of the change may be.”

Should you have more questions than the business has provided answers to via formal communication, or you want to better understand how these changes affect you directly, seek out your own information through managers, team leaders or HR.

In a recent coaching column, Auckland-based business consultant and life coach Helen O’Toole wrote about what employees should ask their managers after surviving a restructuring: “It is imperative that you understand what actual responsibilities you have now assumed, if you have [the] licence to change the way they are done, what your new targets and performance indicators are, what everyone else is doing.”

It is advisable to follow up any questions you ask in person with an email, summarising what was discussed, so there is a record of information shared and of the advice given. This approach will also help with clarifying or correcting any information that may not have been relayed clearly in-person.

While management should function to quash confusion, your trusted colleagues, friends and wider professional network may also have a wealth of valuable advice. Consider other resources available to you that may help you streamline your questions and thoughts — but be sure to take any advice from online legal forums or generative AI tools with a pinch of salt.

Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT might provide some structured guidance, alternative perspectives or practical frameworks — like what questions to ask on how the company will continue to evolve or how this may affect their workflow — but these tools must be treated only as a thought starter and not an oracle of truth.

Improve Your Workflow and Develop New Skills

If the business is evolving, so too can your priorities and your workflow approach. Now may be the ideal time to re-evaluate where your professional energy is spent — and to assert agency over your career goals and trajectory.

It’s about making sure you understand what the benefits of the change may be.

—  Mory Fontanez, founder of workplace consultancy 822 Group.

This assessment might mean addressing smaller, incremental working habits. For example, Grishin says many of her clients struggle with being in back-to-back meetings and advises employees to consider a “spring clean”. By professionally decluttering, you can question what meetings actually serve a purpose — and cancel those that don’t.

What’s more, by being intentional about what your priorities are and where your time is spent, you create more space to deliver higher-quality work in the areas that matter most.

It might also be an opportune time to explore avenues for investing in your professional development. Some companies offer a budget for upskilling, or even training days to learn new ways of working. Alternatively, you can be self-directive in learning new skillsets but ask for dedicated time, access to new programmes or shadowing existing team members to assist in your learning without added expense for the business.

Still, asking the business to invest in your development — while it might seem counter-intuitive following redundancies — can save the company money in the long-term. In fact, one McKinsey study found that when companies enter the labour market for expert external hires, they often pay 20 percent more than what it costs to upskill an internal worker.

When teams restructure or when responsibilities shift, you may be able to step into areas you have been curious about but never had the opportunity to explore.

Consider asking your manager or other colleagues where emerging business needs are — or where your strengths could be applied in new ways. Restructures may be destabilising, but they can also create opportunities to step into newly opened spaces that allow you to grow.

Protect Your Professional Boundaries

Uncertainty, coupled with feeling the need to prove one’s worth, can be overwhelming.

It is important during this time to cultivate a balance between what is required of you professionally and how you look after yourself personally. If employees neglect looking after their wellbeing, burnout may occur.

For example, creating a detailed structure for your work day and sticking to it will help you stay organised and will give you a better sense of control. Setting boundaries around work hours will also give you space to switch off, like avoiding checking your work emails and not taking work calls during your personal time.

While there may be pressure to take on more work, it is important to know your limits. Setting boundaries might help with this.

“The common misconception around boundaries is that people are going to think you are demanding… but boundaries give other people solid expectations,” Calypso Barnum-Bobb, a leadership coach and former fashion buyer, previously told BoF.

Boundaries, when communicated well, help teams collaborate more effectively and prevent chronic overextension. Clearly communicating your capacity with leadership will help achieve this, and sets a strong example of other team members seeking greater work-life balance too.

Know When to Leave

While it is wise not to make any sudden decisions about career moves based on restructures, it is equally important not to remain in a role that no longer serves your professional growth or values. The challenge is differentiating between temporary business turbulence and deeper, long-term misalignment.

“You need to know what you’re working towards, how you want to grow, what you want to learn, how you’re going to be challenged, what you want to do next,” says Grishin. “Businesses are doing things for themselves, so you need to do things for yourself.”

If you remain uncertain about your purpose and sense of growth or development following a restructure and after the dust has settled, reach out to management to discuss your long-term trajectory.

If growth opportunities have dried up, if instability has increased or if leadership can not clearly communicate long-term goals, it might be a sign that now is the right time to seek opportunities elsewhere.

If your company has restructured and given you new responsibilities without discussing pay, bonuses or job title — it is likely the right time to make a case for a promotion, payrise or consider leaving.

“It’s not worth burning out to stay in that company — and it is unfair. The company is saving money, but at the cost of your [well-being],” says Grishin.