Things to think about once your merger has happened
The day that legal merger (often referred to as the transfer date) takes place is not the end of merger process.
It can be helpful to maintain your merger working group to:
- oversee the process of combining the cultures and working practices of each organisation
- continue dealing with the legal and financial matters.
Tasks at this stage are likely to focus on:
- Some immediate post-merger legal steps such as:
- if the transferring organisation is not being kept in existence, winding it up and related steps (such as preparing final accounts and registering the merger on the Charity Commission register of mergers)
- any relevant filings to regulators (such as amendments to Articles to Companies House for charitable companies)
- notification of third parties about the merger where necessary
- notifying individuals whose personal data has transferred
- updating of registers of members and trustees
- dealing with property registration matters.
- Some longer-term steps such as:
- building beneficiary and other stakeholders' confidence in the merged organisation
- integrating policies, procedures and systems, for example, health and safety, databases, data protection
- embedding working style and culture, for example, hours of work, use of meetings, home working, dress code
- delivering any service improvements or cost savings
- addressing any issues arising from the transition.
To build rapport between the two sets of staff and volunteers you may consider:
- involving staff in the new strategy of the merger organisation, perhaps through an away day with some fun activities included
- work shadowing to give colleagues an insight into the work of others
- social events - so staff, trustees and volunteers can meet each other in a less formal setting
- organisation-wide training to provide staff and volunteers the opportunity to learn together.
