HR WORD: Bumping

Bumping is a practice used by many companies to reserve talent pool during downsizing, wherein, a senior level employee, whose position has been selected for elimination, is offered the option of accepting an alternative position of lesser seniority within the organisation. Bumping can be a useful tool for employers who wish to retain the skills and experience of an employee who would otherwise be downsized. A lot of employers, though, are reluctant to consider bumping because of its obvious injustice to the employee who is bumped.

Bumping Rights means the contractual right of a senior employee being laid off to replace a junior employee not being laid off for a position he or she is qualified. They are essentially the privileges provided to senior employees, who have experience of many years, from being laid off and instead accept an alternative position in the organization.

Bump redundancy is when an employee who is at the potential risk of being redundant can transfer into another job role instead. This makes the latter employee redundant instead of the former.