Alternatives to Retrenchment You Must Consider First (Section 189)
The question commissioners ask first in retrenchment disputes is not about severance — it is ‘what alternatives to retrenchment did you explore?’ Section 189 makes job losses a last resort, and ‘last’ is a legal standard, not a figure of speech. Here is the menu the law expects on the table, and how to document it.
- ✔Section 189 requires genuine exploration of alternatives — not a formality.
- ✔The standard list: hiring freeze, short-time, voluntary packages, early retirement, redeployment.
- ✔Consultation minutes must record each alternative and its fate.
- ✔Skipping alternatives is a procedural failure that makes dismissals unfair.
The alternatives to retrenchment the law expects explored
- Hiring freeze: stop filling vacancies and let natural attrition shrink the wage bill.
- Reduced hours / short-time: cut hours across a team instead of cutting people — by agreement, with pay adjusted proportionally.
- Voluntary severance packages: offer enhanced severance for volunteers first; often the people ready to leave are the ones you can least afford to lose, so structure the offer carefully.
- Early retirement: for employees near retirement age, by agreement.
- Redeployment: move affected employees into other roles — including roles that need retraining.
- Salary sacrifice: temporary pay reductions by genuine agreement — never imposed (that is constructive dismissal territory: the trap).
- Bringing outsourced work in-house: if contractors do work your staff could absorb.
Each alternative must appear in the consultation record: tabled, discussed, and accepted or declined with reasons. An alternative considered in the owner’s head but never tabled does not exist legally — the minutes are the evidence.
How the alternatives conversation actually runs
The section 189(3) notice opens the process by disclosing the reasons and the alternatives already considered — then the consultation meetings test them honestly with employees and their representatives. Sometimes the employees produce alternatives the employer missed: a team volunteering for a four-day week, a senior offering early retirement, a department finding the savings elsewhere. This is the point of the exercise — consultation is consensus-seeking, not announcement (the full process).
Timing matters too: alternatives raised only after the retrenchment decision is visibly final persuade nobody. The decision must remain genuinely open until consultation closes — the classic procedural failure is the consultation that begins with printed retrenchment letters already drafted.
When alternatives genuinely do not exist
Sometimes the honest answer is that no alternative saves the jobs — the contract is lost, the branch is closing, the money is gone. That is defensible, provided the record shows the alternatives were tabled, considered and explained, and the selection criteria and severance then followed fairly: one week’s pay per completed year, plus notice and leave (the numbers).
The employer who can say — with minutes — ‘we offered short-time, it was declined; we sought volunteers, none came forward; redeployment was assessed, no roles fit’ has already won the procedural half of any later dispute. The framework is in the discipline and dismissal pillar.
Always confirm current requirements with the official source — rules and deadlines change.
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Frequently asked questions
Must I consider alternatives before retrenching?
Yes — section 189 requires genuine consensus-seeking on avoiding retrenchments: hiring freezes, short-time, voluntary packages, early retirement, redeployment and more. Each must be tabled and minuted in consultation.
Can I cut hours instead of retrenching?
Yes — short-time or reduced hours by agreement is a recognised alternative, with pay adjusted proportionally. It must be genuinely agreed; imposing it unilaterally risks constructive dismissal claims.
What if employees reject the alternatives?
Then retrenchment may proceed — provided the record shows the alternatives were genuinely tabled and considered, and the selection criteria, severance, notice and consultation were otherwise fair.
Last reviewed: July 2026 · How we research our guides
EmployerGuide.online provides general information about South African employer obligations — not legal, tax or professional advice for your specific situation. Laws, rates and deadlines change; confirm current requirements with the official sources linked above, or ask Admin Boss. See our disclaimer.