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Your reaction to being told you may be made redundant
[Deleted User]
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Hi,
Yesterday at work we had a meeting whereby our employer informed us that we are to have a further meeting in two months and if there is no improvement with the amount of work we can bring in then there will be redundancies. I am very lucky in the fact that I have a very good relationship with the boss and his number 2 - the woman I sit next to at work, so I have been reassured even before we had this meeting that I wouldn't be affected (I am one of the people to be there the longest) and I do generate a lot of work. He is looking to make two people redundant and I know who those two people are, yet after the meeting they just seem oblivious to the whole thing and they are acting as normal, not realising the fact that there will be job losses in the future.
It got me thinking about how I would react if I did not know that I was going to be OK; anyone on here who has been in the same situation - how have you felt about the news?
Yesterday at work we had a meeting whereby our employer informed us that we are to have a further meeting in two months and if there is no improvement with the amount of work we can bring in then there will be redundancies. I am very lucky in the fact that I have a very good relationship with the boss and his number 2 - the woman I sit next to at work, so I have been reassured even before we had this meeting that I wouldn't be affected (I am one of the people to be there the longest) and I do generate a lot of work. He is looking to make two people redundant and I know who those two people are, yet after the meeting they just seem oblivious to the whole thing and they are acting as normal, not realising the fact that there will be job losses in the future.
It got me thinking about how I would react if I did not know that I was going to be OK; anyone on here who has been in the same situation - how have you felt about the news?
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i guess people deal with it in different ways.
I was worried when we were told, but just had to get on with it and hope it wasnt me, as well as looking for a new job which was hard to find one.
I had already lined up a better job and was due to hand my notice in the next day anyway.
Out of 92 Employees 66 of us were made redundant on that day, There was no consultation period at all, As you can imagine we were all pretty pissed off. Most of us received phone calls, others heard it on the local news, Some did'n't find out till the following Monday morning.
We sought Union advice because we were not consulted, we took it to a tribunal and won. We were awarded the 90 day protective award and unfair dismissal, Consisting of, loss of earnings and future earnings.
The Company is still trading with the same management team, and of the 26 that remained, they are still there.
Some of the lads that were made redundant, were offered their old jobs back, But were asked to drop their unfair dismissal case, they did and where sacked a few weeks later.
There are unscrupulous companies out there, That will try it on. Make sure you know what your rights are, so you don't get shafted.
Edit It left a bad taste, But we all got a smashing Cheque and our full redundancy, I've retrained and love what i do now:D
The reaction of the rest of the department wasn't quite so positive, but overall not too bad. We had seen it coming for a long long time so when the news finally came it was kind of a relief to at last know rather than to be kept hanging
If everyone is doig the same job, they can use any criteria that is judged fair so long as they use the same criteria for everyone. The obvious example is first in first out.
They have to make the job or position redundant not the person. So if I employed a reporter and a sales person say, I couldn't make the reporter redundant and give the same job to the sales person.
My old company got around that as they used to put all managerial roles up for grabs every couple of years, no matter who was doing it, then we used to have to re apply for our own jobs or other peoples. A bit like job musical chairs where the last man standing gets the redundancy package.
Great for morale that. I elected for redundancy and got the hell out of there.
Also call ACAS to find out if you do get made redundant what you are entitled to. A friend of mine was told she wasn't being made redundant but was being released from her role as there wasn't enough work for her.
Yes right y o then! NOT.
ACAS put her right.
:eek: i didnt know about that! I got made redundant the day before xmas eve 2008! Though id only been there 10 months so I dont think I had any rights.... will look into it now though, but im pretty sure they did everything above board.
I got called in to the boss at about 11am and was told to come back at 3 because they needed to speak to me. I asked him to tell me then, he said he couldnt someone else had to be there so I guessed what it was.
I went back to my desk and there was only 1 other person in so after a 20 minute discussion with her I buggered off into town for a few hours to finalise my xmas shopping and go tack fro my meeting at 3, which was, as i guessed - redundancy. They were really sad about it, as was i and i started crying . I got paid an extra month and got to keep the car for a month (inc. petrol) so i took the opportunity to use it as much as possible before it went back. They also said it was up to me if I wanted to finish my work that day or leave....! I went back to my desk, said by to the other girl, got my stuff and walked out, as if I was going to finish anything or pack up my laptop! Think with me it was last in, first out.
Looking into it, i think they did it above board but i understand about 22 people went on the first round of redundancies with them. But they were a big company that did things properly so I think they did it right.
In the public sector huge numbers of people are now being told that they could be made redundant and morale has crashed to an all time low. I think it's mainly being done by reorganising services so that there's fewer jobs than people to fill them. But some, especially those who work in council run buildings which are proposed to be closed, already know they'll be out by April. Terrible!!
I am not being smug thank you very much. I am actually upset about this because we are a small business of 9 and so we are all quite close.
The amount of work we do too depends on how much our employer makes as profit, therefore we have to rely on maintaining our own caseload and generating work. I do this very well and I earn him a lot of money - I have also been there the longest therefore he doesn't want to get rid of me. He has recently employed someone 3 months ago and someone 12 months ago who are paid hefty salaries yet don't generate half as much work as me. I don't see how he could get into trouble for letting people go on that justification.
And by the way my employer is a Solicitor
If More than 20 employees are made redundant, from what i remember they have to consult you about it, at least 30 days before they make you redundant.
It's unbelievable what's been going on since.
If I were in the same position I would not want to be kept in the dark for so long. I could be out looking for another job.
Don't get too complacent that you are safe. About 20 years ago my Mum was a number 2 in charge where she worked. They had redundancies but told she was safe. It was her job to give the redundancy notices to those affected which she found an upsetting thing to do. After all the redundancy notices were given out, she went to the bosses office to report back, was told to take and seat and then told "sorry, but here is yours". They used her to dish out the bad news and then dumped her.
I felt like swearing at my boss and telling what I thought of him. However, I bit my tongue because he could have sacked me for insubordination or something like that. If that had happened I would have lost my pay-off.
The two in charge were real cowards weren't they?
TO the OP if your redundancy package is worth a few thousand, it could cost you a lot to get another job and bypass redundancy.
If redundancies are on the cards, leaving too soon could cost you a golden handshake.
Perhaps people need time to let the news sink in, reflect and have a think about things before "reacting"
I rememebr being in a similar position, and until it became clearer months later, as to who was actually in the firing line ( ie what grades were obviously going) many didn't comment.
As it turned out, I was one of those made redundant, and I was devastated, because it felt like the job of my dreams. ( although I used my redundancy money to set up as freelance, basically doing the same job and working for the same company, but with the added freedom of working for other comapnies too. Oh, and I decided to have a baby, which I wouldnt have done at that time, otherwise ) Some others who were made redundant at the same time were quite happy about it - it suited them to move on. ANd the industry we were in has a large freelance base, so it was clear that the work was there, but on a different basis to that which we were used to.
...and I'm glad I'm not still there, 20 years later, like some who were kept on ( and who also escaped the later rounds of redundancy,) - I think I would be brain dead by now, if that were the case.
brilliant, new job as a gymnast!
Stressful time, teaching myself new stuff at fifty but it lead to the best times of my working life.