Here's the situation, i'm the company IT Manager who was moved over to our online business (because that's IT) and put in charge of the adwords campaign and all other online marketing, Link building, microsites etc. By me doing the job they saved £6k per month they were shelling out to SEO "experts", they don't pay me half of that.

To cope with both roles (no extra pay) i dumbed down the IT, got rid of our in house hosting facility etc.
Now i've done a damn fine job if i do say so, profitability is up month on month. So now they call me into the office and say they are making changes to the office structure and i'm being moved out of the online business section and therefore need to find a position for myself, "because we don't need an IT Manager now the IT has been simplified"

They have offered me the chance to Project Manage the biggest white elephant in the company's history, with longer work hours, loads of traveling ("your kids are grown up now, you don't need to spend time with them" – they are 6 and 8)for zero extra pay!

Or i can be made redundent, but they don't want to do that in case the IT goes tits up.

There is no other role in the company.

I think it's time to move on.

First thread, so go easy on the gramma or i'll post a picture of my bike with the stickers out of line on an unkempt lawn 🙂

Yup, time to go!

Call his bluff. Say you'll take the redundancy payout.

But 2 days notice? Industrial tribunal will love that!

Yep, take redundancy but fight for a good package. They sound nuts.

How fookin dare they judge whether your kids are grown up enough for you to travel.

First thing you do is speak to an employment lawyer.

Second thing you do is submit a written complaint about this.

wot ourmaninthenorth says.

before you tell them you're doign this ask them to put the offer/terms in writing though 'so I can take it away and think about my options'

What has been said above is all good advice.

Then create a back door into the system so you can pull the plug on their business once you are gone.

i'm thinking of suggesting Reverse Cowboy as the position i'd like, just to see their faces 🙂

it's not two days and then i'm redundent, it's two days and then i'll get my "your job is under threat" letter and then 6 weeks later i'll be out the door, one week before my 40th Birthday.

Do you want a job or the biggest payoff you can get? Tactic differ depending. I would say youa re about to be managed out so you need to manage it to get the best you can. Possibly let then carry on breaking "good practice" if not the law then threaten with a tribunal and negotiate a payoff.

A job with increased travel? They probably need to pay you for that travcel and travel time for example

However there is no substitute for real advice. Get the offer in writing and line up the advice and take it from there

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

a Call to the CAB will be done this afternoon.

You've solved the original problem (well done) but at the same time removed the need for somebody like yourself. Why should they pay for a body they no longer need? Take the project management job and try and turn that one around as well.

Oh – and they have to offer you suitable alternative employment if your post is being made redundant – its not up to you to find one.

Or i can be made redundent, but they don't want to do that in case the IT goes tits up.

rottern barstewards, talk about hedging their bets.

First thread, so go easy on the gramma or i'll post a picture of my bike with the stickers out of line on an unkempt lawn

sound like you have the measure of this forum already!

tthew – sound like you have the measure of this forum already!

first thread, long time lurker.

actually sounds like they're doing everything they're supposed to – giving you warning that they're about to give you official warning of your job being at risk & 6 weeks notice?

They are miles from what they should be doing.

Its up to them to offer " suitable alternative employmnet" not for the employee to find a post

Either he is being made redundant or he is not – you cannot use redundancy as a threat.

Nothing in writing

No proper consultation

they are doing everything correct, they've even dumped a new IT project on me this morning!

I think the best option is to leave, with a bit of money in my pocket.

They have offered me the chance to Project Manage the biggest white elephant in the company's history

TJ – they have offered him another position (which the OP doesn't want) if I'm reading that correctly.

Oh and dont forget to pee in their shoes on the way out 😆

welcome to the forum

Oops -forgot that bit. Is it suitable tho? LOnger hours and more travelling.

The best advice I can give is, if you are concerned you have been mistreated, go and get PROPER EMPLOYMENT ADVICE FROM AN EMPLOYMENT SOLICITOR / THE CAB.

I have had the misfortune to make or be involved in selective and collective redundancies on a large number of occasions over the last 12 years. Even in that position I would not seek to give you advice on your rights so PLEASE do not take what is said above as gospel as a lot of it is either over-simplified or not accurate (particularly as regards the circumstances for offering suitable alternative employment, which they are under an obligation to consider).

There are consultation and other processes that may need to be followed and it depends on whether anyone else is being made redundant, the size of the workforce etc etc.

Start by having a look at the redundancy info on direct.gov.uk (Redundancy info in the Employment section)

The only thing I would say is that if your job's gone then look at how best to extract yourself and take into account both your rights but also the personalities of who is involved so that you can get out on the best terms possible (some redundancy payments are tax free for example).

I get similarly shafted (only a bit worse) a few years back. Its unreasonable. As has been said – Get an employment lawyer

When they tried to **** me ver in a similar situation, they expected it to be done and dusted in a week. When I walked into the meeting with a regional union specialist in employment law, the MD literally shat himself. He spent the meeting stammering like a buffoon as he was read the riot act about what he was and wasn't legally entitled to do

The upshot of all this was that I ended up suspended (on full pay) for 3 months while they tried to dream up more farcical reasons to get rid of me. Which were then immediately rebuffed. I spent the time starting my own business then resigned 🙂

the MD literally shat himself

Blimey – I'd have got up and left in that case. Disgusting thing to do.

Or did you not actually mean "literally"?

Its amazing how stupid managers and even HR "professionals" can be.

I was in a similar position once. They made such a mess of it that after many months at home on full pay while they tried to sort it I walked away with £7000 rather than the £400 I was entitled to. A decent compromise would have cost them £3000 pa rather than the £20 000+ they spent getting rid of me.

All the folk involved in the muck up have now been sacked I think apart from the CEO

Say you'll think about it, the redundancy sounds good, then pull a couple of plugs.

First thread, so go easy on the gramma or i'll post a picture of my bike with the stickers out of line on an unkempt lawn

LOL, good first post, well done for staying sane

did you ever attend work dressed as a giant spider? if not perhaps now is the time to start?

i think the world would be a better place if more people attended work wearing a giant spider outfit. Unless people at work are arachnophobic.

I will leave with all the dignity a balding IT professional, with a God complex, can (whilst wearing a spider suit)

Making a spider suit will fill the next six weeks up.

Thanks for the posts people, you never fail to cheer up my day.

I hope as part of doing a good job you didn't document any of the systems, if not then take the redundancy and wait for the call to come in for consultancy. If you did do a good job in documenting everything then that was a mistake…

Now about this lawn of yours…

Redundancy and go back as a consultant if you feel like it.

Out of interest, did you lose your sysadmins when you farmed out your hosting?

Document the systems, i knew there was something i forgot to do.

i got rid of all the "difficult" ones, there's just a windows server left which my trained monkey assistant can sort out. The Asterisk VOIP system the whole company runs on…..

Thats what "man asterisk" is for, isn't it?

Ignore CAB, unless you are really, really, really lucky the advice will be about as useful as that you've got here 🙄

TBH, gut reaction – do nothing, let them/him/her make the next move.

If you are pushed onto the project, say "no probs, I'll just have it audited (or audit/review/report it yourself) to see where it sits in relationship to where is said to be sat" etc (self-interest plug – I can help you here, its what I do).

And just 'cos the current PM travels and works every hour, doesn't mean the next one should?

The current PM is my boss, it's his hair brained idea and it's not going down well with the customers. It's a crap product (software), but slightly better than the others currently out there. But the boss has gone so far with it, that he needs it to suceed or else he's the muppet for spending thousands of pounds on a product no one wants/needs. Better yet, pass it on to someone else and tell them "that's yours, if it suceeds I get the glory, you keep a job" if it fails "it's your own fault and you now have no job"

Ok, then do nothing – play the game.

It's a crap product (software), but slightly better than the others currently out there.

Worth setting up alone to create something better? Then take all their customers…

jimmy – no

Rossendalelemming – your boss appears to be a bit of a git and my sympathies on the situation. He's made a threat of redundancy and not followed any procedure at all – do take the good advice of others here and get to an employment lawyer NOW please. CAB are useful to a degree but will delay the response – get to a lawyer!

Your employment lawyer will be happy as they have been very busy over the past 18 months! There appears to be no process, no selection criteria and they haven't even asked you for alternatives. Looks a lot like bullying to me – so take a robust stance with your lawyer and take no shit.

Also, it would be a shame if all documents were lost and consultancy fees are rather high . . . .:-)