2016 have been tough and I knew something would have to give.

Last week rumours, this week announcement of a “restructure”.

40% redundancies. 🙁

The list of who will be completed by 1st March. 🙁

Going to speak to a friendly previous employer tomorrow.

Good luck!

Ouch, we’ve had a few restructurings over the years, never pleasant.

Hardest and most unpleasant thing I’ve ever done is making people redundant.

Good luck!

+1 Use contacts.

Consider freelance.

Careful with voluntary redundancy. It might offer more than statutory but some companies will offer more than statutory with compulsory redundancy, possibly more than voluntary. Need to compare the options. Voluntary will usually invalidate insurances you may have for being laid off.

been there long? kerrching! every cloud n all that.

That’s going to make for a productive Feb at your company!

I know a few people who’ve been through similar, as have I. In the long run, everyone I know has been better off. Save your sympathy for the remaining 60% who are expected to step up and do all the work.

We went through similar in the run up to Xmas.

I was one of the unlucky ones. I wasn’t offered redundancy.

Best of luck OP, on the plus side, they might offer to take you back as a contractor after the event (we have with a few of our guys)

been there long? kerrching! every cloud n all that.

Only 4 years. 🙁

Consider freelance.

I am.

That’s going to make for a productive Feb at your company!

It doesn’t really work like that due to the nature of our core business. Which is part of the problem.

Chuff me, getting rid of nearly half the workforce.

I dont think I would want to be one of the unlucky ones staying….

I was made redundant last summer. It utterly sucks.

Is it your company doing badly, or the industry? My entire industry died a death so there’s been nothing. Not even a nibble of work. Other similar industries are reluctant to take people on because they (probably rightly) assume we’ll all go back to our old (better paid) jobs when the cycle swings back the other way. Even Temp agencies look at my CV, suck through their teeth and say “you’re quite niche aren’t you, we’re really looking for someone with past experience of putting shit in boxes for this minimum wage warehouse packer job”.

If one more person says “redundancy is the best thing that ever happened to me”, I will punch them. I’ve made it to the end of this month without missing a payment into the joint account, but the rainy day funds and cash-in-hand work’s run dry. And unless I can get back into a similar salary to what I had been on by June and can get another mortgage, the fixed term on runs out and that becomes completely un-affordable too.

Chuff me, getting rid of nearly half the workforce.

I dont think I would want to be one of the unlucky ones staying….

Where I was went from ~3500 to 650.

Is it your company doing badly, or the industry?

The industry. Revenues across the whole sector were down 70% last year.

There are only 3 major players and everyone is hurting. This an attempt to stay afloat until somebody else gives up completely.

Save your sympathy for the remaining 60% who are expected to step up and do all the work.

There is no work. That’s the problem.

“The list of who will be completed by 1st March“

They already know who they want rid of. Constructing a legally watertight reasoning for picking those people is the tricky bit 🙂

I was made redundant at the start of 2014. At first it was great, I had two months’ gardening leave and enough payoff to not worry about cashflow for a few months.

After that wore off, applying for jobs got boring real quick. Not getting replies. Infeasibly high qualification/experience requirements for quite basic jobs. Getting rejected from jobs paying far less than I’d been on before. I was really starting to get quite depressed about it. Fortunately my wife was working full time. It would have got quite tough otherwise.

And then a call out of the blue from a recruitment agent about my current job. I’ve been here almost a year and a half now and it’s much better than the job I was made redundant from.

So I agree with Onzadog. If you’re one of the lucky ones given an escape route & some pocket money to tide you over, you will end up better off in the long run. Just try and stay positive.

Brush up the CV and get networking just in case you are one of the 40%, which is a fair chunk of a big company. Don’t leave it until its a done deal and your all in it already. Get ahead…

I was made redundant last month, I was lucky enough to start a new job with a competitor last week.

As others have said start the search now, I took the view I would be leaving as the team I was in relocated 200 miles away, so I stopped all work effectively and concentrated on CV, agencies and my network outside the company.

I wouldn’t go as far as its the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but I was lucky.

<gets punched by TINAS>

Funny enough I was contacted by an old work mate on LinkedIn a few days about a reunion, not sure I’ll go – I don’t like living in the past, but it meant everyone I worked with up to 2009 is now LinkedIn.

We lost about 40% too, they cut from the bottom – Assistants and “Junior Managers” got the cut, because we were paid less and generally been there less years it was cheaper that way.

One thing I’ve taken from the chats over the last couple of days and looking over their LinkedIn profile (all but a CV online) is that those of us who got the chop, are generally in a “better place” now, okay we may not be at the same level career wise as the people who stayed, but they were very senior anyway – but they’ve gone no-where in 8 years, they might have changed employer – the RBS / HBOS / Barclays / Inde shuffle, but they’re right where we left them in a brutal industry that’s been under siege for almost a decade now.

The rest of us have gone onto lots of new things, we didn’t discuss the dirty business of money, but it was good to hear that everyone of us who left stopped chasing money quite so much and found happier things to do with our working days, no one is struggling.

Redundancy is crap, it really is, but it’s not as bad as you might fear and it can be a great eye opener.

Honestly, I would rather be thrown out now, in 2017, than being thrown out from a Banking Job, from the most hated Bank in the World in 2009 and I recovered – took me, 3 weeks to get a job, when I got thrown out of that one in 2013 it took me 3 days to find this one.

And unless I can get back into a similar salary to what I had been on by June and can get another mortgage, the fixed term on runs out and that becomes completely un-affordable too.

Thisisnotaspoon – this might not be such a worry. We were in a similar situation as our income had dropped significantly between taking the mortgage out and the fixed term expiring. It turns out our existing lender (Woolwich which is part of Barclays I think) would swap our mortgage to another fixed rate one no questions asked in the last three months of the deal. I did it all online in about 10 minutes without having to speak to anyone. The rate we got was exactly the same as the previous one. Have a look at your lender’s website.

Cheers, I’ll look int that, could potentially be a huge load of stress gone!

Worked in aviation for 16 years, constant threats of what you are experiencing now OP, thank **** I’m out of it.

Best thing I did was taking my redundancy and getting into something else all together (still engineering, but a totally different industry and mindset).

Best of luck, and don’t fear the change.

Well the good news is there is only going to be 25% reduction in head count.

They are now drawing up the list for the start of April.

The bad news is that I am significantly cheaper to make redundant than my peers. Pretty much know I’m doomed. 🙁

I have another job lined up if I get the chop so I won’t starve but I would much prefer to continue to do what I do now.

Glad you’ve at least got another job lined up. At least that will help assuage any worries you have.

Sorry to hear you are more likely to get the chop – but pleased you’ve got something to go to. That would always be my biggest worry.

Re the mortgage chat, I also switched online without having to speak to anyone/provide any payslips etc (nationwide), as long as you stay with the same provide there shouldn’t be any issues.

It means you can’t shop around, but likely still better than standard variable.

I was laid off in sept, then re-employed by same company in lesser role. Now they’re offering voluntary redundancy with a pay off…

Wait to be pushed (with no pay out, not in UK), or jump and take the £?!

Eugh.

Good luck eveyone!

Depending on the company, length of service isn;t always a bad thing. From experience i;ve seen people with close to 20yrs expereince made redundant over people with less than 12months as they were less able to adapt to change or are not willing to up their game to match the demands of the company/industry.
Obviously this is very much company and people specific but if you’re good they’ll probably want to keep you.

As per windydave. It’s about what value you can bring to the table for the business, rather than how much it costs to get rid of you.

No point getting rid of all the employees who have been there less than 12 months if they’re also the ones who hold the new skill sets required for the business to survive.

Wideboy, take the money and run. If you’re any use you’ll find work. Went through about 5 years of acquisitions and restructuring eventually? just thought **** it and took the cash despite being offered a promotion. Now in a growing co. With a very different vibe. 100% better, still shit cos it’s only work innit. But better.

Well I’ve survived. 😀

TBH the structure is a lot more sensible and the new senior management seem better equipped to get through this rough patch.

We have clear targets and even the detail of the required revenues for the shareholders to continue to back us, until we return to a profitable position have been disclosed.

Nice One! Great News…!

My work are facing a possible 90% drop in income, find out next week. Best case is 25%. and I’m still on probation… i.e. cheap

That’s not good. 🙁

I was in a similar situation and feel your pain.

Good Luck.

I was in the paper machinery business until 5 years ago when the arse fell out of the market. 100% redundancy in my division.

5 years on in a different industry, but still heavy engineering, and things couldn’t be better.

Buff your CV, tap up any contacts and get looking. It may not be all that bad in the long term

Good luck!

Well the good news is there is only going to be 25% reduction in head count.

They are now drawing up the list for the start of April.

The bad news is that I am significantly cheaper to make redundant than my peers. Pretty much know I’m doomed.

I have another job lined up if I get the chop so I won’t starve but I would much prefer to continue to do what I do now.

From what you said though there is no end in sight for this…. until of of your two competitors or currently employer go bust..?

25% this quarter but then another 25% later etc. you’re current job might get really crappy… but I get the idea the new one lined up might be ???

Either-way, keep applying…. as your competition numbers might start to swell if a competitor then makes a 25% cut etc.

Is there a way to use your skills and experience from a different angle that doesn’t involve the 3 players in your sector?

Glad you survived the cull!

I applied for the severance package, was promptly offered my previous (better) position back, and still haven’t had either confirmed in writing yet…

Farce! The longer it drags the more I want to take the cash and run 😀

Having been made redundant 3 times in 6 years, that must be a relief, i know lots say its a new opportunity etc, but if you are in a job/sector which is struggling, then it’s difficult to find work and the stress on you and family is horrible.

I worked for a law firm where we lost contract after contract one at a time, so there were waves of redundancies, usually announced on a friday afternoon, got to a point you dreaded fridays as either you or a colleague was for the chop