So got a call from my manager last Thursday saying I needed to check my emails & call him back ASAP – I’m currently furloughed and have been since Good Friday.

Checked emails and there was a ‘your job is at risk’ email – great!

So it transpires that between Covid19, Brexit and the General Election that the company is facing a downturn in profit and work load in the foreseeable future (although they have £400m waiting to spend on buying out a competitor……).

They’re planning on reducing UK numbers and sending more work to our office in India – the reason they gave for furlough initially was to keep India employed as they didn’t have a furlough scheme.

So as this is company wide were on 45 day consultation – I’m in a pool of 3 locally with one of us going.

I’ve got 16 years so stand to come out of it with a few months salary – but not something I thought I’d be facing.

Last time it happened I was single, no kids and a small mortgage – I survived that one….

Uncertainty is getting to me now, I know it’s out of my control and all based on a desktop exercise.

Anyone else in the same situation?

Not sure what to do or where to look as Construction is knackered at the moment.

So it transpires that between Covid19, Brexit and the General Election that the company is facing a downturn in profit and work load in the foreseeable future (although they have £400m waiting to spend on buying out a competitor……).

and

So as this is company wide were on 45 day consultation – I’m in a pool of 3 locally with one of us going.

Sorry to hear that, that’s really crap.

But do you work for a large engineering company? My wife is on the same boat as you and here email is pretty much word for word as you wrote it, including the competitor buyout number…

She works in an office near London Bridge and also in Victoria.  Well, used to

Yes, one of the largest – I’m based in Birmingham.
Crap times – I wouldn’t mind if they said they weren’t still going ahead with the buyout.

It was great company until we got taken over by the Canadians and expanded at a ridiculous rate.

Yep,finished a large job just before covid came along and despite quoting for a significant amount of work nothing has come through yet. Although nothing has been said yet my boss is also a cycling buddy and the silence is deafening.
As above certain parts of construction are screwed at the moment despite the government saying that there is a £300m fund set aside for replacing unsuitable materials we are struggling.

Yeah same company.  It’s doing my head in not only because of my Mrs position but also because the company they might be buying out is one of my biggest growth customer relationships.

With regard to you employer, there are many holes in the HR offers and process it’s abysmal, they really are feeling thier way along.   Read the details properly and look after your self.    We have interesting situation because my wife is a black part time mother in a Pool of one…

Good luck!

I’m in the same boat. Luckily the redundancy packages are generous and I’m at the right age to take advantage. 25% going at my place.

Redundancies across our whole group world wide. Our company has lost 2 so far. Production staff have been told indirectly they are safe but I’m putting off buying a new anything that doesn’t replace something necessary that’s beyond economical repair.

Went through this a few years ago. Similar situation – team of three with one to go. I was paid the most as I had been there longest and had joined when my skills were rare and in demand so I was targeted to go. This was obvious from the assessment criteria which ignored certifications, experience etc.

The process was farcical and alienated the entire team so much that the other two guys left within three monthsand will still chat regularly and go out for the occasional beer. The company having lost all the skills in that area lost customers and quite a lot of money as a lot of manufacturer rebates were dependent on having so many qualified staff.

After ten years I left with the statuory minimum redundancy but found a new job at a more local company within weeks. The new job is more rewarding as the company is far more focussed but the company are not great payers and the benefits are pretty poor. I took a pay cut of 35% and in retrospect should have negotiated harder.

I guess in summary the person that they want to go will aready have been chosen. If it is you then you can try to fight it but if they even loosely follow approved policy it will be difficult.

Tough times – do you have any inkling of which of the three may be the fall guy?

@dirkpitt74 My condolences, it’s shit. I dont suppose you could disclose if you work for St*nt*c or At**ns (are there other Canadian owned large UK Engineering firms)? I’m just about to agree to join the former following strong assurances that they weren’t pursuing redundancies in the UK after applying and interviewing pre Covid. Water sector here though which is a little protected from the worst of recession.

With regard to you employer, there are many holes in the HR offers and process it’s abysmal, they really are feeling thier way along. Read the details properly and look after your self.

@Kryton57 Thanks for the info – I have no idea what I’m looking at etc.
Any chance you can PM me?

Is it a large civils consultancy you work for?

Hope everything turns out ok for you.

If you do not want to leave ask for the selection criteria and procedure in writing via the consultation process.

If you are selected ask for details of your scoring and the justification for the scores.

There are meant to be objective and based on facts, but it is very hard to avoid subjectivity.

Inevitably those involved will have decided in their heads who they want to select to leave and then will have determined the scores to achieve this. This means you can probably pick holes in the scoring where they can not provide objective evidence.

If there is a large number of redundancies they will have had to consult with a works council of employee representatives – if you think the selection looks unfair then raise it with these representatives who can challenge with company at national level.

Recently been through this as both someone scoring a pool and being in a pool that was been scored.

Also the composition of the pool may be suspect, it id meant to start with identifying the redundant role(s) and then determining all the other similar roles where the people with redundant roles could substitute for.

@snownrock – it’s neither of those two.

I didn’t know there were more, the Canadians are taking over. There is some really sound advice above. Know your rights, challenge and question at every opportunity, don’t take it lying down. I hope you get on with your pooled colleagues and this doesn’t drive any wedges between you.

Just figured out who this is. I work in a similar sector and weirdly seems to be loads of recruiting going on as well. Also didn’t realise they were Canadian! Well assuming it’s a 3 letter name with a snazzy red logo that is?

Consultation period officially starts tomorrow. We are due to find out our fate September/October and leave December. 25% of the workforce is going so this is going to be bumpy…

@aberdeenlune, we might work at the same place….

@WildHunter2009 – yep the one in the same.
We ‘merged’ / got taken over by Genivar who adopted our name as they weren’t flavour of the month in Canada due to some dodgy dealings…..

Haha what is it with the dodgy dealings! Didn’t SNC get caught up in something as well?

What area you in? Know guys im the Project Management teams in London and also the contam world. I’m a site investigation / soil type.

My sympathies. I work in the supply of construction equipment and lost my job twice in 3 years. I have to say that I’m much happier in the job I’m in now than any of the previous jobs I’ve had. So it can work out well. But it played havoc with my self confidence and peace of mind.

Op, sent you a DM.

Also… I’m pretty sure the guys you might be buying out are recruiting? Maybe apply and show up like a bad penny in a few months time? After a well deserved break I suspect.

I was going to post that.  They’ve just won some significant new business… with a company predominately based in Birmingham…

Condolences, been in a similar position twice in the last 18 months, luckily got back into work the day before lockdown. All I can say is embrace it and try to keep motivated, it’s really not easy but things will come right in the end.

Thanks guys – @Kryton57 and @WildHunter2009 I’m in the Building Services section – Electrical Engineer.

Sorry to hear all this must be awful. I have been in a few culls, never got made redundant despite wanting it. We were about to be taken over and I was offered a job at the taking over company, i was quite tempted just to see the look on the face of the survivors who were moving.

Within 12 months of being taken over, despite all the reassurances, we went from 2200 employees to 3.

OP – I’ve just sent you a PM

Thanks for all the advice so far guys – greatly appreciated.

Sorry to hear that OP

Reading your employers reasoning I’d be inclined it’s the usual merger loses + off-shoring to cheaper Labour.

I went through it in 2008 from Banking and again in 2012, although the latter was a hatchet job to screw me out of a big bonus I was owed.

It feels really shit, it’s daunting and even being through it twice, I wouldn’t fancy it again, but, it wasn’t that bad really. Both times I secured a ‘get me by’ job within a few days.

My firms probably going to end up with 50% redundancies. The main contractor the bulk of our work comes from just announced they’re going to mothball their West London division

If you are selected ask for details of your scoring and the justification for the scores.

There are meant to be objective and based on facts, but it is very hard to avoid subjectivity.

Very good advice

So, are they still buying out the competitor company ?

So, are they still buying out the competitor company ?

someone has asked within my wife’s consultation pool how the company can afford this, yet be laying off staff.  The answer given is that these were local contract based decisions affect regional an contract based targets.  Global strategic decisions are separate and different.

id love to see more challenges to that but I don’t work there.

Interesting…

Assuming that the company begins with a W and the competitor with an A…

We Sack People

@iainc – correct.

@hamishthecat – sounds about right at the moment.

The business case for us is crap too – we aren’t massively down on our revenue and targets from last year.

It’s more about keeping the resource centre in India employed – until the labour costs get to the same as UK costs – which isn’t too far away.

It’s more about keeping the resource centre in India employed – until the labour costs get to the same as UK costs – which isn’t too far away.

Although our reasoning is different – loss of work from a major transport organisation in a large city due to thier own lost revenues, this process is described to bridge a gap between now and when recovery happens, which seems far longer for their predictions that most other companies in the same industry.

Sorry to hear this OP. Best of luck.

Sorry to hear your situation. I spent 14 years recruiting for consulting engineers and dealt with several of your colleagues in Scotland.

The good thing to realise is building services engineers are always in demand. It is such an area of skills shortage and as more companies realise that location isnt the barrier it was before there will be a lot of jobs your skills will suit.

Likely you end up with a nice payoff and a new job quickly! Best of luck!!

I’ve been made redundant a three times. Looking back, it has always made my life better.

Sorry to hear that, OP.

I’ve been made redundant a three times. Looking back, it has always made my life better.

^ This.

My whole dept got made redundant three years ago and at age 47 I had no scooby-doo as to what I could do with my future. Rudderless, scary times I remember, and I was furious with the company I worked for. I fought them very hard through their ‘restructuring’ process (aka their box-ticking procedure to ensure disgruntled ex-employees didn’t litigate) but the outcome was inevitable.

With our meagre redundancy payments a colleague and me decided to start our own two-man business doing what we’d been both been doing for the last 10 years, but this time for ourselves. Turns out to have been a great move. I’m better-off than I’ve ever been, take holidays when I want, and work pretty-much part-time: loads of free time to do what I want when I want.

I don’t know of anyone from my old employer who is worse-off after getting made redundant following that tranche of restructuring.

It’s easy to say but things will prob work out for the best for you.

Chin up, etc.