Hi, the fact Im posting this at midnight on a Saturday says how much its been bugging me 🙁

Im writing more to vent than to get realistic advice but anything from personal stories from those in similar situations to cyber hugs to the expected calls to MTFU would all be great!

The company Ive been with for 10 years was taken over by our biggest competitor just over a year ago
They binned our team leader and parachuted in their own manager for our office which had previously performed well and had been left to run autonomously

From the off its been made clear to us that we need to be “lean” and its an open secret that they plan to cut half the workforce which is where the dilemma comes

Im not particularly qualified to do anything other than work in my own field which means my options are limited if Im one of the casualties

There is a job I could do currently advertised, the thing is its a sellers market and it will pay significantly less than my current salary which would mean tightening our belts at home – thats bikes as well as holidays for the family plus all the other luxuries 🙂 Its also not nearly convenient to commute to which has added aggro
Im not particularly well paid as it is but this post is approx 70% of my current salary too

My thoughts are that at the moment the stress of not knowing if and when I will lose my job is getting me down – a lot – and I should just apply for this new job anyway, but its a decent amount less money which as a family will hurt

Thanks for listening

From someone who has suffered stress / anxiety at work before I know how utterly crippling it is and to be honest is as serious a health condition as many other nasty, more publicized diseases.

Ask yourself; can you really survive on less money? Do you really need all those luxuries (holidays, more than one bike etc) at the expense of your health?

If you find an answer let me know 😀
We have a new manager at my work & now everyone is looking over their shoulder waiting for the bullet, or at least that’s how it feels. Half of my casual employees have jacked it in as a result of the arrival which makes my job harder.
I know I could do with a healthy dose of rule 5 but I just want to get the hell out despite the financial consequences. Trouble is I doubt I know what I want to do or can do and the depression isn’t helping.

What do you see happening long term with your shop? Like say you avoid the axe this time round – is it just a stay of execution because ultimately they want to close your location? Or is that a ridiculous proposition, there’s no way your site could close? The risk is that you’re awesome, but who cares as the whole site’s getting canned.

Basically you need to peer into the tea leaves with respect to your standing as an employee, and to your site’s standing in the new structure. Things would need to be quite pessimistic in regard to those two things to make me jump at a lower paid position.

From previous experience of being in a position where I had very severe anxiety and depression due to work place stress and the threat of losing my job (in my case me personally being threatened rather than the team/company) what made me jump ship in the end was when I realised it was making me a crappy dad and boyfriend, I couldn’t let my family suffer for something out of their control.

I left and it worked out ok I took a bit of a paycut but we managed and it felt like a massive weight off my shoulders as soon as I walked out of there.

Now i’m not going go lie and say everything worked out perfectly, I’m a year on from my resignation, my personal life is much improved but I still have things that happened during my “bad period” that i haven’t yet fixed and my current job is also now under threat due to privatisation.

But I 100% do not regret the choice I made, I fear it could have ended much much worse for me and everyone around me had I stayed.

So in my opinion your health and mental well being should be top priority, just make sure you are absolutely 100% certain you are making the right choice before you do it, as only you can really be the judge.

Mental health comes first – I got demoted but had to let everything fail for it to even be an option. Should have done it sooner. Only worked out at 100 per month more after tax and was not worth it. incompetent Line manager now has all the stress and the only real difference doing time sheets which we change to suit ourselves and real life anyway.

I took a pay cut to get some life back…That seems to be disappearing again and so will I. Sunday working and common sense rotas based on standards £$$%%^!!!!

I personally have taken a significant paycut- lifechanging paycut in fact- to get away from workplace stress, there is no amount of money that’s worth it.

Buuut… Is there any chance of a redundancy package? Seems like you’re largely writing off the current job, and consdering a less-than-ideal move anyway, so there may (may!) be something to be said for holding on, doing everything you can to make it easier for you (which, I found, becomes much easier to do as soon sa you’ve decided the job can **** off) and carry on.

I’ve never got a job by having the specific skills I’ve got them by being good at stuff and learning the new stuff. It’s possible and a lot of people will respect and prefer the good solid worker.

Since leaving the UK we have massivley cut out outgoings to correspond to out incomes. Both working part time and it’s a lot better mentally in some ways (not in others) so in reality anything is possible. Probably do a bit of an honest budget and see what you can afford to do.

I left my corporate management job due to stress, changes in business direction and the obvious (to me ) that new staff were going to be brought in whilst the old loyal staff were left on the sinking bits of the ship, so to speak.

I set up my own business
Struggled a bit but the relief of not being in the corporate backstabbing place I was in is splendid.

The company I worked for brings me back in occasionally and I can see the stress on my ex colleagues and it is worse than it was when I was there over 2 years ago. I’m glad I jumped into the unknown.

There is a job I could do currently advertised

1) you need to apply for it and see if you get it before you have a dilemma

2) if you had a mate that had the other job but was considering coming to your place for 30% more money, what would you tell them?

less stress is more impoprtant than pay,just spend less, youd be forced to if you lost your job due to the comapany going bust, limited redundancy and just unemployment benefit.

Apply for the other job. Do it properly. If you get it, you can then decide.

If you don’t then you can hold on for redundancy or work out how to transfer your skills into something else.

TBH this does demonstrate that in this world, expertise can work against you – so while you’ve got the chance, do something about that to make yourself as marketable as possible.

Good luck.

PS agree that job stress is shit.

I’m in a similar situation so I can relate to what your saying.

This is a contract not being renewed and we are undergoing TUPE to become an in-house team but then faced with a HAYE (pay) review and restructure under the new legislation changes with regards to TUPE. I know within six months they will use the economic and organization clause as a reason to change my T&Cs. Quite frankly I’m not working for a public sector organisation and putting up with there disorganized shit.

On the stress/worry side, honestly it won’t improve the situation by constantly worrying about. It’s really frustrating because its out of your control. Best thing to do is keep going to work, do your job as you always do and try to block out other members of staff negative conversations. Just carry on as normal as if nothing has changed. Remember rumors are rumors not necessarily true, ignore staff gossip. It will help you at home to be yourself and also if you want to look for a new job you will be thinking more clearer.

Whatever happens will happen, remember they still need staff and to be honest its normally middle management/team leaders that face the uncertainty first.

In terms of looking for a new job, give the CV a refresh do a bit research remember you have 10 years experience in your area of work that counts for a lot. If they make you redundant I don’t know your contract/T&Cs but it might be worth hanging on for a redundancy pay out if that’s a possibility. Think smart about all your options.

I saw a job with a small pay cut and almost jumped but then I thought its the first job I’ve seen and to be honest it wasn’t “me”. Since I’ve seen a few more that I fancy and I have a firm offer internally elsewhere with my current employer if I want it but it means relocating.

So I now have a new dilemma, do I ride out the storm and hope things work in my favor or do we move 100 miles north. Sure means moving house and other half needs to find another job but I’ll have job security and right next to the peak district. Being selfish now riding around Hope Valley for example really appeals. No offence to others but Yorkshire does seem a bit grim, I really like where I live.

Things are starting to be clearer for me personally but I’ve had 5 months of a shit storm. I’ve been through the sleepless nights, migraines and mood swings soon snapped out of it. I think I value job security more than I realized.

Ultimately there’s only one person that can decide what to do and that’s you.

Oh and if you haven’t already create a https://uk.linkedin.com/ account.

A job offer is worth more than any amount of redundancy, you will burn through it in a very short time!

I would never hang around just for redundancy unless it allows you to set up on your own pay off mortgage etc.

It’s change, it’s the one constant.any worthwhile job will include change and if it keeps the business healthy and profitable then it’s to be welcomed. A business that isn’t pushing forward is moribund and ultimately doomed.

Sadly I’m getting the bullet in 3 weeks time. I will be taking any job to keep my bills paid. I thankfully may be getting a job with a friends friend in a shop for a bit (I used to work in a shop and I know it’s far from a doss) I will be on 65% of my salary but I expect after clocking off I will come home & not fire up the laptop, i will set my alarm at a sensible hour not have to converse with our overseas factories before work, I will work approx a 40 hour week with lunch breaks, i will not be doing 3 peoples jobs inc my senior. It’s been a really stressful past 6 months and I’ve lost 2 stone and according to my friends I’ve been like a zombie. I don’t know what the future holds and that scared me, but now I’m excited. I’m going to have to really tighten my belt but should have the essentials covered. I really really don’t need the stress I have been under recently. Life’s too short it really is.

I was in a slightly different position 8-10 years ago, but I had been off work through stress basically, then had a health scare (skin cancer) however I returned to work; all set to jack it in and do something else or just leave.

Something made me hesitate (possibly the holiday entitlement I had accrued) and the decent salary; just as well as I was then called in and told with regret (and they really were sorry – I’d been there nigh on 20 years) that they’d be making me redundant, and to ease the blow here was a pay-off.

Has allowed me to re-prioritise things massively, much happier, and helped by the boost of the pay-off..

What you have to work out is the stress of the unknown greater than the stress of living off 70% than you are now?

You could just be swapping one set of worries for another set.

You think that 50% of the people who are in your company will be affected, so you may end up in the 50% that would be staying. Generally from company mergers/takeovers you’ll see the ‘central’ areas being reduced (you dont need 2 Finance teams) and the operational areas are relatively untouched.

Im not particularly qualified to do anything other than work in my own field which means my options are limited if Im one of the casualties

This is probably the issue causing all of your worries.

Take the time between new job/redundancy/job security to get yourself the skills/qualifications so the above worry is reduced as you fell confident about being able to fine alternative work.

Thanks, really really sincerely thanks 🙂
Youve all helped make me realise that I should man up and face things instead of hoping theyll go away

As well as lying awake at night Im also up at 5AM fretting most days and my family are being more patient than I deserve

Its been obvious what the problem is so I plan to buff my CV tonight and take things one step at a time

Many thanks again

Are virtual hugs allowed here LOL ??

I’ve seen loads of companies taken over. Most had a depressingly familiar pattern. Few small changes over first 12 months, then gradually sweat the assets, shrink the team, bleed the customer …good companies gone sour. Sorry that sounds miserable. Good luck!