Anyone on here had to deal with redundancy?

A mate has just under 30 years service with same employer but thinks due to org change afoot he may be on way out.

He believes the package will be generous and he is still on final salary pension with contributions over the same employment period.

However he is still losing sleep.

I have not yet had to deal with this although have been through many org changes, etc but always remained employed.

So….should I simply tell him to deal with it if it happens or some other words of wisdom?

Blood hell tell him to get a grip FFS. 30 years service, a package and a pension.!!! I had to apply to the government for mine and got a weeks pay for every years service aka not a lot. If that were me I would be walking around with a big grin and contemplating a year out of the rat race and enjoying life before its all over.

🙄

What’s worrying him?

Does your friend fear he might not get another job? Now’s the time to start looking. It might help him prepare for the next step.

He should probably be looking forward to it. 20 years with same company and I was! Might be a bit institutionalised I suppose.

FWIW I was on 1 nth / year (yeah!) capped at 12 years (i.e. a year’s salary (boo). Quite standard I think.

I have been given the confirmation of my redundancy this afternoon, although it is one of my part-time job (got two) this job actually covers the bulk of my expenses. The feeling is making me a bit sick to be honest, I am hungry but I really cannot be bothered to eat at the moment.

Tell you mate I have no pension, a very small redundancy package, a small saving and can’t afford to stay where I am now.

I have about 6 months grace period to cover my rent using the redundancy pay but after that I would have to starve if not manage carefully.

😐

In his position I’d be looking for early retirement with topped up pension. Volunteers for redundancy can often get enhanced terms (depends on employer, and also how realistic early retirement is for him). But if nothing’s been announced, he might just be being paranoid. One thing I do know, is that desperately clinging on to your job in a failing organisation is soul-destroying regardless of your rights.

Tell him to accept and move on now, no excuses. It’s unpleasent, soul destroying and easy to let it get on top of you. Howevef embrace it and you can come out the other side in a better position. 30 years with the same company is very lucky these days, I’ve been made redundant 5 times in 20 years and my wife 3 times in the same period.

It really is up to your mate whether he comes out the other side ok, no one else will get him another job.

I know plenty folk been made redundant and the majority have volunteered. None seem o have regretted it either. Quite a few have taken the chance to have extended career breaks and have found out that in the grand scheme of things work isn’t really that important. Mrs KennyP took 14 months off when she was made redundant. I had to almost force her back into paid employment as my bike fund was beginning to run low.

For some folk it’ll be different I guess, but the OP’s pal sounds like he has nothing to fear.

Recently made redundant after 20years with same company.
I hated my job the last few years, so the news was welcomed.
We had a very good package. So financially I have no worries.
I just see it as a great opportunity to do something new that interests me.

Plan is to take a year out. Kinda mid life gap year I tell friends.
Life can be too short.

Best to volunteer see whats on offer, staying in a shrinking company,many people try to tell tales ,turn petty and try to get you of a job to save their own job if you stay.

Ours are pretending to be “listening” with sympathetic ears in fact they are just merely going through the tick box motion to let people know they “care”. They have made up their mind long ago. 🙄

Been too long in the same place by the sound of it. Or is he worried that his generous redundancy package is at risk? I’ve been in the same place for 14 years and that’s too long. There’s “change afoot” where I work and probable redundancy. I’m a bit concerned that I’ll lose my expected redundancy package with the changes, as I have a pension worth about 65p a week and don’t own any property.

Went through a big corporate merger last year, basically 10 months of not knowing, got a bit tiresome. I was actively looking to jump ship but not a lot came up in what I do where I live so just rode it out but i didn’t stand to lose a lot redundancy package wise. WIth 30 years in the same job he’s got a bit more to think about but hanging on for the payout might be bad health wise if it’s a drawn out process – if a job comes up he’d have thought about anyway he should take it and put the payout out of his mind.

I was (still am) the sole breadwinner for my family of 6. I earned very good wages for the part of the country where I lived,but as a cheap part of the world would have struggled to relocate. I saw redundancy coming a few months out and it totally shook me.

The redundancy gave me 6-12 months grace, but after that I was stuffed. I spent those last few months brushing up my CV (my employer even paid for some of that), reconnecting with contacts who might help me, letting trusted people know I was looking for a job, getting my LinkedIn profile sorted, etc etc.

I left, and within 5 days had a better offer, only a bit further away, on more money. Even better they didn’t want me to start for 3 months so had a long break.

My advice (apart from be prepared as above) is to find someone to talk to about it – I have found the experience has made me feel much less secure than I used to, and I do worry about money much more (despite now having some savings thanks to the remains of the redundancy).

Good luck – it will work out even though at the time it feels like ****

Best thing that ever happened to me while I worked for the bank was getting the redundancy letter. Unemployment was scary but with a decent package you have to be out of work for a very long time before you end up worse off. I ended up taking what I thought would be an interim job just to fill the gap, and found something I enjoyed much more and got fired into that instead.

One advantage of a recession, a lot of the stigma of unemployment/redundancy goes away!

Here’s my redundancy story which may help your friend think positive about it.
Last September I was made redundant they phoned me whilst I was on holiday to tell me that I was on consultation. I was on 3 months notice and they gave me payment in lieu of notice but just the statutory minimum 2 weeks of redundancy pay. I didn’t like the job and wanted out so if was partly a relief but equally as by far the main bread winner the lack of income was a real worry. After not finding my previous job fulfilling I promised myself not to compromise until it got desperate. Sorry this is turning into a bit of a ramble.
It made me realise that over the years I’d built up a really good network of contacts and after contacting a few I decided to set up my own consultancy. After 3 months I’m enjoying work more than I’ve ever done before as well as having more flexibility and money. In fact I was on antidepressants when I was employed but have recently come of them because things have improved so much.

I can understand your friends worry after being in the same job for so long but with a 30 years redundancy package I’d be looking to do some serious travelling and using that time to think about what I wanted to do next. Good luck to him in whatever who chooses.

we have an offset mortgage, dumped all my redundancy (10 years worth in there) which was nice took some pressure off payments and could still spend it when i needed to- it took me a while to get something new

sadly happening again at the end of this month this time no redundancy 🙁

A note to all
If you’re an employee you’re job is never safe. Don’t believe the “your job is safe” bullshit.
4 companies I worked for went either into Administration or Liquidation.
After it happens once you realise saving and investing is one of the main expenses after family,food, clothes,bills.
Disopsable income is fine for other things once the rest is sorted.
If you have no savings and all of a sudden no job times get very hard very quick.

I had to apply to the government for mine and got a weeks pay for every years service aka not a lot.

Hmm I got just under 1 week per year and had to fight for that including threatening to not work the part of my notice they wanted me to – initially told wouldn’t have to work it at all. Basically I was booted out of the door with as little above stat min as they could get away with. Even tried to give me less than stat notice though that seems to be down to their ignorance.

Not a good experience here after 13 yrs with a Cumbrian award winning training and development company who claim to Develop People, Worldwide. A multi million business with 14 or so global offices.

13 yrs, statutory minimum payout and told I was expected to work the 3 months period. Also, they “forgot” about the company pension scheme and this had to be fought for, to get released. Just what was needed for Christmas 2009.

Bitter, me ? Oh yes.

Been through it twice now, the first time due to office relocation and we had lots of notice incase we wanted to relocate and a very good package it was just before Christmas and I was lucky to have another job to walk in to, which meant I had one day between jobs, and we had a bloody good Christmas.
Then last year we were given notice of redundancy another office relocation I loved the job and would have been more annoyed but I knew the financial situation of the company, but it was the choice of locations that put me off relocating, Walsall didn’t get the wife’s approval or mine. We ended up with just over the minimum redundancy, and just before Christmas wasn’t a great time, but as we didn’t have much notice I wasn’t able to get things sorted before hand, and I’m still looking for full time work.
If I was at risk again I would reduce any debt/borrowings as much as I could and look to reduce outgoings to help soften the blow.

TBH, I would be surprised if they axe him, it will cost too much.

Edit – Unless he works for a government department, in that case logic and budgeting go out the window and it is guesswork.

stumpyjon – Member
Tell him to accept and move on now, no excuses. It’s unpleasent, soul destroying and easy to let it get on top of you. Howevef embrace it and you can come out the other side in a better position.

This. I’m a born worrier and now more worried than ever that poor team performance + glass ceiling may result in my demise in the next year or two, currently 21 years in. However evidence shows and I hope that I’d get a decent package to exit, and my take on it is that I’ve done this for long enough and a change – moreover a funded change is to be seen as an opportunity.

hooli – Member

TBH, I would be surprised if they axe him, it will cost too much

We thought that, til the magic words were uttered- “That comes out of a different budget”.

After 30 years service with the same employer any change is likely to be worrying, even if the OPs mate can walk straight into another job.

I was forced into ‘voluntary’ redundancy (go voluntarily and we’ll give you a reasonable package, but if you make us force you to go then you’ll get the absolute minimum) after 20 years at the same place and it is very scary at the time. [Just to make it interesting my partner of 19 years walked out on me the same week!!]

However, a lot of employers will offer courses on CV writing, interview skills and even guidance from job seeking mentors. Life does go on and a new job might be even better 🙂

Why not go to a bookshop and get your mate a book on CV writing??

Thanks all. Passed on the positive vibes to my mate.

Some of you are correct…..nothing definite yet and he also says that based upon previous packages (not guaranteed) that he may get about 2 years salary equivalent as a pay-out. Suspect that this is plenty enough to pay off mortgage and not have to worry about having to work for some time.

However he is a worrier and quickly gets to worst possible scenario outcomes in his mind. Guess that can help him to a point…expect the worst and anything less than that is a bonus. However he does cause himself an awful lot of stress thinking that way….

Again, thanks all, I’ll show him this thread.

Downsizing companies generally have the most generous packages with the first round and then get more and more mean as they lay off more people. If you can get a good offer with the first round and think you can get another job, it’s worth volunteering….

30 years with the same company, 12 months payout, and 30 years contribution into a final salary pension scheme. Everyone ‘s circumstances are different but anyone I know would and have jumped at such an opportunity.

I was under the impression that enhanced early retirement packages could no longer be offered, age discrimination. But generally it is possible to use part of the severance package to buy extra years pension. Probably cheaper, in the short term, for companies to do this.

What job has he got/about to lose?

Personally, it was the best thing that happened to me – stuck in a stressful managerial role, with no rewarding features whatsoever. Took voluntary the second time it came up and came out with about £12k including PILON.

Set up on my own three and a half years ago, back on the tools, zero stress, respected in the industry I’m in, earning decent money.

But….I have a trade behind me, so that helped.

Got made redundant last September. It was signposted from a long way out so I had time to build up some cash reserves and clear some debts. I got quite a decent payout for 6 years service and used some of it to retrain.

I’m currently working for a small company in the industry I now want to work in long term and already planning my escape into self employment using the remainder of my redundancy payout. I’m not earning a lot in my current job but I am building up my experience and learning how not to do certain things. I’m also able to spread the cost of buying essential kit out over a longer period.

Redundancy can be scary but I was always told by one of my old managers to have a plan B ready at all times (in my case this involved learning a trade with practicals skills and knowledge that will always be needed). Always keep some cash in reserve and always have an idea of something else you could move onto. It seems that the larger the company you work for these days the less inclined your employers are to look after you and give you decent long term opportunities.

I’ve always been mercenary when it comes to jobs and will happily screw my employers over before they do the same to me.

IMO the larger the company you work for the more you should be on guard by being detached from the notion of loyalty.

I’ve always been mercenary when it comes to jobs and will happily screw my employers over before they do the same to me

Good to know – be sure not to send me your CV.

Having experience as a manager and now an employer, I find this is sadly the case quite often. How about turn up, live by the rules of the job, get paid and not try to screw anyone over. Maybe you’ll find it’s reciprocated? 😉

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR,

If you are a small company then you absolutely needs loyalty for people to pull their weight. 🙂

How about turn up, live by the rules of the job, get paid and not try to screw anyone over

Been there, done that, and sadly learnt the hard way that its generally best to look out for number one these days. I have unfortunately worked at some places where the treatment of skilled and talented members of staff has been truly shocking. I’ve seen people who were less belligerent and willing to fight their corner than me have their careers ruined by crap managers,one sided company policies and company infighting. I’m afraid that it has beaten any altruism when it comes to my employers out of me.

I’ve seen the standards that companies apply when considering the needs of their employees slip quite a lot over the years and it has heightened my cynicism.

In a way, you are right Big Dave – I have seen companies that don’t seem to give two hoots about their employees. Also, I’ve seen employees who generally make a pain in the arse of themselves reap more rewards than those who keep their noses clean. Shame really

It’s crap
Be prepared for the worst, hope for the best (as ever)
Network
Be resilient, but expect things to take time (given age)