Fear of change - Here comes Redundancy

Well, its all change soon. My job is coming to an end, and will soon be paid a chunk of money to get lost.

Redundancy is coming my way it seems (actually I'm 'at risk' meaning I'm not definitely out, there is a one in three chance I'll be picked to stay for a few more months).

I know I'm not the only person that this will be happening too, but its still scary.

On one hand, I've never liked it much round here (Sheffield), and want to move back to the north east, I guess this is my chance.

On the other hand, there are a lot of 'what ifs' that are making me someone nervous of the whole situation.

Oh well, Ce la Vie as they say (or something like that anyway).

 

Hi Periwinkle

We heard yesterday. We don't officially know the result, but based on the selection criteria and the requirements, we've worked out that in our little group of 8, 4 are going, and of the 4 that are staying we can pretty much guaruntee who three of them are. The selection criteria also pretty much rules out one lad, which means that 3 of us (one of which is me) will be in the running for one post.

The payout isn't too bad as I've been here for over 10 years and our contracts give us 2 weeks money per year worked, or part year, so I'll get 22 week's money tax free, which is obviously nice.

I know what you mean about the disharmony, we were 'at risk' last year. Only they did things different then, allowing us to nominate a rep and letting us decide selection criteria. Imagine that, a group of people who had grown to be best buddies now arguing fiercely with each other and suspecting each other of trying to put you at a disadvantage. This time there is no staff rep and management are deciding the criteria so there is no need for us to fall out.

As for plans now, I haven't decided yet. I might fight for my job but I doubt it. Obviously it is time to start thinking about updating my CV. I am mulling over whether to look for a few short term contracts or look for another 'permanent' role. There is much to decide. The only thing I've decided for certain is that I am going to base all my other decisions on the idea that I will be made redundant.

 

Clueless,

I wish you well.

Check your pension rights and the funding of the pension scheme.

 

I wish you the best of luck Clueless, and even if the worst does happen at least you are still young enough to have some advantage over many when looking for another post.
Have you ever thought about using your IT skills in a self-employed 'consultancy' role?

 

Sorry to hear that Clueless, something similar has happened here at my house and it is extremely unsettling with kids to cater for. I wish you the best of luck finding a new job.

 

Thanks all for your kind words and advice.

I'm not upset about it, which is odd because I think I should be. Yes I'm slightly worried about the prospect of not finding another job before my redundancy pay runs out, but even that doesn't worry me much because I am quite employable, and would be willing to take contract or 'permanent' work, and would even take an unskilled job as an interim if it came to it.

Good advice to check all the figures, we've already ready caught HR trying to rob us. Most of us just glanced at the figure and decided it sounded right, but one lad got his calculator out, then after a few minutes he looked up and commented 'this is over £600 short'. The rest of us then did our sums, and found all of our statements were between £600 and £800 short. They'd also miscalculated our leaving dates, which were all a week short of our contractual notice period. So we're not exactly filled with confidence in HR getting everything right.

 

Good luck clueless..I know if I was in that position I would be a tad concerned.
I was lucky to never be in that position and survived a company take over which really was the best thing that happened to me.
I hope some luck comes your way soon.

 

Tough times, my friend. I hope it works out for you.

 

The best of luck Clueless.................
I have always found in life that from all things bad comes something good.....It may not seem that way at the time though......fingers crossed.

 

So sorry to hear about this clueless, I can well remember the first time (it's happened to me twice) I was made redundant and I was in shock - how could it happen??? So I know how you feel.

However you sound like you're holding it together and IT is certainly a good job to have these days. Like has been said, permanent jobs seem to be scarce now and contracts the way it is, of course contracts save the employers money!

I wish you all the best, please keep us informed.

cheers

 

Here's an update:

I was going to fall on my sword so to speak and accept whatever happens without a fight, but HR have got my back up.

They have miscalculated my redundancy entitlement, leaving it several hundred quid short. They've done the same for the other lads. I pointed this out to my manager, along with a spreadsheet showing detailed workings to show the correct figure. He sent it on to HR, who replied with a rather snotty note claiming that we were told verbally how it was worked out and somehow that means they are right. In their response they couldn't even get my name right, despite my name being spelt out for them in various places in the email to which they replied.

So the battle lines have been drawn. I will still no doubt be made redundant, but as they've been incompetent and disrespectful, I'm going to make them have to work hard to get me out. I can demonstrate that the selection criteria is unfair (and therefore illegal) and can demonstrate that they're trying to rob me of several hundred quid, and so will be prepared to use the small claims procedure to recover the deficit.

This will be a lesson for HR staff. The will learn (if they are capable of learning anything) that it works out much less hassle to treat staff with respect.

 

Before anyone spends money on small claims courts, I always advise speaking to the DHSS or whatever they call themselves now. They are conversant with what employees are entitled. Another port of call is ACAS. Best to exhaust all avenues of arbitration before getting into a "locked antlers" situation.

 

ACAS, CAB or Jobcentre are unlikely to help in the redundancy pay dispute, because our contracts give us better than the statutory payout, so it will be a civil case dispute contract terms rather than statutory entitlement. Besides, if it comes to it, I'll happily spend a few quid on the small claims procedure (its only about £50 to register a case) just to make the company sweat.

Of course it may come to pass that HR get their act together and sort it out, in which case there will be no issue.

 

Hi Kathy,
CAB can be a help, but it often depends on the experience of the individual to whom you speak at a particular office.

Many companies give better than the standard redundancy payments. ACAS are quite good at having "quiet words" with employers, getting them to honour their contractual liabilities or promises, before it goes all litigious.
Quite often with HR it's one particular "suit" trying to gain brownie points, but when taken to task they'll fold. I'd only ever use the small claims court as a last resort.

 

I know what you mean, but here its not about brownie points, its about total incompetence. I had an email back explaining that they know they were right because someone who once worked in another department once confirmed verbally that it was right. The same individual that took this stance managed to get my first name completely wrong (not just misspelled, a totally different name), and had two failed attempts at calculating the correct figure. When a colleague of mine had a fall-out and exercised his right to see his data (Data Protection Act 'Subject Access Request'), this individually totally failed to grasp even the most basic understanding of her department's legal obligations, some 30 days after the compulsory 40 day deadline had expired, he got about 5 pages of info for his 10 years of service, half of which had been blacked out with a marker pen. There was no record of his appraisals, pay reviews, attendance, roles or anything.

The trouble is, it is not just one individual (who incidentally thinks the law allows the 40 day time period to be put on hold if she goes on holiday), it is the whole department. Another work mate nearly lost out on his house when HR failed to return a form to the bank to confirm his salary. All they had to do was tick one box (the form was complete, they just had to tick to say it was correct) and fax it back. He was buying a house, and the vendor got so sick of waiting that she'd spoken to her solicitor with a view to it going back on the market. He'd given up his rented flat, been approved his mortgage, sign the contract to buy his house, and all that was needed for the bank to release the money was one tick on a form from HR. They took 10 weeks to do it.

In my dispute, the small claims procedure is a last resort. I haven't even been made redundant yet (still under consultation). With the consultation period plus my contractual notice period they have four months to sort it out. For competent people that is plenty of time (it took me less than five minutes to work out the figure). However I am preempting things based on past dealings, and if it gets close to the wire I will of course first let them know that litigation will not be ruled out.