Another potential personal employment tale of woe

Stuntman · Another potential personal employment tale of woe

Been given a letter today telling me that my position is at risk of redundancy and that I have to attend a consultation meeting next Tuesday (3rd Nov).

Now - there is nobody else in the organisation who does the same work as me, and it appears that I am the only person affected by this potential decision.

I absolutely don't want to leave (because I clearly don't have a job to go to at the moment) and will be looking to prove that my job is not actually redundant - that is, I don't believe that the requirement for the work that I do will disappear.

I think the company is simply looking to cut its costs and attempting to use redundancy as the means by which it does so.

I won't actually get any redundancy payment as I haven't been there for 2 years and they are not generous payers anyway. I'll probably have to work my notice.

Advice and suggestions appreciated. I am starting from the perspective that I want to stay, and my work is valuable to the company. I will make them work hard to prove that I am truly redundant, because I currently don't believe that to be true.

Matt

Best of luck, Dan. Must be absolutely soul-destroying to have it happen again so soon.

Fingers crossed for you. I'm sure you can give a good account of your role's importance. If all else fails, bring out the poetry!

Grampa

If times are tough for your employers, I'd aim to prove that what you do is essential, rather than valuable, for the company. They probably appreciate the value of what you do, but looking at it from their point of view, if they have to make savings they'd cut valuable activities before cutting essential activities.

Or is it the kind of activity you could do for them on a self-employed basis, and aim to find other clients for whom you could also do a similar job?

Hope all goes well.

woof woof

Jeez baby. Bummer.

I hope that it all works out. I know it's probably all been said before but I think that the key is to try to continue to be positive. Things do have habit of working out through a mix of luck, perseverance and talent and I'm sure that you have more than your share of the latter two, you just need a little of the first and it could be said that with perseverance and talent you can make your own luck.

Good luck mate.

Guitar Zero

Leave and then come back as a contractor on 50% more an hour when they realise that the work you do is important and no one else can do it.

Happens more than you would think.

TimR

If you can convince them your work is essential and you want to stay because you enjoy working there it may sway them.

Are you flat-out busy all week?
Maybe you could suggest reduced hours as a compromise thus continuing your employment with them but at a reduced cost or if you're run off your feet point out that you don't have time for lunch, etc. as there's so much work for you.

scamper

Sorry to hear this Dan.

I've just been in the position of being the one who has had to implement a redundancy programme. The first meeting is just a general departmental meeting, regardless as to if its 1 or 20 people affected by potential redundancy. As you say, they should outline why redundancy is possible ie loss of work in your area or due to the general economic downturn and loss of revenue and hence the need to cut costs - with the latter surely they have to pick others, not just you?

The second meeting will be an individual consultation where you effectively fight your corner and they should ask for suggestions as to alternatives to redundancy.

Big TC

What a worrying time. I hope things work out fine for you. Good luck - make 'em see that they simply can't survive without you!

Mike Amos

Ditto the above about essential tasks/role. Sorry to hear this mate, prep hard for the meeting and if you need more time to prepare you should be able to get it. These things are supposedly mutually beneficial.

ALF

Sorry to hear that Stunters. I've not been keeping up, because I thought you were still working as a consultant...

I think you are taking the right approach - try and prove that your role is not being made redundant. At the very least that might make things awkward for them and ensure you some money, you may also be able to carry on as a consultant. The first time I was made redundant - the time I screwed some money out of them - I managed to prove the role was not being made redundant and it made life very tricky for them.

Good luck!

franki68

That sucks.

What do you do btw ?

It was a long time ago but when I had to make people redundant, back then you had t follow a last in first out policy so the newer people went first.

I would imagine it will be quite tough to prove you are needed (no disrespect just my business head on here)...what did they do without you before you joined them ? Did you replace someone ?

scamper

I n theory you can still operate last in first out, but run the risk of age descrimination against younger people! Best to rather rephrase it as "experience within the company" and use several other redundancy tests, which should be in the Company's redundancy policy.

franki68

scamper

I think its all reasonably fair these days

I get the impression when you hear that an employee has won in tribunal for "unfair dismissal" its just as likely that the employer did not have or did not follow a correct disciplinary procedure, rather than the employee not actually doing anything wrong or actually being good at their job. The same applies to redundancy.

Roadrunner

Bad news Dan. I hope it all works out for you.

BeN

Sounds bad. Best of luck.

Martin

Bad news Dan, sorry to hear it. Hopefully you can make a good case and persuade them to look elsewhere.

I've had the letter of doom in the last 6 months and it's not a nice experience at all, even though it turned out well in the end.

gonnabuildabuggy

I'd focus on criteria for being made redundant and perhaps just getting a level of payout or consultancy.

There is no doubt the work will need to be done at some level but it can perhaps be combined in with someone else - it usually how it works with redundancy, roles are combined due to economic pressures and then it's down to a lot of other criteria, ability to do both sets of work, time with company, sick leave, etc.

The one thing you must remember is that it's no reflection on you, it's the job that is going. Unfortunately no-one is irreplaceable - others might not be as good, but we're all replaceable.

Bob Sacramento

Hope you get it all sorted Dan, it's a bastard having to wait until Nov 3rd to see if they are wanting to weild the axe.

JohnC

I'm really really sorry to hear that Dan. I am in my last week here although in slightly different circumstances but I am sure the feelings are very similar.

Plenty have suggested the consultant role which might buy you a bit more time to find something else but the main point is that it has to be the role that is made redundant. If they still need done what you do, then they are on very weak ground.

Nice Guy Eddie

Bummer Dan, I went through the same thing myself last month. The trouble is now is not a good time to be out of work. I thought that I might be able to sort myself out with new employent during my notice period. I phoned around all my recruitment contacts and they were all down at least 90% and had let all their staff go themselves. It was at this stage that I thought that this unemployment might not be a short term thing. All my experience in the financial services arena counts for nothing when you look outside your industry so I hope the banks start employing again soon.

Stuntman

Thanks to everyone for your advice and good wishes.

I work in financial planning and analysis and have done so for over 15 years. I help companies plan and forecast their results, and also have worked in acquisitions and in general management teams on strategy.

In this particular company I am mostly doing complex technical analytical modelling. I've been doing the most difficult work of my entire career, and without blowing my own trumpet too much, I'm bloody good at what I do - I've never met anyone where I've worked who has modelling skills as good as mine, and I've worked for PepsiCo and Kraft Foods (among others), which aren't exactly small companies...

I joined this place in June 08 on a 3-month contract to set something up for them that they didn't have previously. My contract was extended until Dec 08 and then I was made permanent in Jan 09.

Since then I have been continually busy on a very diverse range of projects as well as maintaining and updating the things I set up. Nobody else does this work, it all comes to me and I do it all from start to finish including the designing and building.

In the 16 months that I have been there, I have done over 1000 separate pieces of work and still have a pipeline of requests to do. So it was something of a surprise yesterday!

I'm making sure I know my stuff come Tuesday, and I will take soundings regarding whether others think that the requirement for the work that I do has diminished, or is expected to diminish.

It's definitely not a good time to be out of work, and I intend to avoid that situation for as long as possible.

woof woof

So, what do you do Stunt?

Stuntman

Sit in front of a computer all day writing formulas in spreadsheets

Matt

Do you Excel at it?

Stuntman

Indeed so. I also have an Access all areas pass.

PG

Even thought your work may well be essential, if the company want to save costs I'd be very surprised if they gave in on that one. But in putting up a strong case you muddy the waters and either leave yourself able to negotiate a different outcome - eg part time or reduced hours during this economic cycle, or a payout where you would not get one usually.

I suspect that they have looked at people, ages and length of service and decided that they will go for you as you have not been there two years. Make sure you ask to see the documented reasons that your job is redundant. That may well put them on the spot.

Stuntman

Good advice PG, that's definitely something that I'll be asking them for.

PG

They have to be able to demonstrate that they had criteria (which were in place before they made the selection), that they have followed those criteria and that your job is the correct one selected on those criteria.

Gooner

That does suck and it must be annoying knowing that your redundancy is for nothing more than to save a few bob. Just make sure you put your case as strongly as possible and hope for the best. Good luck next week.

SpecB

I put my comment in the wrong topic. Fight your corner and good luck.

gonnabuildabuggy